Not reaching depth on the squat is very common. You stop halfway, your heels come up or you feel your back round at the bottom. The good news is that it can almost always be fixed, and it doesn't take half an hour of stretching a day.
How deep do you need to go?
It depends on your goal. In powerlifting, a squat counts when your hip crease is below the top of your knee. To build strength and muscle, what matters is going as deep as you can while holding your position and controlling the weight, and gradually increasing that range over time.
You don't need to touch your heels with your glutes for a squat to be good.
Why you can't go deeper
It's usually a mix of these causes:
- Ankles: if your knee can't travel forward over your foot, you stay high or your heels lift.
- Hips: every hip is different. Because of their shape, some people do better with a wide stance and others with a narrower one.
- Foot position: often, widening your stance a little or turning your toes out a bit more is enough.
- Tension: if you lose your core tension on the way down, your body stops early to protect itself.
- Fear: with weight on your back, going down to a position you don't control is intimidating. That's normal.
1. Find your stance
Do a few bodyweight squats trying different options: feet hip-width apart, a little wider, toes turned out more or less. Keep the stance where you go down most comfortably, with your knees tracking in the direction of your toes. That's your stance, even if it doesn't look like anyone else's.
2. Check your ankles
Place your foot a hand's width from a wall and drive your knee forward without lifting your heel. If one side reaches much less than the other, or your knee barely passes your toes, your ankle is limiting you.
Work on it with:
- Wall ankle dorsiflexion: 2 sets of 8–10 per side before training.
- Heels-elevated goblet squat: heels on a thin plate, light weight held at your chest and a 2-second pause at the bottom.
3. Use a heel
Weightlifting shoes, or a thin plate under your heels, let you go down with a more upright torso. It isn't cheating: plenty of lifters train that way.
4. Gain range with control
- Pause squat: 2–3 seconds at the bottom. It teaches you to feel comfortable in the hole.
- Tempo squat: take 3–4 seconds on the way down. More control, less bouncing.
- Box squat: start with a high box and lower it a little each week.
- Supported deep squat: holding onto something, stay at the bottom for 30–40 seconds and breathe.
5. Breathe and brace before you go down
Take a breath, brace your abs as if someone were about to punch you and keep that tension all the way down. If you let go halfway, your body protects itself and stops.
6. Lose the fear safely
Squat in a rack with the safety bars set just below your lowest point. Knowing you have somewhere to put the bar changes how you go down.
What if my back rounds at the bottom?
A little rounding at the very end of the movement is normal for many people. The problem is when it gets worse as the weight goes up, shows up early or gives you discomfort. In that case, lower the load a bit and work on your range with the variations above.
A word of caution
If going deeper causes pain in your knee, hip or back, don't force it. Have a physiotherapist look at it.
Want more keys to get your squat moving again? Read how to improve your squat. And if you'd like me to review yours on video, tell me where you are.