The squat

What works

There is no single correct squat; stance, bar position, and variation should be fitted to the individual. Judd Lienhard states flatly there is no best way to squat, only the variation you can load effectively without pain (Judd Lienhard, best squat). Bill Hartman calls squatting idiosyncratic, driven by individual structure and center-of-gravity management (Bill Hartman), Dr. Jordan Shallow derives bar position from the combined center of mass of lifter and bar rather than fixed landmarks (Dr. Jordan Shallow), and Dr. Alyssa Olenick has lifters experiment with stance width, foot angle, and high versus low bar to suit their hip anatomy (Dr. Alyssa Olenick). Joan MacDonald finds a client's natural stance by having them squat with support and adjusting until comfortable, often wider with toes out around 45 degrees (Joan MacDonald). The Starretts go further: deliberately squat with feet straight, turned out, and turned in to keep rotational options available for sport (The Ready State).

Knees traveling past the toes is normal and necessary. Jeff Cavaliere calls forward tibia travel and ankle dorsiflexion biomechanically correct and required for a deep squat (Jeff Cavaliere, again), Lienhard labels the never-past-the-toes rule outdated and recommends loaded full knee flexion at least weekly with box or partial regressions for older or injured knees (Judd Lienhard), and Michelle MacDonald acknowledges the knee-protection claim is not supported by evidence, though she personally still prefers a more vertical shin for her own mechanics (Michelle MacDonald).

Squat as deep as clean form allows; use full range for muscle and mobility. Deeper squats engage glutes and adductors better than partials above 90 degrees, so anyone who can go below 90 should, dropping load if needed to rebuild strength through the range (Dr. Alyssa Olenick). The depth ceiling is form: stop where knees cave, heels lift, or the torso pitches (Dr. Alyssa Olenick). Gray Cook treats squatting as essential daily-life capacity, restored by making the pattern easier first (assistance), then loading (Gray Cook).

A wide menu of variations keeps everyone squatting around limitations. For shoulder or cervical issues use safety bar or Zercher squats; Zerchers allow nearly anyone to hit depth, build the mid and upper back, and need no wrist or shoulder mobility (Judd Lienhard, Zercher case). Cavaliere builds legs without traditional squats for people in pain, using goblet, box, and drop-squat variants, and switches low-bar squatters with shoulder pain to high bar or front squats (Jeff Cavaliere, shoulder fix). Dr. Mike Israetel uses belt squats for torso-femur mismatches and tunes machine setups (feet low, toes out, heel support) for quad emphasis (Dr. Mike Israetel). Box squats give older adults a depth target and failure catch (Jeff Cavaliere), and beginners learn the pattern with goblet, RNT goblet, or dumbbell drop squats (Dr. Pat Davidson, Jeff Cavaliere).

Squats are not bad for knees; they are knee medicine when dosed correctly. Dr. Sohee Carpenter repeats across posts that squats are not inherently harmful, that specific ranges and loads may not suit a given knee, and that tailored, progressive squatting builds knee capacity and tolerance (Dr. Sohee Carpenter, ACL guidance). Lienhard's knee-pain toolkit swaps in box squats, low bar, sumo, machine, or single-leg squats and adjusts stance and foot angle (Judd Lienhard).

Brace first, then worry about the chest. Breathe in with the ribs drawn down and push air into the back and sides to create the brace before any chest-up cue (Judd Lienhard). Michelle MacDonald pulls the bar into the back like a lat pulldown, breathes into the belly, and holds total-body tension through the descent and between reps (Michelle MacDonald), and Joan MacDonald cues contracting abs, obliques, and back with the ribcage pulled toward the pelvis (Joan MacDonald). The chest-up cue itself is conditional: with good upper-thoracic mobility (roughly C5 to T6) it tightens the bar path; without it, it produces lower-thoracic hyperextension and anterior pelvic tilt (Judd Lienhard).

Own your foot pressure. Balanced pressure between ball of foot and heel keeps you centered under load, and pause isometrics reveal whether an athlete drifts to toes or heels (The Ready State, pauses). A solid tripod foot and clean knee tracking through the whole rep keep the weight centered (Judd Lienhard), and Dr. Bill Campbell's technique checklist runs feet hip width, toes slightly out, hips back, chest up, weight through midfoot and heel, knees tracking over toes (Dr. Bill Campbell). If adding weight fundamentally changes foot pressure, that is the signal to reconsider the load (The Ready State).

