Tips and Techniques for Perfecting Your Squat

 Reviewed by Kristin McGee, CPT

As a fundamental exercise for lower body strength and overall fitness, the squat is a compound movement that targets several muscle groups and can improve your posture, enhance your weightlifting ability, and complement your cardiovascular activity. However, the proper form remains crucial to preventing injury and ensuring you maximize the benefits of squatting.

Before you incorporate squats into your exercise regimen, you should educate yourself on how best to bend and rise while performing this movement. Below we walk you through common mistakes to avoid and specific strategies you can take to keep your body in alignment.

What is Proper Squat Form?

A squat is a popular, classic movement, beloved by fitness professionals because it targets multiple muscle groups at once (quadriceps, hamstrings, core, and glutes), which allows for greater physical benefits in less time than other exercises. To start, you should familiarize yourself with the squat’s most valuable components:1

• Where to place your feet: Keep your feet parallel to each other at about shoulder-width apart. This gives you the stability to perform the squat properly.
• Posture: Stand with your back straight and shoulders back. Rounding your shoulders can cause injury. Your spine should also stay neutral.
• Stance: Point your toes outward with a slight 10-degree angle. Keep your knees pointing straight forward.
• Range of Motion: Ensure your motion stays controlled and your feet remain flat on the ground. You do not want to jerk your body or move too fast. Also, engage your core muscles throughout the entire squat movement.
• Depth: Lower your body down to where your thighs are parallel to the ground. You can do this by pushing your feet into the ground and pushing your glutes back. If you feel any pain in the knees you should stop.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Form is the most important element in a squat, as it will mitigate risk of injuries, boost effectiveness of the movement, target muscle groups, and progress your fitness level. To avoid making any mistakes on form, you can follow these tips.

Avoid Rounding the Back

When your back loses its posture and becomes rounded in the squat, you shift what
muscles you engage. This can result in pain in the knees, hips, and hamstrings. Overtime, this mistake can lead to serious consequences, including herniated discs and spinal injuries.2

Keep Your Knees from Collapsing Inward

You might have a tendency to allow your knees to collapse to the inside, which means you are compensating for weakness in the glutes, hips, and core. This can put stress on the knees and lead to unnecessary injury. To avoid this, start by using only your body weight to perform squats. Do not add any weight and use a mirror to ensure proper form.2

Ground Your Feet

Keep your feet solidly on the ground. If you lift your heels, you have an imbalance in muscle groups between your quads and hamstrings.1 Continuing to lift your heels can lead to knee pain, joint stress, and instability. You also could pull your calf muscles. If you find yourself doing this, look in the mirror at your feet and concentrate on keeping them at a 10-degree angle, firmly planted on the ground, and shoulder-width apart.2

Master Body Alignment and Technique

These are step-by-step instructions to keep your body properly aligned during a squat. Following these recommendations can maximize the benefits of a squat:1

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with your toes at a 10-degree ankle pointed outward.
2. Engage your core, straighten out your posture, and pull your shoulders back.
3. Begin the squat by moving your hips back as though you are going to sit in a chair. You should feel your hamstrings, glutes, and quads activate.
4. Lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep your knees straight in front of you to avoid incurring any knee pain.
5. Dig your feet into the floor and drive your hips forward to push yourself back up into the starting position. Do not put your hands on your legs to help, as this can create improper form.
6. End where you started, standing straight up with proper posture and shoulders back.

Listen to Your Body

• Do not push through pain. If you feel any discomfort, stop immediately.
• If you have any questions about form, working with a certified personal trainer can help.
• You also may want to speak with a medical professional before performing squats—especially if you have had any knee or hip injuries in the past.

Improve Mobility and Flexibility

Mobility and flexibility help achieve the depth of a squat. By improving both of these factors, you also prevent injury and build muscle. For enhanced hip, ankle, and thoracic spine mobility, these stretches can help. Be sure to start with five to 10 minutes of cardio to warm up your muscles. This includes anything that raises the heart rate.3

Ankle Mobility Stretch

This stretch improves ankle dorsiflexion and creates a deeper squat. This can engage leg muscles on a deeper level as well.

