Squat shoes have made a huge difference for me whilst I work on my flexibility. Without squat shoes I struggle to hit depth at all and I get a large butt wink and end up semi goodmorning the weight and my lower back takes a beating, with squat shoes I can hit good depth (hip crease about 1.5 inch bellow knee) and my back maintains its original angle throughout the lowering and raising of the barbell and I can feel my quads and glutes working rather than my lower back. I went from hating squats to now loving them and put it all down to my squat shoes!
Glad you made this video. I got a pair of romaleos recently and I found they pitch me way too far forward. They’re great for front squats and Olympic lifts but when it comes to back squats I’ll stick with my vans
I have long femurs, and have always been posteriorly dominant. Used to powerlift and never wore squat shoes. I started olympic weightlifting last year and now i wear squat shoes on nearly every exercise (clean/snatch/squat/deadlift), and my quads are just now starting to develop properly!
Zishan Ahmed Bro, almost agree with everything you said and I too have long femurs. I feel stronger with the squat shoes, but I find that I am more powerful deadlifting barefoot. My shins don't go forward as much. I think you should try that. It is impressive!
Well, I have always noticed that I have long legs because some people that are shorter than me while standing are usually about the same height than me while sitting down. Try to look for someone of the same height as you and see who is taller while sitting down. Regarding arm length I have no idea what to tell you.
One tip if you are still uncertain if you need heeled shoes or not is to squat with flats or in socks with your heels on top of a pair of 2.5 kg plates. To me that was night and day, for various reasons.
I bought some REEBOK LEGACY LIFTER cause they were on sale...lol. What I found is that very quickly I started to raise my heels when I didn't use them for squats & front squats. Also, my quads started to hurt more and were severely sore after my leg workouts. I stopped using them and now I am back to using Nanos for all my workouts. I think I'll just use the heeld shoes for Snatch lift...when I can learn it properly.
As someone with very long femurs, I definitely benefit from the heels, and it has nothing to do with ankle mobility. I wish some one will come up with over 1 inch heels in the future.
I hope so. Ben is like the hidden gem of youtube fitness. When I read this I had to scroll up to see the sub count. I expected 50k or something. Only 16k!!!??? That's way too low.
They look bigger literally every other video so I wouldn't say you're too far away lol. Great video by the way; easily the most informative I've seen regarding using squat shoes
*throws squat shoes in backyard firepit* Kidding haha, but I did originally buy mine after seeing someone on TH-cam squatting heavy heeled. Great explanation and much needed info -thanks!
I had been wearing dress shoes for a raised heel support. Not so bad but little wobble here and there. Honestly in terms of stability running shoes with no cushion pads were better than dress shoes but still. Squat shoes? Talk about insane stability. They literally cement you to the floor.
Thanks for this video Ben. It’s interesting that though I gained much information from watching this. That I actually walk away with more questions than answers. However, the questions I now have are more efficient and well informed. I do believe I will find the answers in my training soon. Keep posting big man!
Basically, some people may want to consider asking their cosmetic surgeon to saw off some femur length... The surgeons never ask why, but if they do, tell them it's for a prettier squat.
I have heel spurs and shoes with heels have been suggested, so I use them now. I squatted in flats for years, and not much more heel pain. But any relief is good
After trying squat with trekking shows (i know its stupid but trekking shows habe very rigid structure) i hatte myself for squatting all that months with stupid sneakers! Its HUGE difference! My quads start feel pain all ober the Palace for the Nest day.
Well, I bought Squat Shoes for exactly that reason you should not... I thought it would improve my game just by wearing them. I found out that I lose my balance out of the hole, almost falling forward. You think it makes sense to work on that to get better results in the end? Or just stick to my flat shoes then?
Oh wow, I've been thinking of getting one for the last few weeks, and voila! this video comes up. Always enjoy watching your vids. Keep up the great work!
I use skateboarding shoes like dc Van's hell desperately I wasnt near home and training at a friends gym going home woulda cost me an hour and a half and I had on work shoes. I went to Walmart and bought some fake looking chuck's. They did the job squatting. Had them 2 years now still used them once in a blue moon. Not bad for $8
Just bought some Reebok Legacy squat shoes and my squat is exactly the same as with flat Chucks. But I do low bar for both. Wonder if that is the reason?
