awkwardsoul wrote: »

It depends what your lifting goals are and the style of squat.

A wider stance low bar will let you move more weight and will get you a good posterior chain, but not much in the quads. ATG depth high bar and front squat will develop those quads more than posterior and require a more narrow stance for balance.

So, if I was doing 5x5 strong lift squats and I have to do them every workout, would it be beneficial to vary my stance? So one workout wide stance, the other more narrow or should one focus on one goal at a time? Right now, my stance is more narrow, like hip-width apart, haven't tried the wider stance. I go down not super slow, but not super fast- I know that's not a super helpful gauge, but I try to keep moving.

I do my stance based in part what is comfortable for me. I don't have my feet overly wide, a little more than shoulder width but not much more. I do point my toes out at an angle because it helps so that my stomach doesn't rest on my thighs when I'm in the bottom of the squat. I go up slow because the weight is heavy, lol. Then again, since I started with high bar and didn't do low bar until months later, I actually can lift heavier with high bar than low bar, which isn't the norm.

Bar position (low versus high) and other can be a factor too. And ATG is a reference to going lower than parallel, basically as low as you can go in good form but not sitting on the ground, while trying to limit rounding that can occur at a certain point.

Every single person will have a different squat stance & form due to differences in anatomy. Pelvic joints come in all shapes & sizes, you'd be surprised how much they differ person to person.

Squat however is comfortable for your body & ask a friend to film you so you can check your form.

Yes there are slight differences in amounts of muscle fibres recruited between different techniques, but unless you're training as an athlete or for a sports-specific goal, don't over-think it.

Squat however comes naturally to you. If you're slowly getting stronger, you're doing it right.

My crossfit trainer has me do squats holding to a pole in front so I can get the whole range of motion while building up my muscles. I have arthritis in my knees and this is really helping me building up the muscles. I can do squats without holding on to pole (I do them this way in boot camp) bu7t the form is not as good at all, and they are not as deep. By going a lot deeper with the pole, my knees are feeling a lot better.

As long as I remember to push my knees out and not let them cave to the inside I do great with squats. Those times I lose my focus and let the knees go in I end up hurting them. It helps to have a mirror to look at while doing the squats for this reason.