Hey Kids.
Go ahead and sit down. It’s time that we have a talk. And I know what you’re thinking…
You’re thinking why, and do we really have to? You think you already know all that there is to know about what it is that we are going to talk about, even before we talk about it. But guess what, you don’t even know what you don’t know that I know you don’t know about what we are going to talk about. Does that make sense? Thought so.
Look, I know you’ve already had this talk with your mom, your middle school teacher, and the Inner Harbor bus driver. But can you really trust the Inner Harbor bus driver? Let alone your own mother?
Hell, you may have even picked up a few neat tricks from one of those magazines that you hide under your bed…
So do you still really think that you know squat?
What about foot position? Did you ever think about how important proper foot position is to a safe, strong, and proper squat? I think about it everyday. All day. What I’m here to tell you is that you should squat with your feet straight ahead. And no, I’m not crazy. I know that most of you like to squat like ducks. But I got news for ya. We aren’t ducks. And I’m not alone in this school of thought. I have drawn my conclusions from influences from the works of Dr. Charlie Weingroff, Mike Boyle, Kelly Starret, and a handful of other really smart and super cool individuals.
So why should you squat with your toes pointed straight ahead? Because instability in the ankle will more times than not lead to an even greater amount of instability in the knees. And when you squat like a dock, with your feet angled out, the subtalar joint of your ankle, which is where that whole inversion and eversion silliness occurs, tends to be a pain in the ass (or ankle) to control, especially when handling a substantial load. What does this mean? It means that in many cases, when people squat like a quacker (ha), they will not maintain subtalar neutrality, but rather will roll their ankle into eversion and suffer that dreaded arch collapse. Not only does this suck for your ankle, but it can suck even worse for your knees…
You see, when that arch collapse occurs, there is a high probability that there will be a consequent valgus collapse (the inward buckling of the knee). Anytime there is a valgus force on the knee, you are unnecessarily straining the passive structures of the knee joint, specifically your medial cruciate ligament(mcl), anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) and your meniscus. If the circumstances are dreaded enough, you may even suffer the triage of “knee unhappiness” and damage all three simultaneously. I just witnessed this happen to a college lacrosse player the other day, when her right knee buckled in when cutting. Don’t wait until your pregnant…er, um, (sorry got my talks mixed up), I mean need reconstructive surgery to start taking this material seriously.
So what you need to consider is working stability form the ground up in the squat, starting specifically at the ankle. First and foremost you always want even weight distribution throughout the foot when squatting. This is for purposes of hitting the proper mechanoreceptors on the bottom of the feet (you know, the ones that send signals to our brain to fire our quads, hamstrings, glutes, etc), balance, and subtalar ankle neutrality.
So feet straight ahead, and stance should be about shoulder width. Now as you descend into the hold, think you are trying to spread/push the earth apart from your hells and push your knees out. You should feel the outside of your glutes engage (your abductors). If this is happening, that is a very special thing, because overtime a lot of people often lose the ability of their abductors (specifically the glute medius) when they squat, or they just don’t fire properly. Engaging those abductors and pushing those knees out will ensure that you maintain ankle neutrality, knee stability, and as Kelly Starret has stated, create torque.
When performing un-weighted squats its cool if you are in flexion. But when you load your squat, be sure to maintain a neutral spine and pack that neck in son. Dr. Charlie Weingroff has emphasized the importance of packing in the neck in regards to any movement that requires an ample amount of core stability. I agree with him in each and every regard.
Alright, enough typographical verbiage. Here’s a video. This is just part one of a series that is to be known as “The Squat Reformation Project”, which is my crusade to get humans to squat like humans, and leave the duck squatting, well to the ducks.
Now aren’t you glad we had this talk?
Go ahead and sit down. It’s time that we have a talk. And I know what you’re thinking…
You’re thinking why, and do we really have to? You think you already know all that there is to know about what it is that we are going to talk about, even before we talk about it. But guess what, you don’t even know what you don’t know that I know you don’t know about what we are going to talk about. Does that make sense? Thought so.
Look, I know you’ve already had this talk with your mom, your middle school teacher, and the Inner Harbor bus driver. But can you really trust the Inner Harbor bus driver? Let alone your own mother?
Hell, you may have even picked up a few neat tricks from one of those magazines that you hide under your bed…
So do you still really think that you know squat?
What about foot position? Did you ever think about how important proper foot position is to a safe, strong, and proper squat? I think about it everyday. All day. What I’m here to tell you is that you should squat with your feet straight ahead. And no, I’m not crazy. I know that most of you like to squat like ducks. But I got news for ya. We aren’t ducks. And I’m not alone in this school of thought. I have drawn my conclusions from influences from the works of Dr. Charlie Weingroff, Mike Boyle, Kelly Starret, and a handful of other really smart and super cool individuals.
So why should you squat with your toes pointed straight ahead? Because instability in the ankle will more times than not lead to an even greater amount of instability in the knees. And when you squat like a dock, with your feet angled out, the subtalar joint of your ankle, which is where that whole inversion and eversion silliness occurs, tends to be a pain in the ass (or ankle) to control, especially when handling a substantial load. What does this mean? It means that in many cases, when people squat like a quacker (ha), they will not maintain subtalar neutrality, but rather will roll their ankle into eversion and suffer that dreaded arch collapse. Not only does this suck for your ankle, but it can suck even worse for your knees…
You see, when that arch collapse occurs, there is a high probability that there will be a consequent valgus collapse (the inward buckling of the knee). Anytime there is a valgus force on the knee, you are unnecessarily straining the passive structures of the knee joint, specifically your medial cruciate ligament(mcl), anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) and your meniscus. If the circumstances are dreaded enough, you may even suffer the triage of “knee unhappiness” and damage all three simultaneously. I just witnessed this happen to a college lacrosse player the other day, when her right knee buckled in when cutting. Don’t wait until your pregnant…er, um, (sorry got my talks mixed up), I mean need reconstructive surgery to start taking this material seriously.
So what you need to consider is working stability form the ground up in the squat, starting specifically at the ankle. First and foremost you always want even weight distribution throughout the foot when squatting. This is for purposes of hitting the proper mechanoreceptors on the bottom of the feet (you know, the ones that send signals to our brain to fire our quads, hamstrings, glutes, etc), balance, and subtalar ankle neutrality.
So feet straight ahead, and stance should be about shoulder width. Now as you descend into the hold, think you are trying to spread/push the earth apart from your hells and push your knees out. You should feel the outside of your glutes engage (your abductors). If this is happening, that is a very special thing, because overtime a lot of people often lose the ability of their abductors (specifically the glute medius) when they squat, or they just don’t fire properly. Engaging those abductors and pushing those knees out will ensure that you maintain ankle neutrality, knee stability, and as Kelly Starret has stated, create torque.
When performing un-weighted squats its cool if you are in flexion. But when you load your squat, be sure to maintain a neutral spine and pack that neck in son. Dr. Charlie Weingroff has emphasized the importance of packing in the neck in regards to any movement that requires an ample amount of core stability. I agree with him in each and every regard.
Alright, enough typographical verbiage. Here’s a video. This is just part one of a series that is to be known as “The Squat Reformation Project”, which is my crusade to get humans to squat like humans, and leave the duck squatting, well to the ducks.
Now aren’t you glad we had this talk?