WHY SQUATTING WITH YOUR KNEES PAST YOUR TOES IS SAFE?

For ages, we were told never to squat with our knees going forward past our toes. It was largely considered a major mistake that put your knees in a dangerous position when handling heavyweight.

Matt Stevens, the physical therapist explains that it’s perfectly normal and safe for your knees to come forward a bit beyond your toes.

What they found was that limiting forward knee travel simply shifted the stress from the knees to the hips/low back. So while squatting with restricted forward knee movement showed a 22% decrease in knee torque, there was a 1070% increase in hip torque! This is a LOT more work for the hip and low back musculature to perform and is a potentially more dangerous squatting method for the low back.

Therefore, while it is true that anterior knee stress increases as the knees come forward during a squat, it is important to know that the amount of stress from the knees going slightly in front of the toes is still WELL within the limits of what the knee can handle (2).
Reference: Schoenfeld 2010.

Furthermore, in order to reach FULL depth in the squat, the knees almost always have to move forward past the toes.

Olympic weightlifters are a great example of this, as they need to train at full depth for their sport, and so often squat with their knees past their toes, and with very high loads too!

Olympic weightlifters are a great example of this, as they need to train at full depth for their sport, and so often squat with their knees past their toes, and with very high loads too!

For some of you—especially if you’re tall and have long femurs—it’s difficult if not impossible to squat with proper form without your knees coming forward. In fact, strictly adhering to this rule might result in a Squat that looks more like a Good Morning or you will have a wonky bar path that’s far from vertical.

“I’m generally OK with my athletes if their knee passes over their toes as long as we have one key thing: Their foot is fully engaged with the ground,” he says.

Problems occur when your heels come off the ground and your knees come forward. This position puts shearing forces on your knees and can lead to injury if you’re not careful.

So keep your feet flat on the ground and feel free to allow your knees to come forward a bit if that’s what feels comfortable to you. And make sure that you keep these tips in mind for strong and pain-free squatting.

It’s OK for your knees to go beyond your toes, but don’t push them forward to initiate the squat. The movement should start at your hips, and your knees will bend as you lower into the squat.