Is squatting with elevated heels (either with plates under heels or with an elevated shoe heel) considered “cheating”? I’ve always heard that you should squat with a flat foot to distribute weight evenly across the “tripod” of the foot as you perform the movement. Thus, I’ve only ever squatted wearing converse shoes. I have pretty good ankle mobility and can get good knee flexion, so I don’t necessarily have a NEED for elevation. However when squatting heavier - for front squats - my torso tends to be the limiting factor and not my quads. Would elevating my heels help with this, if I want to push strength? Right now I’m in a hypertrophy block and am doing lighter weight/more reps, but for when I return to my strength block, I wasn’t sure if I should consider a different set-up. However, I suppose that my shoe choice should stay consistent across both blocks…
It is not considered cheating.
Heals elevated or flat?
Yes.
Do whatever you are most comfortable doing that allows you to perform the lift properly with the desired weight.
It’s not cheating at all. You have to do the movement the way it’s most comfortable and effective for you. Some people have ankle flexion issues and need to elevate their heels.
I also like elevating my heels just to hit quads more - it feels a little better for me.
There’s no such thing as cheating outside competition. And, in this case, you can typically wear a heeled shoe in competition anyway.
Thanks!
Perfect thank you!
Makes sense!
I tried doing heels elevated with just the barbell and I did feel it in my quads more! Thanks!
I have messed with olympic lifting shoes on two different times with too much of a raised heel for myself . After the last try … im done with them. Completely threw my squat mechanic off.
Out of curiosity… Did someone tell you it was cheating?
Nice! I also find some of these squat styles to be more difficult, limiting the weight I can use - this is a great thing if your goal is more hypertrophy. I actually think it’s smart to limit the wear and tear on strength athletes, too, but they do need to practice their competition style.
That tends to be the norm for most… Especially if your working with a higher rep range.
In what way did it throw your squat mechanic off?
Nope, nobody told me it was cheating. And by cheating, I was referring to both in competitions and in terms of squat depth. I currently have no intention of competing. Since I have good ankle mobility and can squat ass to grass with relatively light weight, I didn’t know if trying to chase numbers by elevating my heels (making the movement easier to achieve depth without my torso giving out first) would make that number “less impressive.” I was once told that if I have the ankle mobility to squat lighter weight ass2grass, then there’s no reason I shouldn’t have that same mobility to squat heavier weight that is also ass2grass. I.e., my mobility is a constant and isn’t about to go away.
Hopefully the way I worded all of that makes sense…
I 100% agree!
I personally tend to go through waves of using the oly style squat shoes. I think it really is just dependent on your hip, ankle mobility.
Some months it feels way better with the heels, other times it feels just as good with flats.
In reality don’t really see how it can be counted as cheating, would be the same as saying using a belt or some other lifting equipment is cheating.
Depends on your goal really.
Could use straps with deadlifts to get higher numbers since grip is limiting factor usually but if you’re not competing then who cares.
Its complicated. I have a hybrid style of squat… suited for my torso and femur length and flexibility.
Posted below are the olympic shoe i was experimenting with and the shoes I normally wore in the past and went back to.
Like yourself I have good ankle flexibility. Well the higher heel shifted me forward slightly and exaggerated my knee foward travel.Which changed my mechanics slightly. Not a good situation once your form is ingrained and having to all of a sudden need to adjust and your body telling you that its not digging things.
My squatting style is fairly close to whats explained below.
I think this is one of those things I’ve decided over the years I don’t really believe. It’s usually some variation of “squatting is natural; look how toddlers do it.” Of course it is… unloaded. Squatting with hundreds of pounds on your back isn’t going to look like squatting with nothing.
Same reason we ask for form videos with nearer max efforts - of course there’s no break down when the weight isn’t heavy… the entire pattern is different.
Your real “squat mobility” is whatever it is when you’re handling your real squat poundages.
Outside of competition, one might only cheat oneself. If I wear squat shoes or elevate my heels using plates or blocks, my squat depth is lower, and that is a good reason to do it. However, I’m not flexible enough to go much below parallel.
This is a good point! Thanks!
Ah, I see. I can definitely understand how switching shoes can alter your squat mechanics, making it more difficult to go back to the shoe that you’re used to.
And right, the way I squat is like a second nature to me, so “confusing” that nature by switching shoes would likely mess things up, making it harder to get back into the swing of things when I’d return to my flatter shoes.
Thanks for sharing!!