1. Stand facing a wall.
2. Move one foot half a foot away from the wall.
3. Keeping your heel on the ground, bend your knee and try to touch the wall with your knee while maintaining a flat foot.
4. Hold this for 30 seconds.
5. Do the same movement on the other side.

Hip Flexor Stretch

Stretching out your hip flexors before you squat can help you keep your hips straight in front of you and thereby, work in preventing injury.

1. Kneel down on one knee and bend the other leg in front of you (like a marriage proposal).
2. Keep your back leg straight.
3. Lean forward and push down until you can feel the stretch.
4. Return slowly to the starting position.

Thoracic Spine Foam Rolling

Foam rolling puts pressure on hot spots in the body. It also works out “kinks” and can ensure a more precise, less painful squat. It also increases mobility in the thoracic spine.

1. Lie on a foam roller with the foam vertically on your spine.
2. Roll up and down in a slow motion along the roller.
3. Stop whenever you feel pain and allow the foam roller to work out the tension (similar to a massage).

Use Progression and Variations

You can progress into other squat variations once you perfected the basic form, although do not rush this process. Increasing the difficulty of the squat too quickly can lead to injury. Here are three variations to consider.

Goblet Squats

A goblet squat is a helpful technique for beginners who need more assurance with their mobility and want to increase the depth. 

1. Hold a dumbbell to your chest with both hands.
2. Perform the squat holding the weight.
3. Try to do at least 10 reps.

Box Squats

If you want to increase your depth, a box squat can build hip mobility and control.

1. Squat down into an actual chair or box instead of sitting down in an imaginary chair in a standard squat.
2. Push yourself back up using your legs and feet. Do not place your hands on the
   box to help yourself back up.

Pistol Squats

Pistol squats, which is a more advanced move, will challenge your form, balance, and mobility levels. Here is how it is done.

1. Squat on one leg and keep the other extended in front of you.
2. Use a TRX strap or elastic band to help if this is too challenging.

Using Proper Breathing Techniques

Breathing allows you to maintain form, stay stable, and avoid having your body shake too much—especially during a more complex movement such as pistol squats. Here is a breathing technique to use while performing a squat.4

1. Breathe in through your nose and expand your rib case.
2. Exhale slowly from your core as you move into the squat. This helps keep you stable.
3. Take a short breath when you reach the bottom of the squat.
4. Breathe in through the nose and fill your rib cage back up as you return to the starting position.

Utilize Visual Cues and External Feedback

Certain tools can help identify and correct form issues that may not be apparent during the movement. These include the following:

• Mirrors: You can observe your movements in real time and make immediate corrections using a mirror. This is why gyms have them all around—they help with body positioning and preventing injury.5
• Video recording: With smartphones, you can now easily record your squats in the gym or at home and observe any mistakes. Try recording from multiple angles to ensure every body part is where it should be placed during the exercise. Watching in slow motion is also a valuable correction technique.
• Knowledgeable coach or spotter: Someone else may notice things your eyes might not. This person, such as a personal trainer, can also make instant corrections.

Incorporate Recovery and Rest

Because overtraining can lead to injury, your body needs time to adapt to the movements and muscular demands you are placing on it. Here are a few tips.

• Plan rest days into your exercise schedule. Take at least two rest days per week at the beginning to rest. You should focus on recovery during this time, letting your muscles relax and taking in lots of hydration and proper nutrition.6
• Listen to your body. If you feel any pain or start to feel extra fatigued, stop working out for a few days and rest.
• Get enough sleep. Sleep will repair your muscles and allow the lactic acid that you have built up to be removed.7

Squatting is a valuable movement that builds strength in your glutes, core, hamstrings, and quad muscles, and it is considered one of the most classic exercises among fitness enthusiasts. However, you need to take certain precautions when performing it, ensuring you are properly warmed up, following the right technique, and stopping if you feel any pain. Through practice, you can continue to improve and add in advanced variations. Remember, that not every day will be perfect, but consistently working on your squats will help you build strength and mobility.