What is the correct foot placement for each Squat Variation?

rigmaroll

There are a number of Squat Variations which include the Olympic Squat,High Bar Squat, Hybrid Squat, Low Bar Squat, Front Squat,Jump Squat and Overhead Squat among others.

Can someone clarify what is the correct foot position for each of the above squats.

Alf Veedersane

There isn't a template for correct foot positions.

Kelly Starrett suggests toes straight ahead, other people disagree. There's a range of widths people use for the majority of the squats depending on their make-up.

Squatman

feet should be on the ground for all of the above

rigmaroll

I thought in general Low Bar requires a wider stance(wider than shoulder width) and High Bar requires a narrow stance but I'm not sure how narrow.

Hanley

There is no "correct" position for any, or all of them.

Generally though, olympic variations (front / OH / HB) will be closer stance and powerlifting variations will be wider.

BUT, and this is what people always miss on t'internet, "wide" stance for a raw lifter is about 1/2 to 1 foot width wider than narrow.

Nervous Wreck

Hanley wrote: »

BUT, and this is what people always miss on t'internet, "wide" stance for a raw lifter is about 1/2 to 1 foot width wider than narrow.

Don't listen to this. High bar sumo squat stance ftw!

:pac:

.ak

I try and vary them as much as possible. Just like the DL I find I hit different muscle groups depending on feet position.

For example, on a normal squat, I will try and get my toes forward and knees pointing forward to isolate my quads. However, spreading your knees will allow you to get deeper but I find my quads aren't getting hit as much and it ends up being more of a core/hip/glute exercise.

With a lot of the above mentioned squats your flexibility will probably determine exactly how you use your feet. The idea though is the more flexibility you get the more options you have. For example, the above example I gave, keeping your knees relatively narrow and straight means your hip flexors must be pretty flexible and your lower lumbar well supported by a decent core stability.

The main thing is your not putting strain or sheer on your knees. That's bad. I see people's knees going way past their toes just so they can get lower, that's stupid imo. There's only so much sheer your knees can take over the years.

Mellor

.ak wrote: »

I try and vary them as much as possible. Just like the DL I find I hit different muscle groups depending on feet position.

For example, on a normal squat, I will try and get my toes forward and knees pointing forward to isolate my quads. However, spreading your knees will allow you to get deeper but I find my quads aren't getting hit as much and it ends up being more of a core/hip/glute exercise.

Different foot placement will hit different muscles in different ways, but that’s not a good reason on its own to vary your foot position as much as possible imo. Unless you are limited by only having a certain max load available at home perhaps.
If an overly narrow stance isolates quads, another way to look at it is “removing hip activation”, conversely a very wide stance removes quad activation. Why would that be a target in a main lift? (as opposed to an assistance lift). I try to choose the foot placement that will allow me to lift the most weight, in my mind this is the right width for me. Just because it doesn’t bias one muscle or the other doesn’t mean they are working any less individually. I ‘d assume that most weight lifted = most force produced = most muscle activation overall. If I was to adjust my squat width next week, to a position where I’m not as strong, I’d most likely miss reps.

It’s probably easy to equate adjusting foot position with something like close grip bench press, but the difference in my mind, is that CGBP is a specific assistance lift to aid the main bench press, it’s not a random grip change to hit the muscles differently – I imagine trying to do that and follow any kind of progressive loading.
If you want to vary the muscle activation that’s fine. But I’d assume it’s better to do so by switching to high/low bar for a phase, including a squat variation as assistance to the main lift and target weak areas, or some other structured change instead of constantly varying once aspect of the lift such as stance.

With a lot of the above mentioned squats your flexibility will probably determine exactly how you use your feet. The idea though is the more flexibility you get the more options you have. For example, the above example I gave, keeping your knees relatively narrow and straight means your hip flexors must be pretty flexible and your lower lumbar well supported by a decent core stability.

The main thing is your not putting strain or sheer on your knees. That's bad. I see people's knees going way past their toes just so they can get lower, that's stupid imo. There's only so much sheer your knees can take over the years.

Any weightlifting will cause stress on your muscles and joints, but the physical adaption to these stress is what makes us stronger. I’m pretty sure studies show that people who lift weights have stronger and more stable joints than those who don’t.
The whole idea that your knees shouldn’t go past your toes is myth that refuses to die. Look at high level Olympic lifters, their knees will almost uniformly be past their toes in the hole. It’s just some arbitrary point that somebody decided on. And it ignores a lot of more important variables. If I have longer/shorter feet, are my knees somehow able to withstand more/less force? Obviously not.
If the knees are kept in-line with toes, then the increase in force on the knee is not significant. What is a danger, is letting your knees drift inwards. This greats a valgus force on the knee, which is pretty bad. That’s something that can happen at any depth, or any toe to knee relative position. Instead of avoiding knees past toes, we should be avoiding knees collapsing inwards.

Yes, knees going past your toes will increase the force at your knees by maybe 20-25%. But there’s no reason to believe that this increase is suddenly beyond what can be tolerated in. More importantly, restricting your knees to a more vertical position, means you have to compensate elsewhere, which leads to an increase in force on the hip of up to 1000% - how is this increase more acceptable the other? Furthermore, if you somebody is squatting high to avoid knees past toes, then they are likely able to squat a heavier load. A heavier load means more force on the joints, so they probably just put back in stress on the knees that they were trying to avoid.


hmmm, that ended up being a lot longer than I imagined