STOP Pushing Your Knees Out When You Squat

Pushing your knees out in a squat is different than pointing your legs out.

This was one of the big points of discussion for me and @jeffreyalanwolf a few months back talking about squats.

Setting up with your knees out is an external rotation orientation of the entire limb. It’s a setup consideration. It’s a position.

Pushing the knees out as you descend is active external rotation/abduction. It’s a dynamic cue. It’s an action.

The big problem with this is that as you descend, the femurs should be moving into internal rotation. When we push the knees out, we create an action that is opposite of what we want for normal biomechanics…. In most cases!

Now just to fuck with everyone… I’m going to flip the script for a second and speak theoretically.

Just like there are no bad movements, maybe there are no bad cues. So when could pushing the knees out be useful?

Well, maybe if we wanted to make it harder to bend and hit depth, then pushing the knees out makes sense.

So maybe an application could be powerlifting, where we want to hit just below parallel but not deeper. Powerlifters, let me know if this is a real thing!

As always, it’s important to understand the mechanics and the contexts in which they apply. Don’t just think good or bad, but rather, when might this apply?

With that said, for MOST people (and I mean most), pushing the knees out actively as you descend in a squat is NOT the best cue.

#squat #glutes #squats #legday #personaltrainer

[haha]

This is inaccurate at best. It all depends on your own personal biology and how long your legs and femurs are. People with longer legs are more biologically inclined to have wider stances and more outward knee movement while squatting. Juxtaposed to someone with shorter legs and femurs, who tend to be able to more easily squat with a closer stance and less outward knee movement . The person in this short seems to have shorter legs, therefore this one specific person can have less outward movement but saying “it doesn’t align with our natural biomechanics” is completely misleading as a generalization of all people.

[haydenrain]

yeah I'm gonna need to see the receipts on this one mate

[balloonbulge]

I've thought this for a long time as I always have problems with my knees out. So many supposed experts have insisted I should push my knees out.

[yuuzhang]

Great advice !
Does this also apply to split squats or Other activities like Cycling ? (Straighting -> Outside, Bending -> inside )

[docmalice]

This is the case for me. The cue "keep the knees out" messes up the weight distribution on my foot throughout the movement. Making sure my toes are slightly pointed outwards from the start pretty much guides my knees to track outwards naturally as i go down.

[draickx]

The reason we say to keep the knees out is because most clients tend to let their knees fall in and their feet over pronate. So I'll say keep your knees out but the intent is for them to keep them over their toes. Which to them will feel "to them' like pushing them out.

[Mojo-ploj]

And I bet if you filmed your squat from the side we’d see your knees unnaturally spring forward at the bottom out of the hole. Or at least some people have that issue. Those people, need the over exaggerated cue.

[wrathshot]

I instantly do this because my feet naturally pointed out about 15 degrees