Squats are a basic exercise that most people can do. Yet descending into a squat with excellent form is easier for some people than others. The reason squatting is hard varies, but there are some commonalities among people who have difficulty squatting to parallel and below. By addressing these weaknesses and limitations, you can improve your squat form and transition to squatting deeper.
Don’t grab a pair of heavy dumbbells or barbell at first. It’s best to approach the exercise without weights when you first start to perfect your form. It’s hard to learn to do the movement the right way if you approach it with too much weight. Once you’re comfortable with a bodyweight squat, add dumbbells or a barbell for more resistance. If you don’t have equipment available, you can even boost strength and endurance of your thigh muscles by doing wall squats.
At first, you might only squat to parallel, but once you’ve mastered that challenge, fire up your lower body even more and tackle the more advanced deep squat. Squatting below parallel is where some people run into problems. Yet going deeper increases the range-of-motion and can lead to greater hypertrophy gains in the quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
Are you convinced that you can’t do a deep squat? If squatting below parallel is challenging for you, here are some possible reasons.
You Lack Ankle Mobility
If it’s hard to descend below parallel with your squats, it could be that your ankles aren’t mobile enough. When your ankles lack mobility, it affects your entire posterior chain, the muscles that run up the back of your body and reduces your ability to descend into a deep squat. One sign that your ankle mobility isn’t up to snuff is that your knee doesn’t track over your foot properly when you squat unless you lift your body up on to your toes.
What causes poor ankle mobility? If your ankles are restricted, it could come from limited movement at the joint because of joint stiffness. One of the most common causes is a prior ankle sprain. In older people, osteoarthritis is a common cause of ankle stiffness and reduced mobility. Arch problems are another cause. An arch that’s too high or too low (flat feet) places more stress on the ankle joint and can cause degenerative changes that cause ankle stiffness. Lack of joint mobility can also be because of tight calf muscles. The latter is one of the more common causes and one you can correct by doing calf stretches and ankle mobility exercises.
How can you get your ankles more mobile? Two simple ankle mobility exercises you can do at home are heel lifts where you rise on to the balls of your feet and slowly return to the starting position in a controlled manner. The second is toe and heel walks. To do this straightforward exercise, walk across the floor on the balls of your feet. Then walk back on your heels. Keep alternating.
Two other causes are muscle imbalances in the lower body and wearing high heels. Heels restrict the range-of-motion of your ankles and reduce mobility. One study found that people who wear high heels have decreased dorsiflexion and eversion of the foot and should do more foot stretches in the direction of eversion and dorsiflexion to counter this problem. Even better, don’t wear high heels. They aren’t good for your feet!
You Have Poor Hip Mobility
It’s not surprising that so many people have poor hip mobility. We spend too much time sitting and not enough time moving. Sitting in one place for too long causes the hip flexor muscles to shorten and tighten. Adding hip flexor stretches such as kneeling hip flexor stretches, hip flexors lunges, and sitting less can all help. Don’t stop with stretching though. Grab a foam roller and roll your hips to help relax and lengthen the muscles.
When you have poor hip mobility and tight hip flexors, you also have an imbalance in strength between your hip flexors and the opposing muscles in the posterior chain, your glutes and hamstrings. Shift more focus of your training to strengthening your hamstrings and glutes with exercises that target these muscles. Good options are glute bridges, hip thrusts, and single-leg deadlifts. You can also do hip mobility drills to boost how mobile your hips are. A simple one is to hold on to a counter and swing your leg from side-to-side.
You’re Anatomically Not Suited to Squat Low
Mobility is one issue, but some people have an easier or harder time squatting deep because of their anatomy. For example, you’ll have an easier time doing a deep squat if you have a longer torso length relative to the length of your femurs, the big bones that make up your thighs. Height makes a difference too. If you’re tall, you have more distance to travel to get into a deep squat. Shorter folks have an advantage here! Also, if you have long femurs and a short torso, you’ll lean your torso forward when you squat rather than standing upright.
You can’t control your anatomy, but there are some adjustments you can make that will make it easier to squat deeper. If you have long thigh bones (femurs), widen your feet more and turn your toes out a bit. Doing this makes it easier to squat lower. If you’re using a barbell, place it higher on your back.
The Bottom Line
Now you know some reasons you have a hard time going deep into a squat. You can’t change your anatomy, but you can work on hip and ankle mobility, as these are stumbling blocks for many people. It also helps to have someone knowledgeable critique your form. Keep working at it! Your form and squat depth will improve over time. Keep patient and keep working at it!
References:
- “Don’t Be Afraid to Squat Low: 7 Reasons to Deep Squat”
- “Squat Analysis”
- Deep Squats and Knee Health: A Scientific Review. Tony Ciccone, Kyle Davis, Dr. Jimmy Bagley, & Dr. Andy Galphin. Center for Sport.
- Foot Ankle Int. 2013 Mar;34(3):414-9. doi: 10.1177/1071100712468562. Epub 2013 Jan 11.
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