Tips on squats?

bumblebums

I'm going to go with a few less-obvious pointers.

1) Your thumbs should be in line with the rest of your fingers, over the bar. The bar doesn't sit in the crook of your hand- that puts a lot of strain on your wrists.
2) Engage your traps before even picking up the weight.
3) Engage all your 'core' muscles to keep your back in the right position.
4) If the bar starts going down, move out of the way and let it fall.
5) Keep your weight centered over your midfoot. You should not be leaning on your toes or the balls of your feet. If you do that, your knees will end up going where they're supposed to go.
6) Good form is always more effective than more weight, if you have to sacrifice form to add weight, you're not ready to add the weight.

This and wareagle's pointers are good advice. I am not a veteran squatter, but I am a veteran yogi, and someone who's nursing a 14-year old knee injury (torn meniscus, which happened at the bottom of a squat) along with some recurrent lower back problems. So I have only a few things to add, informed by my knowledge of good knee alignment and back alignment:

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.
8) Each leg should stay in the same plane when you squat. Do not let the knees drift out or in. No lateral movement, only up and down movement.
9) Slightly arching your back helps to keep the legs in correct position. Try squatting without a weight with your lower back arched vs. curled in--you'll notice that your knees end up in different places. Also, arching the back helps keep the barbell in place and allows you to look forward.

username_misso

there are a lot of people here giving a lot of different advice - i also suggest googling mark rippetoe's video.

there are heaps of tweaks you can make later depending on a lot of different things (ie, width of stance, angle of feet, position of bar on your back, a million other things...) but to get you started his instruction will give you the best base.

dont be worried about not being strong enough to go down far enough, just stick with it and keep practising proper form.
you can start with just your bodyweight, or use a plain old broomstick or something to get your arms into the right position.

you might find sitting back onto a box or chair helpful, it just used to freak me about missing it! lol

taso42

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.

Everything you wrote except this was pretty sound.

If you avoid bending your knee more than 90 degrees, you won't make full depth and won't engage the hamstrings. This is bad for your knees. Even if you've never had knee problems, this will create one for you.

bumblebums

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.

Everything you wrote except this was pretty sound.

If you avoid bending your knee more than 90 degrees, you won't make full depth and won't engage the hamstrings. This is bad for your knees. Even if you've never had knee problems, this will create one for you.

Well, I busted my meniscus in a squat, with the knees fully bent. I will not be doing this again. YMMV--like I said, I speak from experience with this injury.

taso42

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.

Everything you wrote except this was pretty sound.

If you avoid bending your knee more than 90 degrees, you won't make full depth and won't engage the hamstrings. This is bad for your knees. Even if you've never had knee problems, this will create one for you.

Well, I busted my meniscus in a squat, with the knees fully bent. I will not be doing this again. YMMV--like I said, I speak from experience with this injury.

Sorry to hear that . Could it be possible that with your specific injury squats are not be advised at all? To the best of my knowledge, partial squats do more harm than good to the knees (but for reasons altogether different than your injury).

bumblebums

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.

Everything you wrote except this was pretty sound.

If you avoid bending your knee more than 90 degrees, you won't make full depth and won't engage the hamstrings. This is bad for your knees. Even if you've never had knee problems, this will create one for you.

Behold! Bumblebums has returned with science behind her.

" For the knee joint, there was no difference between the 45°, 90° and parallel, but for the deep squat the loading moment increased significantly."

P. Wretenberg*, Y. Feng, F. Lindberg, U. p. Arboreilus, "Joint moments of force and quadriceps muscle activity during squatting exercise", Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports Volume 3, Issue 4, pages 244–250, December 1993
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0838.1993.tb00389.x/abstract

bumblebums

7) If you have ever had knee problems, do not bend your knees more than 90 degrees in a squat. Your knee should be over your foot, preferably over your ankle or arch.

Everything you wrote except this was pretty sound.

If you avoid bending your knee more than 90 degrees, you won't make full depth and won't engage the hamstrings. This is bad for your knees. Even if you've never had knee problems, this will create one for you.

Well, I busted my meniscus in a squat, with the knees fully bent. I will not be doing this again. YMMV--like I said, I speak from experience with this injury.

Sorry to hear that . Could it be possible that with your specific injury squats are not be advised at all? To the best of my knowledge, partial squats do more harm than good to the knees (but for reasons altogether different than your injury).

I think the worry about partial squats might be more relevant to patellar knee injuries, not meniscal. What I have learned from yoga (where a lot of time is spent with knees bent) is that 90 degrees is the ideal angle for knees when the legs are bearing any sort of load--either that or straight legs with the knees not locked. I think with knee injuries, it's important to be careful, but it's also important to keep the muscles strong and flexible around the knee. So I am all for squats now.

taso42

Trying it out here, unweighted, I cannot for the life of me reach even parallel if I restrict my knee angle to 90 degrees. [mod edit]