A squat is a coordinated bend at the ankle, knee and hip while the torso stays braced against the load. Stance width, foot angle and how deep you can go before the pelvis tucks under all depend on your hips and ankles, so copying someone else's setup rarely works. What does not vary: the bar stays over the middle of the foot, the knees track over the toes, and the spine holds a stable position throughout.
Key points
- Find your stance by squatting without load at several widths and angles, then keep the one that lets you sit deepest comfortably.
- Brace by taking a breath into the belly and tightening the whole trunk before you descend, not after the weight moves.
- Keep the whole foot in contact with the floor; the weight sits over the midfoot rather than drifting onto the toes.
- Descend under control and reverse without bouncing off the bottom, which keeps tension in the muscles instead of the joints.
- Depth is limited by your hips and ankles, so use the deepest range you can reach with a neutral spine.
Common mistakes
- Letting the hips shoot up faster than the shoulders, which turns a squat into a good morning and loads the lower back.
- Forcing the knees outward beyond where the feet point, which grinds the knee joint and shortens the range you can control.
- Chasing depth by tucking the pelvis under at the bottom, which rounds the lower spine under load and invites irritation.
Put it into practice
Tempo squat diagnostic
- Load roughly half the weight you would use for a set of five and set a camera at forty-five degrees.
- Perform five repetitions taking three seconds down, one second paused at the bottom, and a normal ascent.
- Review the recording for the moment the pelvis tucks or the heels lift, and note the depth where it happens.
- Train just above that depth for two weeks while working on ankle and hip range separately.
squattechniquelower bodydepth