There are literally thousands of articles out there trying to unravel the perfect squat. There’s even a Squat University (which if you don’t follow, is a great informative resource).
There’s the ever popular “ATG” crowd, or “Ass-to-Grass” crowd, which staunchly believes that everyone’s pelvis should reach the ground in a squat.
First thing’s first, if anyone tells you there is absolutely one perfect way to do anything, they’re probably wrong and you should walk the other way. The only absolute is that there are no absolutes (And as Yoda said, only Sith deal in absolutes).
That’s the approach I (and recommend you) take.
There is no one “right way to squat” for everyone, because everyone’s anatomy (the structure of our bodies) is different. The same way our faces and skulls have different structures, our pelvis and femurs (the long bones of our leg) have different structures and variation. This is perfectly normal. It’s part of being human.
Because our anatomy varies, the way it moves therefore varies. That means the perfect squat for you may not necessarily be toes straight, knees shoulder width apart. It may not even be the same from side to side. Let’s dive into why that is.
Toe Out:
Squat purists will tell you that your toes must point straight forward, but let’s actually step backward, and think about what’s happening in the hip, and when we squat, and what toe in or out is actually reflecting.
When we come into a deep squat, we’re actually relying on the internal rotation of our hip. Why is that? Our knees end up on the outside of our body, so isn’t that external rotation? Not quite, because our femur doesn’t actually go straight from hip to knee. There’s a spiral in the orientation from the hip joint to the knee. Therefore, as the femur flexes up, we’re actually edging into internal rotation with deep squatting.
This is called anteversion (A fancy way of saying that the femur spirals inward). In the average adult, there’s about an 8-15 degree spiral inward. This helps adjust for the way that our hip juts out at an angle from the pelvis. Without this spiral, our toes would stick out to the side, the same way our femur sticks out slightly to the side.
In fact, if someone doesn’t have this spiral, or has less than the typical 8-15 (see how even ‘typical’ is a range?), their toes are going to naturally angle outward, and this is called retroversion. For them to point their toes forward, they edge into even more internal rotation, closer to their end range. At end range, our muscles have to work a great deal harder to generate work.
How can you determine what amount of toe out is appropriate for you?
A physical therapist can determine the amount of anteversion or retroversion in your femur using Craig’s Test. But if you don’t have a PT just handy, how can you figure it out on your own?
It’s pretty simple. Assume a shoulder width stance (we’ll talk about why this particular width isn’t perfect for everyone, but it is good enough for this), and descend into your deep squat.
How low can you go, without your pelvis moving? Try it in a pointed in, neutral, and wide toe position. Does your squat change with the rotation? If it feels more stable and you can get lower your with toes wider, you migt have more retroversion in your hips than most people. That doesn’t mean your squat is bad, or worse than anyone else’s; that’s your anatomy.
Also, try varying one foot, and then the other. There isn’t just variation between people, but from one side versus the other.
Squat Depth: Hip Socket Depth
Similarly, there’s anatomical variation in the femur, but also the acetabulum, which is the socket that the femur sits in.
Big whoop, right?
Actually, yes, very big whoop.
Stu McGill has pioneered biomechanics of the spine olympic lifting, and found that there’s also variation in hip socket depth. Think of it this way; the deeper the socket, the less motion your hip is going to have, versus the shallower it is, the more motion your bony anatomy will have. It’s the idea of trying to move a golf ball on a tee, versus moving it in a close fitting tube. There’s more motion available on the tee.
That’s actually why Eastern Europe has crushed Olympic weight lifting, because they have shallower hip sockets, allowing more motion in the hip and femur, allowing that really deep squat with strength, and most importantly, allowing strength there. Versus if you’re from more northern Europe, like Scotland or Finland, you’re going to have deeper hip sockets and more limited motion. For Olympic lifting, it means they don’t have to pull the barbell as far off the ground (because they can sink lower), and therefore less upward force is required.
What does that mean for your squat depth? It means that you might not be able to naturally squat as low as someone from Bulgaria or Poland, and that’s okay! It means that your range of strength is a bit shallower, because that’s what your bony alignment will allow.
Aside from an MRI, how can you know if you’ve got a deep or a shallow socket?
Try performing a deep squat, with assistance using a pole or a bar. How low can you go without your pelvis curling and tucking under in the classic “butt wink?”
Because you’ve got the bar from support, we’re reducing the impact of muscle imbalance, so we can see more into what your skeletal system is doing.
If you have deeper hip sockets, your femur is going to bump into the edge of that acetabulum sooner, and that’s the most amount of flexion you can get from the joint. Any lower depth is going to come from a shift in your lumbar, and the butt wink. If you try to go lower, and control for the butt wink, and you feel pinching deep in the front of your hip, that’s your femur grinding against the acetabulum, trying to flex more. That pinching may be a sign that you’re at your end range; it might also be a sign your joint doesn’t have the normal roll and glide, but that’s a different trouble shooting topic.
Squat Width
Okay, whew. So far, we’ve covered the spiral of the femur, and the depth of the hip socket. But what about the orientation of the hip socket?
Oh geez, I know. More variation! But I hope that I’m starting to prove my point, in illustrating how our bony anatomy can impact our squat performance, and that there is no way we’ll all perform the same movement.
Okay, so, now we’re not only thinking about the spiral or the depth, but the orientation; what’s that mean? The acetabulum, the cup or socket, can face more forward (like the headlights on a car), or more toward the side (like your car mirrors).
How and why does this impact our squat?
The more forward, the less torque on your femur, and the easier it is for you to place your feet more narrowly, and come into a deep position.
However, if your acetabulum angles more out to the side, and you try to squat with your feet narrowly placed, you’re going to end of pinching the interior portion of the socket. Try this with your hands. Line up your hand in a C shape, and the other in a Ball: it can move really easily straight up and down when your forearms are in alignment.
Now, bring your forearms to a 90 degree with one another, and move the ball inside the C; do you see how one side gets pinched sooner? The same thing can happen in our hips!
This is because of something called the angle of inclination. Just as our femur spirals outwards, it also protrudes out from the hip at a particular angle.
This is the angle at which the femur comes out relative to the hip. The higher your angle, like Coxa Valga, the more likely you are to feel more comfortable with a narrow knee stance, while in Coxa Vara, your femur shoots down and out a bit more, so you’ll find more ease and your mid range in a “wider” stance squat. With Coxa Valga, your knees naturally orient closer together relative to the pelvis, so you may find you naturally have more internal rotation, compared to your Valga counterparts.
Are you exhausted yet of all the variations?
Are you excited?
Ultimately, what it comes down to is if it feels bad, it probably isn’t great. Put aside your ego, and experiment with what feels good, and what looks good. In this article, hopefully we’ve redefined what looks good, from ATG and toes forward, more towards something where your low back can maintain stability and lower without a butt wink.
And, if it feels bad, or you feel limitations beyond what might just be bony alignment, contact us to get scheduled so we can find and refine your perfect squat, just for you!
