One of the first movements I teach my new clients is the squat. It’s probably one of the most important moves people should master. Too many people improperly perform squats at the gym, which lead to injury.
When I ask my new client if they perform squats, I usually hear “I don’t because they hurt my knees.”
My response is: “Show me how you do a squat.”
So they proceed, and manage to do it incorrectly. “No wonder your knees hurt, you’re doing them incorrectly!”
If this sounds like you, don’t feel bad. Most people don’t know how to correctly do a squat; they learn from mimicking what they see at the gym.
If your knees hurt during squatting, watch your form. Your knees should not cross the plane of your toes, meaning that when you look down, you shouldn’t see your knees going past the top of your toes.
This is the most common problem I see. When your knees go past your toes, you stress the ligaments in your knee. What’s the result? Knee pain!
Squats themselves are not dangerous to knees and should be done by any healthy exerciser. Remember to perfect your form by using your bodyweight; only add weight once you have learned how to control your body weight.
Why should you do squats? Because the squat is an effective, total body exercise, when done properly. Squats work not only your quads, but the oh-so neglected hamstrings and lower back, and your core.
If you don’t know how to perform a squat properly, enlist the help of a fitness professional. Some of the videos on YouTube teach the wrong thing, even though there are a few that correctly demonstrate this exercise.
Oh this is so important- I love squats.
I had been doing squats for a long time and knew about how to keep your knees from going too far forward. What I didn’t know, until I saw a personal trainer, was that my back wasn’t being kept very straight. I wasn’t keeping in a very good upright position while I did it so I think it was putting stress on my back. You trainers are a goldmine of helpful information!
Yep, posture is definitely important for any exercise you do. I’m glad you got help from a good trainer
Squatting is or rather should be a natural movement for everyone.
As children, we could all squat comfortably…all the way down to the floor. But over a lifetime of sitting in chairs and developing various muscular and connective tissue imbalances, most of us are too tight to squat.
Correcting those imbalances will go a long way in helping your ability to squat without pain.
As usual, you’re right DR!
I always tell my clients “weight on your heels”. always always weight on your heels and push through your heels- that also takes the pressure off the knees.
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
Yep, that’s essential. You can feel the power coming through your heels and that’s one of my favorite parts of the movement. Thanks for visiting Kelly!