Literally the best advice I've seen on squat stances. So simple and easy.

This is a familiar position for Adam.

Wish I had known this 25 years ago. I wouldn't have these knee problems. Ever since I widened my stance beyond the "expert recommendation" my squats got deeper and don't hurt my knees at all. Kudos.

EVERY single time I need an answer for a question I have and I type it with “mind pump” next to it I find a video of you guys excellently answering it! You guys are dope!👍

Relatively new to lifting, less the two years and I always felt pain in my groin squatting and it seemed NO POSITION didn’t cause that pain. So I ended up avoiding squats altogether. I made the mistake of taking the advice of the strongest guys in my gym and going WAY to wide with my feet. This test makes me feet seem fairly close together but even with just my body weight, I can feel that pain squatting the other way. This test showed me the stance that DOESNT hurt my groin. I’m excited to hit legs again in a few days and try this out

This really worked! My squat always sucked compared to my deadlift. I found out today that my squat stance should be closer than what it has been while toes pointing out more. Thank you for this awesome tip!

Absolutely awesome video, I've been looking to help improve my overall strength in my squat and it's always good to know there's no one "perfect way" to do a movement! The more you know!

Wow! I've been struggling with squats for a month now! Thought for years I was doing it right. Tried your test and I can actually squat now! Amazing! Cheers guys!

This is the best advice video about learning and finding out what is the best squat stance for me. BIG THANKS peace

This was SO helpful - thank you. Made a huge difference. Thank you very much! (I can't believe I didn't think of this on my own)

This worked perfectly for me. I've always had trouble doing squats, thinking my ankle mobility was causing my heels to lift. The problem was I was trying to squat too narrow. Try this!

This worked like a miracle; I am dumbfounded it's not more commonly known. All of your squat related stuff has been valuable to me as a noob.

Surprisingly non-complicated. I get there's science and bio mechanics and blah blah blah behind every movement, but I swear 90% of youtubers make things more complicated than it needs to be.

@MindPumpTV

5 жыл бұрын

Gene S exactly

so many PTs tell me to go wider on my squat but i never feel comfortable when i do. Now after doing this test i see that I had it right all along, shoulder width with get at about 30° for me.

this is an excellent channel.

great and so simple advice

Excellent job guys.

nicely done! so when bringing the knees up. Should I keep my neck on the floor? in a neutral position? or slightly looking downwards as shown ??

Excellent advice; thanks!

KZread and internet in general is soo good man, all this knowledge for free ..

I ve been trying all kinds of squat stances for the last year. And guess what? You are absolutely right... 1st it's very logical 2nd it works.. I never been able to squat ATG before today.. I have long femurs and tight dorsiflexion... I used to think that am not born to squat.. Your tip works like a charm... Tnx a milion

@akroutines1606

4 жыл бұрын

I have the same ,long femurs ,tight ankle dorsiflexion,what stance did work for you?

love it thanks guys!!

Very good explanation!

i've been literally looking for something like this for months

@MindPumpTV

7 жыл бұрын

ha ha nice . Do you listen to podcast Mind Pump already ?

Helped me a lot! thank you!

good tips! thank you

Awesome. Found that I have been doing it right then, all this time! :)

Brilliant!

Nice man I learned something new about sqaut Tysm for u r information.

Awesome.

Very cool!

DIstributing applied weight onto the bodys bones is what determines how a lift is done. It is all about the distributioncaretaking in the individual, how the invidual takes care of distributing the applied weight.

Good pointer. Now, how do we get our strength to go to that level?

Nice 👍 glad I found this

When you lay on your back in squat position, are you relaxing your ankles and letting them dangle or are you flexing them upwards? When I relax mine they tilt slightly inwards, but if I lift them up they sit at around 11 and 1 o clcock

Thanks.

love the video! just something people may want to consider after this test. this still may not be the squat you can do, like myself I have very tight calfs and therefore very limited ankle mobility. I find that I still have to go wider than the natural path my my body allows due to the restrictions in my ankles, so don't worry if you can't squat in the natural motion it's just something else we have to work on, oh and like they said swap up your squats regularly!

@adamschafer342

7 жыл бұрын

JordanCooper very true

Thanks for this video. So when I bring my knees in my feet come together- touching. So, how do I figure my stance? Can’t be side by side.

Should I bring my knees up to my chest wide or narrow?

If this works this will be the best video in my life

My foot is is always more out than the other one it's hard to squat a normal squat because I feel unbalance. Good video

Great

How do I figure out my stance if I have bowed legs?

Wouldn't say it's a bad principle but I have long legs and narrow hips so I'd need immaculate ankle mobility to pull this off.. if you're not trying to hit a specific stance (wide or close), then wouldn't a good starting squat position for beginners, if they literally wanted to get under the bar today, be wherever your feet are when you are when air squatting and your feet stay flat ? From there you can realize how much ankle and hip work you need.

