Dear Lifters, I have a question?

When you are squatting, think of it like sitting in a chair; never let your knees pass your toes. You will find it very awkward at first especially since it is a motion that your body does not perform often. You may also notice that you barely "squat". Take note, however, that in time, your body will adapt, become stronger and soon you will be "sitting" on the floor. It is easily for our feet to turn outwards; yes, I'm guilty of that as well. You just have to make a conscious effort in watching your form, i.e, knees over toes and hunched back. You will get there don't worry. Good luck!

I have a right foot that turns out to the right due to some foot trauma and surgery, so I can't get it parallel to my left foot when I squat. I do 80 squats every other day. I worried about my form in the beginning but everything I was told, was, if you hold your knees correctly and your shoulders correctly and your footing is solid, it doesn't matter if they are turned a little in or out, if that is their intrinsic nature.

I have been doing squats for over 3 months and I have improved my squatting strength, overall leg and abdominal strength and have suffered NO injuries.

Might be time to bring in a professional who can help you in person. I found I have this problem as well, but not as pronounced as you, it sounds like. I was working with my yoga instructor to slowly work on bringing my knees into better work alignment. My problem is from a few years of working with horses.

My boyfriend has terrible flexibility and in a little less than a month he has completely transformed his squats.
He youtube videos on how to stretch hips and looked up articles on stretching hips and ankles for squats.

The best stretch we have found that has helped me out tremendously is as follows(sorry if its hard to understand without pics):
Stand facing a bar or in front of something you can hold on too in squatting position
Keep feet at about shoulder with apart and feet slightly pointed outward(to where your knees follow the path without bringing your heels up when squatting)
Now go as low as you can
Grabbing the pole or whatever you chose keep your hands on it and use your elbows to push your knees.
Now while doing this keep your heels on the ground your back straight and chest up.

Its really hard to explain but I'll try and take pictures at the gym tomorrow to show you what I mean!!!

All in all just look up some stretches and perform them daily.

A cue for you with your knees turning inward when you're standing;

Show your crotch off.

If you make a conscious effort to do so, you contract your glutes, push your hips forward into better alignment and forces your knees to externally rotate

If you need help with squats, start with box squats to get used to how deep you are supposed to go, and get used to the proper form.

Essentially, with the squat, what you want to aim for is whole body tension, bracing your muscles in anticipation of the whole body lift. You don't want to compromise your shoulders or round your back, you want to keep you back straight and braced, and pivot from the hips and knees, keeping the weight of the bar over the middle of your feet, or slightly towards the middle-back of your feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNGnxRxCWPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edmMGoVIBW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVNMMJnotnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm1OYuX0-sI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUka0l0BFf8

I don't know why they are in 5 parts, but the guys over at Diesel have some seriously good videos on all kinds of lifts and proper form and technique. Watching their stuff taught me a lot.

I highly reccomend their Deadlift video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nRRlk6264I

And the Bench press video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUcjOIZc80c

While most women wouldn't think that the deadlift and bench press would target the muscle groups that most women want to tighten up and grow, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Women lack the hormonal profile to build muscle mass in any kind of rapid fashion. I'm sure you already know this, but the big 3 full body lifts are incredible for gaining muscle strength, building muscle endurance quickly, and making big gains.

I'm personally a fan of *reverse* pyramid training, Where you start with your heaviest set at the beginning, and step down in weight as your muscles fatigue.

For example, when I do my bench press, I do a very light weight, but perfect repetition warmup, maybe 60 or 80 pounds. Something like 2 sets of 3 or 4 repetitions is enough to get my ready for the full strength effort.

I set up the bar with 145, and I lift that, with perfect form x6. Then 3 minutes rest, and I step the weight down to 130 lbs, and do that x8. 3 min rest, and I do 125 x10.

I like the reverse pyramid because you put the highest weight on fresh muscles, it seems counter intuitive to increase the weight as they fatigue, but that's just my personal style. Find something that works for you!

But form is always critical, it will increase your lifting by several factors when you have good form

Hey guys,

So I tried starting Stronglifts up again earlier this summer, but I pasued due to knowing that my form wasn't quite right, and I didn't want to continue for fear of injury, etc.

My main concern is squats - I've always had terrible flexibility when it comes to squats, but when I'm just standing my feet naturally turn out and my knees turn in, so it's a bit awkward for me. When I squat and push my knees out, my feet are almost completely turned out. (I hope that makes sense?)

Basically, I think my feet are turning out way too much and I'm sure it's a flexibility issue. I read about the Squat to Stand warmup method, and I will be trying that, but was wondering if anyone else struggled with this and overcame it and had any other useful information? I just want to make sure I can lift without worrying about hurting myself. (:

Thank you!

There are good YouTube videos that show proper squat form, but best is to have someone well-versed in lifting to teach you the proper lifts in-person. Doesn't have to be a CPT of sorts but someone well-versed in lifting. I've taught squatting and deadlifting to my wife years back and she has perfect form, but it's technique. And practicing that technique over and over and over again is how you're going to get stellar form.