I was told today by an onlooker that while doing squats, and the end of the rep, my heels are leaving the ground, and my weight actually seems to be shifting more towards my toes. The squat has been a problem area for a while, and I might have found the culprit.
Upon his suggestion, I tried elevating the front of my foot on some plates, and it felt quite a bit different, almost as if the range of motion of the movement had decreased. On one hand, I’m a little dissapointed in less than perfect form, however, on the other hand, I might have found what was holding me back. Does anyone have any suggestions to rid myself of this? The plates seemed to take care of it, however, I would like to try to correct it by focusing on the standard movement itself (i.e. no plates under feet.) Thanks.
i have heard of people putting the plates under their heels, but i personally have never heard of putting plates under the front of your feet. i feel like this is a good way to injure your achilles, or some other tissues in your feet/ankles. i would seek more qualified advice before continuing this.
Before I found weights, my natural squat movement would include my heel lifting off the ground with my weight supported by my toes.
For me, it’s a question of balance, such that if I hold my arms out in front of me and lean forward, then I don’t have to lift my heels to keep my balance while squatting.
Don’t know if it helps at all, but make sure you have the flexibility to both get down deep and lean forward so you don’t lift the heels.
[quote]speedy5323 wrote:
I was told today by an onlooker that while doing squats, and the end of the rep, my heels are leaving the ground, and my weight actually seems to be shifting more towards my toes. The squat has been a problem area for a while, and I might have found the culprit.
Upon his suggestion, I tried elevating the front of my foot on some plates, and it felt quite a bit different, almost as if the range of motion of the movement had decreased. On one hand, I’m a little dissapointed in less than perfect form, however, on the other hand, I might have found what was holding me back. Does anyone have any suggestions to rid myself of this? The plates seemed to take care of it, however, I would like to try to correct it by focusing on the standard movement itself (i.e. no plates under feet.) Thanks. [/quote]
I’ve begun to help someone with your same problem. I’m not an expert, but I can tell you what is helping. Try this:
Get into your squat stance w/no bar and put your hands about neck level in a “praying” position.
Now squat down (with proper form) and focus on laying your hamstrings on your calves. Keep your elbows inside of your knees. The person I’m working with has a lower back/hip flexibility issue. Doing this for 10-15 minutes before squats seems to help.
2-3 60 second standing calf stretches and DEEEEEEEP static lunge stretches (for hip flexors)
I actually have some people do very deep lunge walks for 20 steps. It tires the legs out a bit but hasn’t had ill effects on squat performance (fatigue) and improves the “look” of thier squats dramatically.
Do you mean you put the plates under your heels or the plates under your toes? I’ve never really heard of people doing the former.
And are you squatting all the way down or is it more of a parallel squat? It could be an issue with flexibility in the calves in conjunction with weakness of the posterior chain. Try stretching your calves a couple times a day and see how that feels.
Box squatting is a good way to teach you how to sit back into a squat as well (run a searach on it).
But if you don’t have the hamstring/glute strength, you won’t be able to sit back effectively anyway. Try adding in movements for the backside of your body like deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, and all other variations.
Try this, the whole time you are doing a set of squats, try pushing your big toe up through your shoe. I know it sounds weird, but that helped me keep my heels down. just lift the big toe as much as you can.
[quote]boss99er wrote:
Try this, the whole time you are doing a set of squats, try pushing your big toe up through your shoe. I know it sounds weird, but that helped me keep my heels down. just lift the big toe as much as you can. [/quote]
Hey. Just wanted to say I tried that tonight, after reading this thread, and it really helped.
It was actually the front of the foot on a 5 or 10 pound plate. In all honesty,I know it is probably apparent as to why it would keep the heels down, but I can’t tell you with exact certainty how it did. I do not plan on making those a mainstay in my squatting.
I think I might have entered text before I was finished typing, if so, that is why there are two different posts. Anyway, I wanted to say that I tried the big toe pushing thing doing bodyweight squats a little while ago, and it seems to do the trick. I look forward to applying it under weight. Thanks for all the help.
It seems as though you mostly hear about alchol and drug support groups. It is assuring to know there is a place we can turn to when we are struggling with our squat.
I have one client who can sit on a parallel box pretty well without the heels lifting up. But doing a free weight squat, his heels lift up with practically any bend in the knees. Looking at some different calf flexibility exercises today, he sucks in this domain. The extra weight he’s carrying around plus all the sports he used to play (soccer, tennis) made the calves overly tight. I’ve told him to start stretching them everyday.
Try going into a calf stretch and see what your ROM is like.
[quote]Matgic wrote:
I have one client who can sit on a parallel box pretty well without the heels lifting up. But doing a free weight squat, his heels lift up with practically any bend in the knees. Looking at some different calf flexibility exercises today, he sucks in this domain. The extra weight he’s carrying around plus all the sports he used to play (soccer, tennis) made the calves overly tight. I’ve told him to start stretching them everyday.
Try going into a calf stretch and see what your ROM is like.
-MAtt[/quote]
Good starting point. Unfortunately, overstiffness in any muscle involved in the squat can manifest as heels elevating. If the heels aren’t it, move to the hamstrings, glutes, quads, adductors, etc.