Correct Squatting Form

4 Easy Checks to Squat with Correct Form and Reduce Knee Pain

Do you have knee pain when you squat? Or are you hoping to avoid knee pain? Correct squatting form is essential to ensure you are not putting unnecessary stress on your knees while squatting. 

Next time you squat, use these 4 easy checks to make sure you are squatting correctly. 

Watch a demonstration of all 4 on my Instagram!

Correct Squatting form tip #1: Sit your hips back as you go down. 

This is to keep the knees behind the toes, right? Well, yes and no. Although squatting with your knees over your toes does increase pressure on the knees, this actually isn’t a bad thing. In fact, we need to have the strength to do a squatting motion with our knees over our toes in order to do activities like picking up a box off the ground and going down stairs. For more information on the “no knees over toes” idea, read a thorough article here.

The true goal of sitting your hips back while squatting is to use both your hip and knee muscles. The squat is a full body movement. And without pushing the hips back, you are only relying on your knee muscles to do the work of this motion. And this can lead to knee pain.

Placing a chair or bench behind you as a target for your hips is a great way to ensure you are squatting with correct form during this part of the squat.

Correct Squatting form tip #2: Push your hips forward as you come out of the squat.

I know I just told you to push your hips back, but as you come out of the squat make sure you push your hips forward by squeezing your glutes (your butt muscles).

Just like you want to use your hip and not just your knee muscles by sitting the hips back as you go down into the squat, you want to use your hip muscles to come out of the squat too. Without using your hip muscles you are not only putting more stress on the knees, but you are also not getting the full benefit of the squatting exercise.

Your glutes are powerful muscles. (Or they can be if you strengthen them correctly.) They give you power for tons of activities like walking, running, and going up stairs. If you push your hips forward at the top of the squat and squeeze your glut muscles, you are using them to the fullest while squatting and they will get stronger.

Use correct squatting form by sitting the hips back and pushing them all the way forward to get the greatest benefit out of squatting and reduce knee pain.

Correct Squatting form tip #3: Make sure you are pushing equally through both feet.

This is helpful to see with a mirror. If you notice one knee is bending more that the other or your body is leaning to one side, focus on pushing through both feet equally, especially when you come out of the squat.

Correct squatting form in this area can be hard to do if you have a recent knee injury. This can be due to fear of pain or actual pain in that injured side while squatting. Often my patients who are recovering from a knee injury will put less weight on the injured side as they squat. But I work with them to squat with equal weight on both feet to reduce their risk of future injury in the knees or another area.

If you notice you shift off of one side as you get deeper into the squat, build strength in the smaller range with good form and over time you will be able to get deeper with correct form.

Correct Squatting form tip #4: Keep your knees apart.

This one is REALLY important!

If one or both of your knees cave in while squatting, you likely have or are going to develop knee pain. In the clinic we call this knee valgus, and we watch for it like a hawk. This is because letting the knees cave in puts a lot of stress on your knees. And if your knees cave in while squatting, they likely cave in during walking, running, and stair climbing and this can lead to knee pain with these activities as well.

Remember when we talked about firing up the glut and core muscles in my previous post? The glut muscles on the side of your hips help control your knee position during squatting. And making sure they are “fired up” and strong can help keep the knees from caving in while squatting. This is one of the reasons a proper warm up is so important! Read the post here!

To have correct squatting form, be sure to keep your hips, knees, and feet in a straight line. I recommend a band at the knees to cue yourself to push the knees out.

Using a mirror while squatting is for more than just the vain

You may not want to use a mirror during squatting because it seems that people only use a mirror to stare at their own muscles. But using a mirror can be very helpful to ensure you are using correct squatting form.

I recommend you turn your body (if you aren’t using a weight rack) to look at your squat from the front and the side. From the side you can make sure you are using correct squatting from by sitting your hips back and then pushing them forward at the top of the squat. From the front you can make sure you are using correct squatting from by pushing equally through both feet and keeping the knees apart.

Have other questions about squatting from? Comment below or reach out to me on Instagram! Follow me for videos of all 4 squatting tips!

Want to read my series on reducing knee pain while squatting from the beginning? Start here.