When squatting, don't just keep your knees above your toes

In the process of fitness, squats are a common exercise. Many fitness enthusiasts know that the knees cannot go beyond the toes, because this can easily cause knee injuries. However, many people do not know that in addition to this, there are other irregular postures that can easily hurt the back. Therefore, when doing squats, you must follow some training principles.

Squats should follow these three requirements: 1. The movement starts with the hips sinking backwards. 2. The knees and ankles bend with the hips. 3. The center of gravity is kept on the heels, and the heels cannot leave the ground, whether it is front squats or back squats, dumbbell squats or barbell squats, or the most basic bodyweight squats. In fact, all three requirements are followed, and the most obvious manifestation of meeting these three requirements is that the toes do not exceed the knees.

Another thing to note is that when many people first start doing squats, they focus their force on the quadriceps (muscles on the front of the thigh) and ignore the role of the gluteus maximus. If this is the case, the force that should be borne by the gluteus maximus will be transferred to your knees, making them vulnerable even if your knees do not extend beyond your toes.

Keeping your knees above your toes will hurt your back

Because the human body is a sophisticated machine. Even the same movement can be performed by different body structures. When you squat, especially with weights. If you restrict the movement of one joint, your body will automatically transfer that stress to other parts of your body. When squatting, in order to control the center of gravity on the soles of the feet and ensure that the knees do not exceed the toes, the back is unconsciously arched, bent and fell backwards, and the buttocks are leaning back, making it impossible to make the thighs parallel to the ground and complete a standard squat. In addition, when following the principle of not letting the knees exceed the toes, we also ignore another key factor: personal body structure. The longer your thigh bones, the more difficult it is to keep your knees above your toes when squatting. If you are worried about not being able to get your knees beyond your toes when doing squats, you might want to consider this factor.

What principles should squats follow?

In a correct squat, the movement should be dominated by sinking the hips backward and downward. When this condition is met, even if your knees extend beyond your toes, it usually does not cause damage to your knees. Make sure your back doesn't arch and push yourself into a full squat (with thighs parallel to the ground). Finally, the knees should not exceed the toes.