This is a guest post from Kevin Yates, founder of Yates Performance Training, and new blogger over at Post Rehab Exercise. Check out his new site, read the article below, and then watch the video to the right. Thanks Kevin!
Just because your knees hurt squatting doesn’t mean that squats are a bad exercise. In fact, squats and lunges have gotten such a bad reputation for causing knee, hip and lower back problems when this is absolutely not true.
In this post I will share 3 alternatives to eliminate knee pain squatting but before I get there you need to know why squats hurt your knees.
In nearly a decade of working with clients who have had issues such as back pain, lower back fusion surgery, knee pain, meniscus surgery, acl reconstruction, knee replacements, hip replacement surgery and other nagging injuries I have yet to see any indication where squats were directly responsible for knee pain or back injuries.
The truth is that knee pain during squats is almost always the result of doing the exercises incorrectly. Squats will not hurt your knees if you do them correctly. But, most people do not perform them correctly even if they think they do.
Mistakes That Make Your Knees Hurt
Below are the most common mistakes I have identified in individuals whose knees hurt squatting. Just one of these mistakes is enough to feel knee pain during squats:
- Weight on the toes: This happens a lot when using too much weight which tends to pull your body too far forward. Other times it’s simply a lack of awareness of how to distribute one’s body weight.
- Knees moving forward while squatting: This is another common example of using too much weight. It can also be the result of the quadriceps (thigh muscles) overcompensating for weak glutes.
- Thigh and lower back muscles doing most of the work: This happens when the glutes and hamstrings are weak. When you lack proper hip strength muscle imbalances often result in the quadriceps and lower back over working. This is one of the main reasons for knee pain during squatting.
- Glutes and hamstrings are weak: These muscles need to be properly strengthened in order to eliminate knee and lower back pain.
- Trunk collapsing too far forward: This is a sure-fire sign of weak core muscles and/or quadricep and lower back overcompensation. Typically, weakness in the abdominal and hip muscles are the problem.
Now that you know why your knees hurt squatting we can focus on 3 simple guidelines and alternatives you can use to get rid of painful knees and use squats to strengthen your core and hip muscles.
In the video below I share some unique tips to use so you’ll eliminate knee pain during squats. And at 3:38 I reveal a powerful tip to strengthen your hips almost nobody knows about.
3 Squat Alternatives
- Static squat: teaches the basic technique of squatting. To do this stay back on your heels and slowly descend into a half squat position and hold. The goal is to focus on using your glutes and hamstrings and not just your quadriceps (thighs). Once you master this it’s time to move on to some progressions listed below.
Dumbbell deadlifts: an easier option rather than using a barbell because barbell deadlifts pull you forward which can make it harder to stay back on your heels. The difference when using dumbbells is that the dumbbells stay at your sides and don’t have as much forward pull which makes it easier to maintain proper technique- Dumbbell front squats: these help you maintain a more upright trunk because the weight of the dumbbells has a slight forward pull to it which makes you counter balance by remaining upright. You’ll automatically pull yourself to a more upright position to even out the load.
So, what do you think of this post? Anything you disagree with? Any tips of your own that you think should be included? Let us know in the comments below.
Age: 33
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Squat is by far my favourite exercise.
I have yet to see any other single movement which can produce such fantastic results!
I absolutely agree with your form recommendations. One must stay on their heels and learn to recruit the glutes and hamstrings.
How do you feel about heavy, squat-stance good mornings to improve the squat?
Personally, this movement got my glues/hams up to par while strengthening my core immensely!
Two weeks ago I enjoyed settings a pr in the 20 rep squat: 320 for 20 reps. It was pure brutality!!
Take care, thanks for the read. I’ll be referring people to this post for sure!
Hi Kevin. I have 2 questions. First, in your video above you don’t seem to go all the way down to the floor. Is that necessary to get the max benefit of squatting. Secondly, I’m in the process of losing weight (75 lbs so far), but I’m 5′2 at 188 and my knees hurt before I bend down..once I get down I cannot get back up. Should i stop doing squats until I lose more wgt and strenghten my knees. I want to lift my butt!! Thank you for your advice.
Hi Marlissa,
Once you go below 90 degrees of hip and knee flexion (below parallel) on the squat you place too much compression on the knee joints which can lead to injury.
There’s no reason you need to go further. Also, going further reduces the activation of the glutes and hamstrings which are the primary muscles that should be working.
As for your knee issues, and this is considering that your knees are apparently healthy other than feeling pain before you bend down.
Most of the time, the issue is that you’re probably initiating the descent into your squat without properly using your abdominal and hip muscles.
This almost always results in the quadriceps (and hip flexors) over compensating which creates compression to the knee joints.
An easy way to tell if this is happening is when you first begin your descent into the squat. Stand next to a mirror using a side view.
Watch as you dip down to see if your hips and knees move forward at all.
You don’t want this to happen. Instead, your first movement should be driving your hips back as if sticking your butt out a bit. Then stay back and descend down while remaining on your heels.
Focus on keeping your abs tight and glutes engaged the entire time. It’s not easy to do, but once you master it, don’t be surprised to see your knee issues subside.
I hope this helps.
Keep me posted to let me know how it works, ok?
Kevin
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have always had knee pain when doing squats and after doing them, like the next day or so. All the videos I have used to work out stress not bringing your knee past the toes, but not one of them ever mentioned not to lean your torso forward too much. So I always made sure my knees never went past my toes, but I have just realized that I lean my torso forward all the time. When I started doing the squat like you said, I immediately felt my abs tightening and my hips engaging which I had NEVER felt before during a squat because I didn’t even know those muscles should be targeted. I always heard of the squat targeting the thigs, so whenever I felt the front of my thigh tightening, I always thought, great, this is working. Now I know from your post that I was just putting all the stress on the quadriceps and none on the glutes nor hips. This post has been like a revelation to me and now I have to relearn how to perform a proper squat. Thank you so much, this has really helped and I’m sure it will relieve my knee problems since I already performed some of these with no pain at all.
You’re very welcome. I’m glad my video helped you.