What's the pros and cons from flaring your knees outwards to open your hips compared to keeping your knees forward over your toes? I notice if my hips are tight I naturally will flare out to get more depth and control but I lose power compared to keeping my knees neutral. Are both advantageous to develop or is flaring out just a compensation pattern?

@adamschafer342

7 жыл бұрын

Andrea Malecki flaring out is more natural . The angle of our femur into the hip socket is not a 90 degree angle .

Fixed all my hip pain and squats are so much betting hitting depth

Kinda blew my mind

this is really interesting, I have one foot relatively straight while the other at about 30 degrees. Do you think I should do something to realign or just go with that?

@zhoutui

4 жыл бұрын

Same here. Pity no answer yet…

My problem isnt that I dont have the mobility. Beyond a certain point I feel like im going to fall backwards if I dont lean forward.

What shoes id Adam wearing?

Ok thanks that's fine but what about if you have knee problems and you try and try but not get to that deeper

What about if you have a fused right ankle like I have 🤔👍

Happy new year and like from me

I seem to have Evan less range of motion lying on my back 😂

Its a big differance between laying down and bringing your knees to your chest and squating. Gravity isnt involved and the weight of the body and the weights aren't involved.

@MindPumpTV

4 жыл бұрын

south97north of course . That’s no the point . The point is to give people an idea of a good starting point for a stance . It’s not the end all be all .

mind blow!

@aniketsuryawanshi7912

5 жыл бұрын

Is that true

"Inboxed me" 🤔

This is a version of the quadrant test.

What if hypothetically, you dont have that mobility? Ive been struggling with hip mobility for years and even when I do this laying on the ground, I'm still not hitting depth.

@LegendaryStory

7 жыл бұрын

deep lunges might solve your problem. look up stretches to improve mobility.

I have been squatting for a little while, wouldn't consider myself a good squatter and when I did the test my feet ended up within 2 inches of each other. I couldn't ever imagine squatting with my feet that close. Maybe it would work better.

@jefft1314

7 жыл бұрын

Mine are about eight inches apart when I do this test, which is at least six inches narrower than I thought I was "supposed" to squat. When I squatted this way, I had less knee pain and was able to do more weight.

Ankle mobility is pretty important.

@GregVining

Жыл бұрын

Yeah...they missed that point

Will this stance allow ones knees to track straighter?

@MindPumpTV

6 жыл бұрын

No. Just helps with the starting position and stance.

I just want to point out. The position of the toes, inward or outward, depends completely on the individual. It depends 100% on the position of the ball joint of the femur going in the pelvis (distance of the ball joint from the pelvis, because lots of peoples ball joint neck is longer, or shorter). What may work for Adam, may not work for me or someone else. Anteverted and retroverted joints (the ANGLE of the ball joint going into the pelvis) also dictates your stance. What fits you, may not work for someone else. We are all different. But i like the idea of laying on our backs, bring up our knees and see the (possible) natural way to comfortably squat.

My feet point in at about a 45 degree angle with my toes almost touching. Suggestion?

@vary08

7 жыл бұрын

I'm almost the same.

@aeons200

7 жыл бұрын

yeah, stretch your TFL

@Richona

6 жыл бұрын

Try standing upside down.

@nclay211

5 жыл бұрын

Put all the weight on your heels

Tried this, ended up with my heels 6" apart and my feet at 90º to each other. Tried to do a squat that way, and couldn't even get to full depth without holding on to something. Just like every other piece of advice on squat form out there, your mileage may vary.

@hanskazan7403

5 жыл бұрын

because youre ankle mobility sucks probaly

When I do this my feet are way too close together to be a natural squat position. They are only like 6 inches apart. Could it be because im so fat that my belly is blocking my legs? lol

Crazy from this I've realised I was squatting way to wide.

@fainwhite1307

3 жыл бұрын

From this I realized I was squatting way too narrow lol

1:11

well, this doesn't work for me.

@2Tall_Powerlifting

7 жыл бұрын

Do you lack ankle or hip mobility?

Is it me or does the big guy look like a huge Zac Morris lol (saved by the Bell)... Guess you could say Zac wanted to get bigger than Mario Lopez lol

Absolute nonsense. If I do this test my legs will stay narrow if I let them or go wide if I let them. The perfect stance is the one which through the movement the bar stays over mid foot if you have long femurs you may need to have a wide stance and vice versa just play around with different stances and find what's right for you, unfortunately each individual's perfect stance may target slightly different areas of the legs but that's body mechanics and there is sod all you can do about it unless you put tremendous forces on your back for instance in trying to target just the quads

I remember exercising with my mentor friend years ago, it never felt right to squat the way he did, and I ended up injuring my back.

