Do Squats Make Your Knees Hurt? Try this Fix!

Do you know how to squat? We all knew to squat when we were young – babies drop in and out of a squat numerous times a day with no problems at all. So why is that we can’t squat to save our lives as we get older?

Use it or lose it.

Mostly, our inability to squat is due to our lack of practice. How you do your body most, your body does – and your body has been spending a lot more time sitting on your booty. Did you play a sport or instrument as a child? Have you tried picking it up where you left off lately? Just as any other acquired skill, the movement skills required for the squat have been lost along with your ability to roller skate and jam on the clarinet.

When we go to the gym or bend down to pick something up and feel pain every single time, chances are you probably have written squatting off as something you’ll ever be able to do again. Or have just accepted knee pain as a natural part of aging. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Banishing knee pain from your squat is super simple – all it takes is a change in the movement. Seriously! Instead of letting your knees move forward first, send your hips back behind your heels, as if you were going to sit down into a chair.

The joint that moves first is the joint that is loaded first – and the same goes for your body. When you move from your hips, the large gluteus maximus (and friends) and hamstrings support the weight of the body instead of your tiny quadriceps tendon (where the patella lives).

Squatting is more than just a movement at the gym –proper squatting maintains full hip, knee and ankle range of motion and also stretches and tones your pelvic floor unlike any other move we do.

Check out my video below for the quick fix!