So for someone that squats low bar with long femurs and a long torso would heels make you lean forward even more than necessary? I tried squatting in flats (sabo deadlift shoes) for the first time today and compared them to my healed (22mm) squat shoe and they seemed to look pretty similar, but I felt more tipped forward in the heels.
Opinion? Squatting has always caused slight tendon pain near my archilles. i don't know how big the archillies tendon is, but when i touch the main part of it, there is no pain. but if i go slightly to the outer side of it where the peroneus thing is, it hurts a fuck ton. This is the worst its ever been, i feel afraid of injury. im sort of limping today from yesterdays squats. My heel bone even fuckin hurts. i squat in shoes, and i think i was putting more weight on my toes than usual. Do i have to take a 2 week deload or some shit? I really don't want to deload again lol. i was deloading not even a week ago. My abductors seem to be very strong during the lift if that means anything, rather than my knees caving in they pull out, but i dont think it's exaggerated or bad. My right foot (the painful one) always has had the tendency to rotate outwards more than my foot that feels fine. this happens no matter what i do sitting here right now my right foot is rotated out more. I find my self squatting from my toes more than i'd like. mid set i corrected it. But i can't fully blame that, my left leg isnt hurting.. I've never suffered any injury, i never even do anything. just went to school, did no exercise, came home, etc graduated, started weight training and here i am - in pain.
I think you have a logical error in your assessment of the leverage portion. You are conflating air squats with barbell squats. Your graphic is misleading because in a barbell squat the red dotted line would always have to meet the torso at the exact same spot, no matter the heel elevation (namely exactly where you place the barbell on your back). If you use an elevated heel for air squats you could simply take a narrower stance and thus have more forward knee travel and a balanced system with a more upright torso. With a significant load on your back you can’t do that, because the length of your torso (from the bottom to where the barbell is placed) is always fixed and has to be balanced over the mid-foot. You HAVE to take the same stance or your body would have to compensate in other ways to make the barbell travel over midfoot. You would not have more forward knee travel and this is why both of your squats look the same. The only thing that is changing is the angle at the ankle and the „length“ of the foot from the side-view at ground level (because of the steeper angle), making it a tiny bit harder to keep balance over mid foot. Think about it this way: In an air squat you can change the stance width and emulate the angles of a low bar squat with a wide stance, slightly narrower a high bar squat, even narrower a front squat. With a barbell you do it the other way around: You place the bar in for example a low bar position and your body has to make the correct angles around that parameter.
@@strengtheats6399 yes, it just changes the angle at your ankles. everything else will stay the same (assuming you keep the weight balanced over the middle of the foot like you would without a higher heel). if you have injured ankles and you can't get into the right position that's a different story.
Wouldn't this change depending on high bar/low bar squat position? If you're a high bar squatter and have a more vertical torso angle, shoes would possibly be more beneficial than if you were low bar and bent over.
So much misinformation here. Just by the logics of physics heels will cause your knees to move forward. Therefore, you can easily counter balance that leg weight by getting your back into a more vertical position taking away the strain on your core so you can focus on your glutes and quads and bis. Most people prefer an elevated heel in combination with front squats just to be able to have a neutral upper body.
Ben, I've always been under the impression heeled shoes helped with me hitting depth. Is this not true? I've always struggled with going below parallel due to very limited hip mobility and previous Injuries. I have good enough dorsiflexion to hit depth just free squatting..Thoughts on this?
josh Campbell this was addressed in the video, it depends on your biometrics. If your a posterior chain dominant lifter you'll almost assuredly end in the same place with or without the shoes
if i have no problem hitting depth (i can do ass to grass easily) but i often lean forward coming up in a squat, should i ditch squat shoes for barefoot/flat shoe?
Jacob Acosta Master Scribe there's just no reason to do it. If you want to make the lift harder do deficits or snatch grip. If you deadlift in them all the time then it's unlikely you'll take them off and automatically hit 425. But if you had trained in flats or even socks you might already be at 440. Which would be more impressive regardless of the heeled beltless 405. So yes I guess my response would be.
What does it mean about your dorsoflexsion etc if when you do the test you feel like theres more pressure on your heels and your toes want to come off the floor but don't? I can get down into the position but the above is how I'm feeling.
