The squat is sometimes called the king of lower body exercises — and for good reason. It’s one of the most effective movements for lower body strength and for muscle hypertrophy. Squats target multiple muscle groups at once, which means you can do more work in less time. While they strengthen your legs, they also promote healthier balance and posture while improving mobility.
The squat is a basic movement. It is an exercise you have been doing since you were a toddler, using your own body weight. If you have ever gotten out of a chair or lowered yourself to the toilet, you have squatted. And squats help you become more efficient at doing functional movements and lower your risk of injury when doing them, too.
The Squat Works Several Muscle Groups
When you squat, you work your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and core muscles. This makes them one of the best exercises for low-body development because they recruit so many muscles. You can also change the emphasis of a squat by adjusting squat depth, whether you use a barbell or a dumbbell; the position of the bar; and your foot position.
For example, if you place your feet 1.5 to 2 times further than hip-width apart, a standard squat becomes a wide squat. Likewise, if you place your feet shoulder-width apart or closer, it’s a narrow squat. The squat is an exercise you can customize to reach your goals. Now, let’s look at the advantages of each foot place strategy — wide vs. narrow and look at the pros and cons of each.
Wide Squats vs. Narrow Squats: Wide Foot Placement Advantages
Wide squats are the most natural way to squat and squatting with feet wider apart has some advantages. Wide squats are also more beginner-friendly. If you’re starting out, it’s easier to learn to squat with a wide stance. It’s less challenging to balance your weight on your heels with a wide stance, so many beginners find it much more comfortable to start with wide squats.
A wide squat also allows you to squat lower than any other squat. When you do a wide squat, you can point your toes out (if you have more abductor range of motion) or keep them straight ahead (if you have less abductor range of motion). Either way, a wide stance will allow you to squat deeper than a standard or narrow stance. Being able to squat deeper enhances mobility.
Wide squats have more functional benefits, too. A broad stance is more representative of how you function in daily life. It’s not common for your legs to be close together when you carry out your daily activities. Think about it! Even when you walk, your legs are shoulder-width apart or wider. Your balance is also more stable when you walk or stand with a wider stance. When people suffer from neurological disorders that affect their balance, they develop wide gaits to maintain balance and avoid falling.
Wide squats work your hip muscles more. Classic squats require you to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart to activate your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. But if you place your feet wider, turn your toes outward a bit, you’ll feel the burn in your hips more. Creating a wide base of support challenges your hip adductors and hip external rotators. The wider you go, the more you’ll work those muscles.
If you’re working on your booty, wide squats are your best bet. When you squat with your feet in a wide stance, you target your glute muscles more. However, a study found that changing the stance of a squat from wide to narrow or narrow to wide didn’t change quad activation with a back squat. So, your quads encounter the same loading whether your feet are wide or narrow.
Pros and Cons of Narrow Squats
A narrow foot placement is more challenging when you’re just starting out and if you don’t have good balance. Plus, a narrow stance limits the amount of weight you can use safely because there’s a smaller base of support. Therefore, your knees will have to come forward more, which increases the shear force on them. So narrow squats aren’t a desirable choice if you have knee problems. When you narrow squat, there is also less room for external rotation so it’s more likely you’ll have to round your back and lean forward, especially if you don’t have poor hip or ankle mobility.
What are the pros of doing narrow squats? Since your body must travel farther to reach the same depth when your feet are close, narrow squats can improve your range of motion and mobility. Narrow squats also place less stress on your hip joints relative to a wide squat. So it may be a better choice if you have hip arthritis.
The Bottom Line
The squat really is the king of all exercises. From a functional standpoint, if you want to be able to get up and down off the floor with ease, pick up something from the ground comfortably, walk up a flight of stairs with ease, or move well as you age, then squatting correctly with good form should be a priority. The wide squat has an edge, especially if you have poor balance, are a beginner, have knee issues, or want to target your glutes more. But whether you use a narrow stance when you squat or a wide one, you’re building a stronger, more functional lower body. Regardless of the stance you use, focus on your form. Place your feet in a stance that enables you to use the best form possible.
References:
- Murray N, Cipriani D, O’Rand D, Reed-Jones R. Effects of Foot Position during Squatting on the Quadriceps Femoris: An Electromyographic Study. Int J Exerc Sci. 2013 Apr 15;6(2):114-125. PMID: 27293497; PMCID: PMC4882472.
- Paoli A, Marcolin G, Petrone N. The effect of stance width on the electromyographical activity of eight superficial thigh muscles during back squat with different bar loads. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Jan;23(1):246-50. doi: 10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181876811. PMID: 19130646.
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