I've had various knee injuries and have tried strengthening my weak left glute, playing with stance, high bar, low bar and watched nearly every video on form. I tend to turn my left toe out more and have my left foot slightly forward when not concentrating but I'm so frustrated. I'm wondering if one leg is longer than the other or some other physiological imbalance because I' desperate to carry on squatting and remain injury free. Any tips on how to better my form or things to try so that I can continue on my path to getting stronger ? Apologies for bad video but train at home in a v small room ! Many thanks !
@rnenow67 I don't know about any leg asymmetry, but it looks to me like you have your left hand pulled in tighter than the right, and the bar is thus dropping down on the right side.
@rnenow67 You may play a little with your stance, widening it a little bit more to see if it helps, improve your hip and ankle mobility, etc...
But perhaps, if you have recently had injures, you should skip back squats for a time and let things heal. Exercises to try: Front squats (probably you'll have the same problem but who knows), unilateral squats (try to avoid your knee going further away than your toes), lunges (same advice), or even leg press and/or extensions if combined with RDL or DL. While squatting is a very important movement and part of almost every serious program, you can always find alternatives until you can return to it pain-free.
@jesusdaughter155 lots of inner knee pain. My physio says I have "unhappy knees" and I'm desperate to be able to increase my squat numbers and get doing cardio again as I hate putting on weight and I'm very unhappy right now as I can't do the activities I usually do. I'm trying so hard to work on my form but I'm still getting knee pain and am worried that it's my age but would be devastated if I couldn't resume full activities !! Will try and post a side view over next few days if pain allows !
@rnenow67 Is it pain on the way down or up? I had inner knee pain because my knees collapsed slightly inward on the way up. I deloaded and concentrated on keeping my knees straight (actually mentally I was telling myself to push out) on the way up which fixed my issue.
@shane26 A little on the way up but mainly the day after or later that day. I just feel so frustrated as I've always been so active and get really depressed when I can't jump around and do things ! It's my stress release and so much more. I'm sure many of you understand.
@rnenow67 Have you tried foam rolling? I used to have recurrent knee pain, aggravated by just about anything. Hiking, squats, stairs... when I first used the foam roller, it was really painful in my legs. I found some decent sized knots in my thighs, a few inches above my knees, on the outside radius (sorry I don't know the name of the muscle, I can try to find out if you're interested). After working on these knots for a few weeks, I've been almost entirely pain free. It flares up sometimes but as long as I foam roll 3x a week, it's never that bad and goes away quickly. Actually, I use a wooden rolling pin for these muscles, it's just easier.
Just a suggestion. Sorry I don't have any advice on your form.
@rnenow67 I had the same issues with knee pain (due to tight hip flexors), and switching to front squats has helped me a lot. I just added Romanian deadlifts as an accessory to work the posterior chain a bit more.
@rnenow67 It's hard to tell without a side view. However, it looks like your knees may be flaring out farther than normal, which may indicate that you're not sticking your butt out far enough when you go down. However, without a side view, we can't see that.
@rmarie2020 This. Barefoot squatting is a godsend. OP, from your video I can see you're already wearing some pretty minimal footwear, I also was wearing something similar and found the barefoot squatting immediately improved my form.
@dawn16 I already squat in socks, so would be completely bare-footed make a difference ? Another post said to try weightlifting shoes so I'm very confused as to which would be better !
