“Ass to Grass” or 90 Degrees? Here's How Low You Should Be Squatting
January 8, 2025
Whether you’re loading a barbell on your back, racking a kettlebell over your shoulder, or just warming up with bodyweight squats, one question remains a constant: What is the proper squat depth?
How low you go is as important to your performance, safety, and results as how much weight you press, so squat depth should be high on your form checklist, according to Carol Mack, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., doctor of physical therapy and strength and conditioning coach. Read on to learn why.
Unless you’re a competitive powerlifter whose goal is to squat as much weight as possible, Mack recommends squatting as deep as you can comfortably without sacrificing form. A deeper squat helps to fire up the muscles more efficiently and builds strength in a greater range of motion, which is important if you’re training for anything beyond aesthetics, like athleticism or everyday function.
But your squat depth will vary based on a few personal factors, like “whether you have knee, hip, or ankle pain, and if you have enough mobility to go deeper,” says Mack.
What If Your Knees Drift Past Your Toes?
One unrelenting myth about squat depth is that you should never let your knees go past your toes. While this cue may indicate other form mistakes you may be making — such as not hinging at the hips — Mack says that your knees will likely drift past your toes if you’re going into a deeper squat, particularly with an activity like powerlifting.
“Don’t worry about your knees coming forward when going past 90 degrees,” she says. “Of course, don’t force yourself deeper if you feel pain or a tight spot. But if you’re comfortable going deeper and you’re listening to your body, then it’s OK to go lower.”
One alignment tip that helps, she adds, is to look down and make sure your knees are in line with your middle two toes, rather than splaying outward. (Just be sure to apply this tip during your warm-up and not, say, during a PR attempt.)
How Can You Improve Squat Depth?
If squat depth is something you struggle with, here are some strategies to help you get lower.
1. Focus on your hips
Because squat depth is not just about your quads and glutes, focusing on the hips can be a game-changer, Mack says.
Instead of dropping your butt straight down, try sending your hips back slightly — known as hinging — as you lower into your squat. This will help you bend with more hip flexion (a.k.a. bringing your knees closer to your chest), which can improve depth.
It’s also important to keep your knees from caving inward as you approach the bottom of your squat and drive up to stand.
“That might require adding hip mobility or strengthening to your routine to improve your squats,” Mack notes. Hip mobility exercises can do more than help squat depth, too. They can reduce the strain on the body from sitting too much, improve overall flexibility, and give you greater range of motion.
2. Increase ankle mobility
Mack adds that it’s also important to have greater ankle mobility. This aspect of the squat can sometimes get ignored, but it plays a huge part in helping you get deeper. If you ever feel your ankles lifting off the ground during a squat, that’s a sign that you need to improve your mobility.
Ankle-strengthening exercises can give you greater mobility and stability to support your squats, no matter how deep you go.
3. Strengthen your core
Finally, remember that squats involve your spine as well, Mack says.
“Some people have trouble keeping their trunk upright as they move deeper into their squat,” she says. “This can throw off alignment throughout the squat movement. It can happen for a lot of reasons, including mobility, but core strength is a big culprit.”
If you tend to round your back as you come into a squat, or feel your upper body collapse as you’re pushing back up to standing, that usually means you need to integrate more core work into your routine, she suggests.
Fortunately, there are tons of options for that, and much like the other mobility and strengthening choices here, you’ll be reducing your risk of injury and improving your form for a breadth of moves, including squats.