I wanted bigger quads, so I started programming to get them. Leg extensions for the teardrop, and close width leg press, making sure your knees go outside your body. I did that after my normal squat programming. Didn't really want to change it and I actually started to progress faster with my squat after I made progress getting my quads bigger. If your willing to sacrifice your normal squatting in favor of quad growth though, go hi-bar with a focus on staying very upright, or front squats/safety squats which will force that.
ahmad abdel-aziz the difference in the heights is usually marginal in my experience. The only true test is to try them out and see what you like I guess.
I have both long femurs and long torso so wind up in the middle, so am sort of an exception here. However, I know I am hip dominant and have weaker quads so I use my squat shoes to get more quad activation which has helped there, yet I find myself significantly weaker with heels on than flat (squatted for 7 years prior in socks alone) whilst low-bar squatting. But I love them for front squats and accessory work! Thanks for the vid, best laid out advice I have seen on the topic!!
I know this video is about squatting and squat shoes but about half way in all I could really think about is, "so why haven't we seen Ben in a Captain America movie or something like that?" That half-natty lighting is doing work for you, sir.
18 MINUTES??? REALLY? I got about halfway through and saw that the question of "When" was never going to be answered. This isn't rocket science nor a college course. Why all the talking for 18 minutes? I put the playback speed up to 1.5 and still couldn't listen to all the talking. Couldn't you just answer your premise AND THEN go into an explanation for those who desire further information?
![ปฏิเสธไม่ไหว (Crush on you) - LIPTA feat. No One Else [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NBw1jF342vw/mqdefault.jpg)
Squat shoes have made a huge difference for me whilst I work on my flexibility. Without squat shoes I struggle to hit depth at all and I get a large butt wink and end up semi goodmorning the weight and my lower back takes a beating, with squat shoes I can hit good depth (hip crease about 1.5 inch bellow knee) and my back maintains its original angle throughout the lowering and raising of the barbell and I can feel my quads and glutes working rather than my lower back. I went from hating squats to now loving them and put it all down to my squat shoes!
Which pair do you recommend
1Gooch I would say get Nike Romaleos 2 I’ve been using them for a few now and I love them
which shoes did u get?
Glad you made this video. I got a pair of romaleos recently and I found they pitch me way too far forward. They’re great for front squats and Olympic lifts but when it comes to back squats I’ll stick with my vans
I have long femurs, and have always been posteriorly dominant. Used to powerlift and never wore squat shoes. I started olympic weightlifting last year and now i wear squat shoes on nearly every exercise (clean/snatch/squat/deadlift), and my quads are just now starting to develop properly!
Zishan Ahmed Bro, almost agree with everything you said and I too have long femurs. I feel stronger with the squat shoes, but I find that I am more powerful deadlifting barefoot. My shins don't go forward as much. I think you should try that. It is impressive!
How do you tell if you have long femurs or long arms like is there a general guide for seeing what body structure you have?
ryan dravinski you can usually tell from you positioning in the squat and deadlift. with long femurs you usually have a more leaned body angle.
Well, I have always noticed that I have long legs because some people that are shorter than me while standing are usually about the same height than me while sitting down. Try to look for someone of the same height as you and see who is taller while sitting down. Regarding arm length I have no idea what to tell you.
Zishan Ahmed yeah I'm almost parallel with the floor tall legs but short arms. Hence why I prefer a Hex bar deadlift over barbell.
One tip if you are still uncertain if you need heeled shoes or not is to squat with flats or in socks with your heels on top of a pair of 2.5 kg plates. To me that was night and day, for various reasons.
I bought some REEBOK LEGACY LIFTER cause they were on sale...lol. What I found is that very quickly I started to raise my heels when I didn't use them for squats & front squats. Also, my quads started to hurt more and were severely sore after my leg workouts. I stopped using them and now I am back to using Nanos for all my workouts. I think I'll just use the heeld shoes for Snatch lift...when I can learn it properly.
As someone with very long femurs, I definitely benefit from the heels, and it has nothing to do with ankle mobility. I wish some one will come up with over 1 inch heels in the future.
This channel is on the come up
Gmame97 it’s all hits all the time.
