Why Foot Positioning Matters When Squatting

Why foot positioning matters when doing a Squat – Short Read

We normally get told to keep our back straight, knees bent, chest high and feet facing forward when doing a squat.  But there is a lot more to a squat than these basic steps. You’d be surprised, but changing up your foot positioning can bring about some awesome results for you.  Below are a few changes you can make to foot positioning (and knee positioning) to ensure you target different areas of your legs and bum.  Hopefully this can add a little more variety and ensure you get the most of your leg workouts next time.

Have a look at the image below just so know what i'm talking about

Narrow stance (feet closer together)

Target – Front of the legs (quadriceps), thighs, slightly targets back of legs too.

How to perform – Ensure your knees do NOT turn inwards. Try to keep knees straight and ensure they are not about to turn in and touch each other as this could cause unnecessary strain on your knees.

Wide Stance (feet turned slightly out, legs wider)

Target – Glutes (Bum), Hamstrings.

How to perform – Ensure again your knees do not turn inwards.  Imagine an elastic band around your knees and try to keep your knees driven out.  By doing so, the wide stance will ensure you target the glutes much better and you can look at achieving depth in the squat.

A little tip for you – if you really want to burn out the bum and hamstrings (back of the thigh), slowly lower yourself for 3 seconds, before exploding up back to the start.

A Word on Knees

NEVER lock your knees out.  Meaning?  Never straighten them out completely when you come up from a squat as this can cause unnecessary tension and could be potentially dangerous.  Not only that, but you then take tension of the legs and place them on the knees and can lessen the intensity of the exercise.  So next time you squat, 3 seconds down, and then come back up and stop short of straight knees.  In essence, keep your knees bent through the whole lift.

I love the squat.  It’t a great move.  One of the best lifts you can do when you want to get into shape as it burns a heck of a lot of calories, strengthens your lower body and helps burn fat faster in the long run when you start adding weight as lean muscle is a thing of beauty.   But please take your time and learn how to do the move safely and effectively first.  Work with someone, video yourself or train with a friend who is more experienced so that you can assess weak points and figure out how to make the squat more safe and effective.