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How to Do Squats Properly
Even experts can’t agree on the right way to do one
The best way to do a squat is to keep your feet pointed straight in front of you. No, wait — you should point your feet slightly outward. Actually, your feet should be shoulder width apart, or no, they should be slightly wider, or maybe narrower. Squat until your knees hit 90 degrees, then push back up. Or perhaps you should squat as low as you can go.
Confused yet? So am I.
I’ve been writing about fitness for almost two decades, and over those years, I’ve heard (and, I’ll be honest, written) a lot of conflicting advice about the proper way to do a squat. Let’s try this again, in 2020.
A squat would seem like such a basic thing. And yet, ideas about the proper way to perform the exercise “seem to be almost like a religion,” says Silvio Lorenzetti, head of the performance sport section at the Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen. Although a lot of practices in strength training are now evidence-based, in earlier times, Lorenzetti says, “It was the coach’s opinion that was always right.” A really convincing coach could activate a placebo response among athletes — by creating a strong expectation that this program would get results, the athletes would believe that it did.
Practices were built as much on beliefs as on objective evidence, which is why there were multiple schools of thought on what was best. Even today, a lot of fitness advice that’s given is based on the way things have always been done, rather than on scientific evidence.
But conflicting advice about squat technique doesn’t always reflect differences in philosophy. In many cases, the variations arise from contrasting definitions and objectives, says Ryan DeBell, founder of Movement Fix, a program that offers workshops and courses for fitness training. “The reason so many people disagree is that they don’t define squatting the same way or fundamentally agree on what they’re trying to do,” he says.
The best way to execute a squat depends a lot on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Squatting is a natural movement that people around the world do when they’re resting or pooping, and in that case, they might let…