I hope so. Ben is like the hidden gem of youtube fitness. When I read this I had to scroll up to see the sub count. I expected 50k or something. Only 16k!!!??? That's way too low.
Arms gotta be pushing 20" now Ben
Actually I was super happy to break 18 last week :/ 20s would be lit
They look bigger literally every other video so I wouldn't say you're too far away lol. Great video by the way; easily the most informative I've seen regarding using squat shoes
All these points were running in my mind few months ago and you came up with this video. Thanks.
*throws squat shoes in backyard firepit*
Kidding haha, but I did originally buy mine after seeing someone on TH-cam squatting heavy heeled.
Great explanation and much needed info -thanks!
I had been wearing dress shoes for a raised heel support. Not so bad but little wobble here and there. Honestly in terms of stability running shoes with no cushion pads were better than dress shoes but still. Squat shoes? Talk about insane stability. They literally cement you to the floor.
Thanks for this video Ben. It’s interesting that though I gained much information from watching this. That I actually walk away with more questions than answers. However, the questions I now have are more efficient and well informed. I do believe I will find the answers in my training soon.
Keep posting big man!
This guy is awesome, I learn a lot from basically all of his videos I watch.
I really like your style used in the intro, looks like something used for a series or a theme type of video, really nice.
Yo!!! That intro is freaking awesome.
You and Mr. Wheels, bro....proving you don't have to choose just one (team crappy dorsiflexion here)
ben I have my first powerlifting meet in march but I'm nervous because I'm weak :(
but atleast now I'm less weak :)
You got it man. www.elitefts.com/coaching-logs/the-clutch-factor-an-unbreakable-mental-game-to-stop-cracking-under-pressure/
Thanks for providing this, Ben. Very informative and helpful.
Only shoe video il ever watch
j f66 Actually you should check out PowerliftingToWin's vid on deadlift shoes.
Can only do flat shoes if I use a wide stance. Otherwise, need lifters so I can narrow my stance and be more explosive out of the hole.
Nicely put together! Good work!
3:20 I must be doing back squats wrong cuz I don't have a ton of weight 😭
Thank you for the Technical videos! Great stuff
Ben. Write some books. I want to buy them. Keep preaching Strength. Thank you for everything.
Basically, some people may want to consider asking their cosmetic surgeon to saw off some femur length... The surgeons never ask why, but if they do, tell them it's for a prettier squat.
11:37 pretty much the nutshell of the video. Very well-explained!
I have heel spurs and shoes with heels have been suggested, so I use them now. I squatted in flats for years, and not much more heel pain. But any relief is good
After trying squat with trekking shows (i know its stupid but trekking shows habe very rigid structure) i hatte myself for squatting all that months with stupid sneakers! Its HUGE difference! My quads start feel pain all ober the Palace for the Nest day.
Well, I bought Squat Shoes for exactly that reason you should not... I thought it would improve my game just by wearing them. I found out that I lose my balance out of the hole, almost falling forward. You think it makes sense to work on that to get better results in the end? Or just stick to my flat shoes then?
Yo is it just me or is the intro montage's sound quality not up to par to the rest of the video?
Thanks for the video Ben. It would be nice to have leverage measurement ranges and ratioes in a table to guide towards flat or healed lifting.
Great vid! i wear heels for Squats because of my lower back injuries.
Oh wow, I've been thinking of getting one for the last few weeks, and voila! this video comes up. Always enjoy watching your vids. Keep up the great work!
I use skateboarding shoes like dc Van's hell desperately I wasnt near home and training at a friends gym going home woulda cost me an hour and a half and I had on work shoes. I went to Walmart and bought some fake looking chuck's. They did the job squatting. Had them 2 years now still used them once in a blue moon. Not bad for $8
very informative, thank you
What muscles are you refering to with the term "hips"? Glutes and hamstrings?
Just bought some Reebok Legacy squat shoes and my squat is exactly the same as with flat Chucks. But I do low bar for both. Wonder if that is the reason?
Love the new intros
So for someone that squats low bar with long femurs and a long torso would heels make you lean forward even more than necessary? I tried squatting in flats (sabo deadlift shoes) for the first time today and compared them to my healed (22mm) squat shoe and they seemed to look pretty similar, but I felt more tipped forward in the heels.
Opinion?
