Knees travelling forward on Squat

[iCookie]

I am wondering if its bad when the knees travel forward on the squat?

My knees tend to travel forward when squatting down, even though I push my hips back as far as I possibly can.

[eLvarouza]

Your knees must travel forward to keep the system in balance. We push the knees forward at the start while we break the hips so the knees come forward early and stay there. If the knees come forward at the bottom the hamstrings get shortened and cannot contribute as well to the hip extension.

[LudwigVan]

My knees tend to travel forward when squatting down, even though I push my hips back as far as I possibly can.

As eLv's comment implies, your knees travel forward because you're pushing your hips back as far as you possibly can. The bar must stay over the middle of the foot, so hips back must be balanced by knees forward.

[iCookie]

Well, at the very beginning of the squat, the first thing I do is to push my hips back as far as I can. Then when I can't push them back further, I start bending at my knees in order to lower myself all the way down.

As I go down, my knees tend to travel slowly forward all the way to the bottom of the hole. BUT, my hips don't go any further backwards than they did in the beginning of the motion.

Sorta hard to explain, but here's a pic I made to supplement:

If you can't see the whole pic, try zooming out in browser

Notice that the hips go back only at the beginning, then they stay there throughout the movement. But the knees move slowly forward all the time to the bottom.

So is this wrong technique or does it sound right?

[guru]

Your hip joint & knee joint should break at the same time, not one after the other. If you take the hips back without bending at the knees, your butt will move back first & then forward when you bend the knees. That will take the stretch out of the hamstrings. Knees do come forward, but it should not be so much as to cause that.

[LudwigVan]

Well, at the very beginning of the squat, the first thing I do is to push my hips back as far as I can. Then when I can't push them back further, I start bending at my knees in order to lower myself all the way down.

This is wrong. Knees should assume their forward position during the first part of your descent.

[iCookie]

Hm, well in this article there is a video of Mehdi squatting, and he seems to move his hips all the way back first then bend at the knee...is he doing it wrong?

[fideli]

Hm, well in this article there is a video of Mehdi squatting, and he seems to move his hips all the way back first then bend at the knee...is he doing it wrong?

iCookie, I think it's this article that you're referring to. FWIW, I think Mehdi's knees and hips break at the same time. The difference between bad squats and good squats is subtle in his video, but I think the emphasis is on sitting back, rather than hip/knee break time. To me it appears that the point is to sit back into the squat, while still allowing the knees to bend when the hip does.

Well, at the very beginning of the squat, the first thing I do is to push my hips back as far as I can. Then when I can't push them back further, I start bending at my knees in order to lower myself all the way down.

This is wrong. Knees should assume their forward position during the first part of your descent.

I think it may seem like you're doing your squat the way that picture shows, but it doesn't seem possible to push your hips that far back while keeping your knees extended in the second position of that figure. It's likely that you're actively focusing on pushing the hips back, but that your knees break simultaneously as your hips or a split second later.

[iCookie]

Okay then, so bending at the knees and hips at the same time will not be a problem.

So if I push my hips back at the beginning, and at the same time try to keep my shins perpindicular to the floor in the beginning, will that be correct technique?

[JasonLB]

Contrary to a lot of information on the internet, how far forward the knees travel is going to be different from one person to the next. It's a misunderstanding to try and force the shins into a perpendicular position. There are a lot of factors, but bar placement, stance width, and the way you are personally built (i.e., limb/torso ratios) all combine and determine how far forward your knees must travel in order to keep the bar balanced over the middle of your feet. For most people, during a proper low bar squat with a moderate stance width (right around shoulder width), the knees will end up just in front of the toes. So, because they are going to get there one way or another, the key is to get your knees in the right position well before you reach the bottom of the squat. As has been pointed out, letting them slide forward at the bottom will rob you of a lot of power and may even lead to knee and hip problems down the line.

[guru]

So if I push my hips back at the beginning, and at the same time try to keep my shins perpindicular to the floor in the beginning, will that be correct technique?

Keeping shins perpendicular is a box squat requisite. But then it's a different exercise.

[iCookie]

Hm, so where should I keep my knees?

The thing is, I like to think in my head that I want to keep them perpendicular, as that seems to make it easier for me to push my hips back properly...

So usually for me, in the beginning they are pretty perpendicular. But as I go down, they slowly slide in a fluid motion to a position where they are just over the toes when I am in the bottom of the hole. Then as I go up from the hole, they go slowly back to perpendicular again. Is this doing the exercise wrong?

[eLvarouza]

You're making it more complicated than it is. Push your knees out and forward, then drop your hips down below parallel while keeping your knees shoved out.

[iCookie]

I tried pushing the knees a bit out on the first part of the squat, and I felt my hamstring stretch didn't really get as good as with my previous technique...

Is it really wrong to start with knees perpendicular, then let them naturally slide forward as they want when I go down in the hole? When doing it this way, my hamstrings seem to get a better stretch...

[iCookie]

Anybody knows?