How to Squat Properly: Stance, Depth and Bracing

The squat is not one movement pattern you either have or lack. It is a skill, and skills are built. Most squat problems come from three places: a stance that fights your hips, a trunk that folds under load, and a depth chosen by ego instead of control. Fix those and the weight follows.

Find Your Stance

Start with your heels roughly shoulder-width apart and your toes turned out 15 to 30 degrees. Then adjust. People with longer thighs or stiffer hips usually squat better a little wider with more toe flare; people with short thighs often prefer narrower. The test is simple: sit into a bodyweight squat and see where your knees can track over your toes without your heels lifting. That is your stance, not the one in a photo.

Brace Before You Descend

Take a big breath into your belly and sides, as if you are about to be poked in the stomach, and hold it. That pressure turns your trunk into a solid cylinder that transfers force from your legs to the bar. Brace first, then descend, then exhale at the top or after you pass the hardest point. Our guide to breathing and bracing goes deeper.

Knees and Hips Together

Break at the knees and hips at the same time, as if sitting between your heels. Let your knees travel forward over your toes — that is normal and necessary for most people to reach depth with an upright torso. Push them out in line with your feet so they do not cave inward.

How Deep Should You Go?

As deep as you can while keeping a neutral lower back and your heels down. For many people that is hip crease at or just below the top of the knee. If your pelvis tucks under sharply at the bottom, stop a few centimetres higher and work on mobility and control at that depth before going lower. Full range builds more muscle, but only range you can control counts.

The Three Most Common Faults

• Heels lifting: your ankles run out of range. Try a slightly wider stance, small plates under the heels, or weightlifting shoes.
• Knees caving on the way up: often a sign the load is too heavy. Drop the weight, slow the descent, and cue "spread the floor" with your feet.
• Hips shooting up first: the squat turns into a good-morning. Think "chest up and hips forward together" and strengthen your quads with front squats or leg presses.

Building It Up

Start with a goblet squat holding a dumbbell at your chest. It teaches upright posture almost automatically. Move to a barbell when you can do three sets of ten with a heavy dumbbell and clean form, then add weight in small jumps. The progressive overload guide covers how to keep progressing without rushing.