Squatting has always caused slight tendon pain near my archilles. i don't know how big the archillies tendon is, but when i touch the main part of it, there is no pain. but if i go slightly to the outer side of it where the peroneus thing is, it hurts a fuck ton. This is the worst its ever been, i feel afraid of injury.
im sort of limping today from yesterdays squats. My heel bone even fuckin hurts.
i squat in shoes, and i think i was putting more weight on my toes than usual.
Do i have to take a 2 week deload or some shit? I really don't want to deload again lol. i was deloading not even a week ago.
My abductors seem to be very strong during the lift if that means anything, rather than my knees caving in they pull out, but i dont think it's exaggerated or bad.
My right foot (the painful one) always has had the tendency to rotate outwards more than my foot that feels fine. this happens no matter what i do sitting here right now my right foot is rotated out more.
I find my self squatting from my toes more than i'd like. mid set i corrected it. But i can't fully blame that, my left leg isnt hurting..
I've never suffered any injury, i never even do anything. just went to school, did no exercise, came home, etc graduated, started weight training and here i am - in pain.
I think you have a logical error in your assessment of the leverage portion. You are conflating air squats with barbell squats. Your graphic is misleading because in a barbell squat the red dotted line would always have to meet the torso at the exact same spot, no matter the heel elevation (namely exactly where you place the barbell on your back).
If you use an elevated heel for air squats you could simply take a narrower stance and thus have more forward knee travel and a balanced system with a more upright torso. With a significant load on your back you can’t do that, because the length of your torso (from the bottom to where the barbell is placed) is always fixed and has to be balanced over the mid-foot. You HAVE to take the same stance or your body would have to compensate in other ways to make the barbell travel over midfoot.
You would not have more forward knee travel and this is why both of your squats look the same. The only thing that is changing is the angle at the ankle and the „length“ of the foot from the side-view at ground level (because of the steeper angle), making it a tiny bit harder to keep balance over mid foot.
Think about it this way: In an air squat you can change the stance width and emulate the angles of a low bar squat with a wide stance, slightly narrower a high bar squat, even narrower a front squat. With a barbell you do it the other way around: You place the bar in for example a low bar position and your body has to make the correct angles around that parameter.
Patrick Sogl I was thinking the exact same thing.
So are you saying that squat shoes pretty much don’t do anything?
@@strengtheats6399 yes, it just changes the angle at your ankles. everything else will stay the same (assuming you keep the weight balanced over the middle of the foot like you would without a higher heel). if you have injured ankles and you can't get into the right position that's a different story.
I’ve been wearing lifting shoes with a 5mm raise but I also do a lot of Olympic lifts. Might try a flat shot for squat and dL.
So.... Should i wear sneakers with sole inside...or buy fakins squat shoes
Great video
Can you wear squat shoes for barbell curls, db curls and other lifting exercises?
Wouldn't this change depending on high bar/low bar squat position? If you're a high bar squatter and have a more vertical torso angle, shoes would possibly be more beneficial than if you were low bar and bent over.
So much misinformation here. Just by the logics of physics heels will cause your knees to move forward. Therefore, you can easily counter balance that leg weight by getting your back into a more vertical position taking away the strain on your core so you can focus on your glutes and quads and bis. Most people prefer an elevated heel in combination with front squats just to be able to have a neutral upper body.
Damn i need squat shoes
I bought weightlifting shoes and now i have calf pain. Why can that happen?
Im an athlete, should i front squat with oly shoes or without. Which is more athletic?
Are Heel shoes good for conventional deadlift?
do you recommend people with flat feet wear squatting shoes?
the last time i squatted 670x1..... i didn’t
i was hoping you could do a video on my issue with squats. one of my elbows likes to be more recessed then the other so they are un-even when i squat
I've been wearing Adidas wrestling shoes since 2004. Love them. POLSKA POWER
It is easier to squat deeper with squat shoes but I get knee pain with squat shoes. Just a recreational lifter here
mee too man knee pain with heels
Have you notice any difference with bench with the increase in arms size?
