Squat form: out or down?

Asked by: Aaron Hudson

The setup for the squat exercise is incredibly simple.

1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips.
2. Your toes should be pointed slightly outward – about 5 to 20 degrees outward (the wider your stance, the more you’ll want to rotate your feet outward).

Are you supposed to look up or down when squatting?

If you don’t have a wall in front of you, or you are squatting with a mirror, you’ll need to look down at the floor. Find a spot about 4-8 feet in front of you, and pick a spot to look at throughout the entire range of motion.

What is the correct way to do squats?

Stand with feet just wider than hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly out, clasp hands at chest for balance. Send hips back and bend at knees to lower down as far as possible with chest lifted. You can swing your arms back for momentum. Press through heels back up to explode up, jumping vertically in the air.

Should your feet be outward when squatting?

As you think about your squat stance, you might wonder whether your feet should be pointing more inward or outward. Generally speaking, you will want to take a stance that is slightly outside of shoulder-width, and point your toes outward at an angle of 15-30 degrees.

Why you shouldn’t look up during squats?

You are a low bar squatter. And you look up this could kill your hip. Drive. Because. It's going to shove your knees forward and take the tension off your hamstrings.

Should I tuck my chin when squatting?

Simply put, and as renowned strength coach and therapist Charlie Weingroff has repeatedly stated, maintaining a neutral or “packed neck/chin tucked” posture while squatting or deadlifting is a fantastic way to not only prevent injury, but it also makes you more stable, which in turn will allow you to lift more weight.

What happens if you do squats wrong?

When you do squats, you’re supposed to feel the strain in your legs. If you’re feeling pain in the lower back, you’re probably doing it wrong. This means that you are putting the weight and work into your lower back muscles instead of your glutes and quadriceps. Pay attention when you squat.

How should a beginner start squatting?

Straight. Forward shoulders width apart you're going to push your hips back and slowly sit into your chair. Press off the floor standing up nice and tall. Again drop down sit into the chair.

Do squats make your butt bigger?

Squats work all of the glute muscles in one movement. When you strategically recruit and tax these muscles, you can trigger hypertrophy (or muscle size growth). So, yes, squats can help you build bigger glutes.

How far down should your body go when performing a squat?

Squat Depth



He found that bending your knees to around 90 degrees is enough to achieve very high levels of muscular activity in your quadriceps. In other words, squatting to parallel is enough to make your legs bigger and stronger.

Should you go past 90 degrees when squatting?

The short and simple answer is as low as possible. Squatting deeper has not been shown by the research to cause any harm to the knees. The research has actually shown that squatting to 90 degrees puts the most stress and force on your knees, but when you go past 90, there is less force on the knees.

How far should legs be apart for squats?

Having the feet shoulder width apart with the toes pointed slightly outwards will help the overall development of the quadriceps muscle. Having the feet close together with the toes pointing straight ahead will help with outer thigh development (vastus lateralis).