For specific situations

• Heel elevation. Plates, wedges, or lifting shoes reduce ankle-mobility demands and let almost everyone reach depth comfortably (Dr. Alyssa Olenick, Judd Lienhard). Hartman adds the trade-offs: flat feet allow the greatest force production, and heel elevation biases external rotation with possible knee and lumbar compensations, so use it temporarily and progressively reduce it (Bill Hartman).
• Long femurs or limited hips. Widen the stance and turn the toes out to reach depth before demanding mobility work (Dr. Alyssa Olenick); short torso and long femurs also favor wide-stance high bar with knees tracking forward (Dr. Mike Israetel).
• Solo lifters. Squat inside a rack with safety rails set to catch a failed rep; learn to bail (lean back, let the bar roll off, jump forward) and set J-hooks at shoulder height, even on both sides, always stepping backward out of the rack (Dr. Alyssa Olenick, rack setup).
• Depth by goal. Powerlifters train to their required parallel; athletes may add partials for sport-specific explosiveness (Dr. Alyssa Olenick); jumpers and sprinters can use heel-elevated work to train foot stiffness alongside proximal corrections (Bill Hartman).
• Pregnancy (second trimester on). Widen the stance to make room and expect range to shrink as pregnancy progresses (Dr. Sohee Carpenter).
• Hypermobile trainees. Hallinan restricts them to quarter squats to protect pelvic stability and diaphragmatic function, and reserves his feet-together therapeutic "natural squat" for downregulation rather than loading (Neal Hallinan).
• Athletes. Squat positions that look good slow and light often break down at speed; train squat shapes under velocity and change of direction to build durability (The Ready State).
• Hypertrophy blocks. Twenty-rep or rest-pause back squats double as quad hypertrophy and metabolic conditioning (Judd Lienhard); Smith machine squats with feet forward, sets of 12 with slow descent, emphasize quads (Dr. Mike Israetel).

Open questions

• Should everyone chase maximum depth? Olenick and Lienhard push full range for anyone who can achieve it (Dr. Alyssa Olenick, Judd Lienhard). Hartman counters that most individuals perform best in the middle propulsive phase matching their structural bias, not the deepest positions, and that hip replacements and anatomy can make deep squats compensation-dependent (Bill Hartman, structure limits). Hallinan adds the hypermobile exception (Neal Hallinan). Practical resolution: default to full range, cap it by structure, symptoms, and control.
• Shin angle. Cavaliere, Lienhard, and Israetel all want forward knee travel for depth and quad loading, while Michelle MacDonald personally advocates a vertical shin with the knee behind the ankle even as she concedes the anti-forward-travel evidence is weak (Michelle MacDonald). Treat vertical-shin squatting as a hip-dominant style choice, not a safety rule.

Cautions

• Buttwink: Hartman flags deep-squat lumbar flexion as a compensatory strategy that magnifies compressive spinal forces; treat repeated loaded buttwink as a depth limiter (Bill Hartman).
• Straight-ahead feet with knees forced out can let lifters move more weight by exploiting joint constraints, at the cost of joint stress (Bill Hartman).

Putting it into practice

• Default squat depth: as deep as possible with a neutral-ish spine, flat feet, and clean knee tracking; below parallel preferred for hypertrophy and mobility goals, with load reduced to rebuild range where needed.
• Never cue "knees behind toes"; allow and encourage forward knee travel matched to depth and comfort.
• Individualize stance during onboarding: supported deep squat to find natural width and toe angle; offer high bar, low bar, safety bar, Zercher, goblet, box, and belt squat variants keyed to mobility and pain flags.
• For knee pain: keep squatting with modified depth, load, stance, or variation; progress capacity rather than removing the pattern.
• Permit heel elevation for ankle-limited users, tagged as a temporary aid with periodic flat-foot exposure.
• Teach bracing sequence before chest cues: ribs down, 360-degree breath, then position the chest according to thoracic mobility.
• Include solo-lifter safety onboarding: rack rails, J-hook height, bail technique.
• For athletes, add squat-pattern work at speed and in change-of-direction contexts, plus pause isometrics to audit foot pressure.

Experts in this guide: ACL guidance, Bill Hartman, Dr. Alyssa Olenick, Dr. Bill Campbell, Dr. Jordan Shallow, Dr. Mike Israetel, Dr. Pat Davidson, Dr. Sohee Carpenter, Gray Cook, Gunnar Peterson, Jeff Cavaliere, Joan MacDonald, Judd Lienhard, Michelle MacDonald, Neal Hallinan, The Ready State, Zercher case, again, best squat, pauses, rack setup, shoulder fix, structure limits.

Before you act. Entrain is a free knowledge resource. It brings together what named doctors, scientists and coaches teach publicly, with sources, so you can explore and discuss it with your own clinician. It does not diagnose, treat or prescribe, and it is not a substitute for medical care.