I did it but turns out too narrow..i look the weirdo in the gym

Lol

im not saying the test is wrong; but dont listen to everything they are saying. you dont want to squat in all different stances.. you need to find a stance thats good for your specific body ( every single person is different) and thats mostly based on hip variances as far as retroverted or antroverted hips. squatting with feet straight for instanec with retroverted hips will forsure damage you

@adamschafer342

7 жыл бұрын

fatality614brid4fun your right about our hips being the major indicator on our most optimal stance but your wrong if you think we should not vary our stances .

@jladosky23

7 жыл бұрын

fatality614brid4fun you definitely want variation to avoid specificity & monotonous overtraining

Why the hell do guys war baseball caps backwards???

Duck feet

With all due respect, I do not agree, first of all you can't detect where your butt winks by this test. And when u squat you don't keep your back as such..!!! If your back is perpendicular to the ground you are simply gonna fall. You have to get deep by an anterior pelvic tilt. Your pelvis and chest should move together which should make your back lean a little bit.. almost parallel to the lower half of your leg..! (Dorsiflexion)

@MindPumpTV

5 жыл бұрын

hani mohiyadheen Too many “absolute” statements here. Also, this is just a general test. The I can ask you are describing sound more closely aligned with a little bar barbell back squat. There are several variations of squatting mechanics, all of which have a relatively different effect on the pelvic bone the chest torso area that have been ankle area etc. two speakers if there is any one way to do anything is a bit of an overstatement. The test is a good general rule for determineing stance width and at perhaps what level of hip flexion one could expect a hurt wink to occurs.

@JBOXHANI

5 жыл бұрын

Mind Pump TV This video was posted two years ago and I saw it right now!!! No matter whatever the content is, I never expected a reply to my comment!!! 😊👍🏻I highly appreciate your concern and the time you take to reply. Keep up the good work sir.

@JBOXHANI

5 жыл бұрын

Mind Pump TV Love from India❤️❤️

@MindPumpTV

5 жыл бұрын

We got your back!

Nonsense

All wrong - Back shouldnt be flat on floor, it should be neutral - How can it show you have more range of motion on squat when lying on floor? considering bar path will always be over mid-foot. Basic biomechanics. - Be far the majority of people are going to need a significantly wider stance than this to sit inbetween hips.

@cuteme6440

7 жыл бұрын

right

@adamschafer342

7 жыл бұрын

J D you obviously didn't listen very well . It's a basic test to show you your natural foot position based off your hip socket angle and length . Has nothing to do with proper bio mechanics of a squat . Has nothing to do with your back .

@brunoaichholzer8643

7 жыл бұрын

J D just wondering: what's the difference between a flat and a neutral back on the floor would the neutral be similar to the natural curvature of the spine?

@LegendaryStory

7 жыл бұрын

neutral still has some curvature. Flat is flat.

@BlazeMrdr

7 жыл бұрын

then its much easier to just clench your glutes. Your feet will automatically rotate in the preferred direction.

you guys and your bobo sneakers... i really hate that them shits came back in style. why that is, i'll never know

Hmmmm. Never understood the "how do I stand" "what's my stance supposed to be" questions when it comes to squatting. Your typical good athletic stance you generally use for everything fitness/sports worked for me right off the bat. IMO people who ask this question and/or have ankle or knee pain when squating and think it's their stance I think it's more likely they are weaker than they care to admit and are just handling too heavy of weight, crushing their ankles and causing their knees to bend inward. Nothing to do with their stance.... but their ego. A good athletic stance should work for a vast majority of people..... like 90+% of people. What's a good athletic stance? If you ask that question then odds are you're trying to lift too much weight because if you don't know what an athletic stance is you're very fresh in the fitness/athletic world. An athletic stance is just about what this guy is doing. Feet shoulder width apart if not slightly wider. Toes slightly pointed outward...... That's it. This should work for damn near everybody. Only oddballs I can think of that it might not work for are severely duck footed or pigeon toed people (walk/stand naturally with their toes excessively pointing outward or inward) or people who are bow-legged. In other words the athletic stance won't work for you if something is physically/ physiologically wrong with you. If you say otherwise I disagree and stand by my sentiment your stance is fine you're just likely trying to lift weight you can't manage...... or you're squat exercise form is just shit...... as in you arch your back/roll your back forward (scaredy cat), cheat by letting your knees fall inward..... Because you lift too heavy and have weak quads, or - and this is the most common - you squat on your toes/lift your heels off the ground. That's just a mobility..... and you guessed it - lifting too heavy of weight problem...... not a stance issue. From personal experience and what I've seen other people do their stance is hardly ever the problem. But of course there are exceptions. People need to realize though the "exceptions" are rare. Before anyone says it, yes if you have shitty knees due to legitimate injuries suffered in your lifetime a wider stance will make a huge difference. But that should be a natural thing to sense when lifting. That doesn't mean though you need to get into a sumo squat stance with feet exaggeratingly wide.