Ben, I've always been under the impression heeled shoes helped with me hitting depth. Is this not true? I've always struggled with going below parallel due to very limited hip mobility and previous Injuries. I have good enough dorsiflexion to hit depth just free squatting..Thoughts on this?
josh Campbell this was addressed in the video, it depends on your biometrics. If your a posterior chain dominant lifter you'll almost assuredly end in the same place with or without the shoes
if i have no problem hitting depth (i can do ass to grass easily) but i often lean forward coming up in a squat, should i ditch squat shoes for barefoot/flat shoe?
What about deadlifting in squat shoes? I hit 405 beltless in oly shoes... am I holding myself back?
Jacob Acosta Master Scribe there's just no reason to do it. If you want to make the lift harder do deficits or snatch grip. If you deadlift in them all the time then it's unlikely you'll take them off and automatically hit 425. But if you had trained in flats or even socks you might already be at 440. Which would be more impressive regardless of the heeled beltless 405. So yes I guess my response would be.
Instantly makes the lift more difficult however, Pete Rubish adapted to doing all three lifts in Nike Romaleos 2.
Gerard King Agreed! We also have to keep in mind Pete Rubish is Pete Rubish 😂
can’t stop looking at those bicep veins
That lighting tho
This is why I live that Chris Duffin lifestyle. Squat in bare feet every workout.
Hey ben, do you know where I can get some Reebok Crossfit Light TR's like yours?
What does it mean about your dorsoflexsion etc if when you do the test you feel like theres more pressure on your heels and your toes want to come off the floor but don't? I can get down into the position but the above is how I'm feeling.
i want to make my back squat more quad dominant and have bigger quads is buying squat shoes going t help?
Red Joker the whole point of his video was ways to figure that out for yourself based on you biometrics
somewhat, yes. however a quick fix is squatting high bar and working front squats
I wanted bigger quads, so I started programming to get them. Leg extensions for the teardrop, and close width leg press, making sure your knees go outside your body.
I did that after my normal squat programming. Didn't really want to change it and I actually started to progress faster with my squat after I made progress getting my quads bigger.
If your willing to sacrifice your normal squatting in favor of quad growth though, go hi-bar with a focus on staying very upright, or front squats/safety squats which will force that.
NO!
Hey Ben. Isn't the most important reason for wearing squat shoes due to the fact that squat shoes are incompressible?
Any tips on choosing heel height for squat shoes?
ahmad abdel-aziz the difference in the heights is usually marginal in my experience. The only true test is to try them out and see what you like I guess.
I have both long femurs and long torso so wind up in the middle, so am sort of an exception here. However, I know I am hip dominant and have weaker quads so I use my squat shoes to get more quad activation which has helped there, yet I find myself significantly weaker with heels on than flat (squatted for 7 years prior in socks alone) whilst low-bar squatting. But I love them for front squats and accessory work! Thanks for the vid, best laid out advice I have seen on the topic!!
Dane D you can't have long torso and long femurs, that's just called being tall. The "long" femurs is a relative term
Such an informative video with 21k views and only 697 likes? Damn
i have a short torso and short legs and i am very flexible i can go ass to grass is flat ok for me?
Holy fuck you definitely broke parallel, as in torso parallel to the floor
Anyone else have problems with quad tendinitis with squat shoes?
yeah me too man with oly shoes i lose my balance and tipping over
I know this video is about squatting and squat shoes but about half way in all I could really think about is, "so why haven't we seen Ben in a Captain America movie or something like that?" That half-natty lighting is doing work for you, sir.
John Trance he’s not natty lol
He looks huge in most lighting scenarios
Foot wants to turn out
I'm the guy who has a miserable time squatting.
i wear flats for squat and dl, i've got stubby legs (first)
He must have a lower back of steel!
This didn’t help me at all
18 MINUTES??? REALLY? I got about halfway through and saw that the question of "When" was never going to be answered. This isn't rocket science nor a college course. Why all the talking for 18 minutes? I put the playback speed up to 1.5 and still couldn't listen to all the talking. Couldn't you just answer your premise AND THEN go into an explanation for those who desire further information?
Are you natural????
Ka7 Hs he takes a bath in soy milk every night that's why he looks like this
I heard he does protein powder so he is far from natty
Another dude on roids doling out workout advice. Stay natty kids.
LMAO careful man, your insecurities are showing
Robert Toddford Williams mate your talking about Ben pollack. One of the strongest powerlifters around.