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Close stance or wide stance for squats?

T

tasgymbrah

New member
So you've probably heard me say before that my deadlift is 257.5kg and squat is 165kg and I was trying to figure out how to boost my squat. Well my deadlift stance is narrow, however my squat stance is wide (the reason I changed to wide is that I was getting knee pain from narrow stance.

I was thinking that possibly I could squat a lot more with a narrow stance and also add some knee wraps and weightlifting shoes to stop the knee pain. Can anyone please tell me if you think this may or may not help?

I am a raw powerlifter by the way, will wraps have any carryover to the raw squat?
 
Wraps are springs for your knees essentially. I get around 10-15kg from wraps and I am not a strong squatter. Some big dudes get close to 50kg out of wraps raw lol

They will help with the knee pain by taking the pressure off them. Just play around and find a stance that is good and strong
 
What about the shoes, will they help? Just asking coz they'd be a big investment, been training in runners for too long.
 
Mate, if you want feedback you really need to post up a vid so people can see how you are squatting. And also explain what your goals are.

There are many factors. For example, I squat olympic style - narrow stance with my feet at hip height, high bar and full calf touching hammies depth. Which is rather unusual in PLing, and my numbers aren't impressive, but I have my reasons.

Depending on your leverages and stance, you may prefer a flat sole, or weightlifting shoes with 0.6-1 inch heel. Either way, you need shoes that have a flat and stable sole, it's the best money you'll ever spend!

Forget about wraps until you are have your squat well sorted, adding equipment just further complicates it.
 
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tasgymbrah said:
What about the shoes, will they help? Just asking coz they'd be a big investment, been training in runners for too long.
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Weightlifting shoes are definitely better than runners for squatting. But before you buy a pair, make a decision on how you want to squat. Olympic style squatting benefits from getting the knees forward and keeping a very upright torso. This makes the quadriceps do a lot, but it diffuses the hamstrings, so to speak. Weighltifting shoes generally have a big heel in them, which makes it easier to put the knees forwards and go ATG.

Generally, the heaviest squats tend to come from wider-stanced, hip-dominant squats. This squats benefit from keeping the shins as very upright, effectively minimising knee-bend when you reach parallel and at the same time pushing the bum back (causing a lot of hip movement), which is a double-whammy for loading up the hamstrings. My understanding is that it's easier to keep your shins upright with a flat heel than with a raised heel, however I'm no expert on sumo-style lifting, so don't take my word for it.
 
For both high bar and low bar, I use the same cheapass hard- & flat-soled shoes (my ankle flexibility or whatever is apparently sufficient, for the high bar version).

Around hip-width stance for high bar, and around shoulder-width (-ish) for low bar (yeah, still pretty "narrow" for that style, but I squat totally "raw", even beltless currently).

Depth is solidly below parallel for low bar, and hams to calves for high.

Not that this is advice, per se, because well, I've only actually squatted 140kg so far, lol. :p

But, for the record, I haven't failed any squats, or had any issues, including extreme soreness or injury, etc. And the weight keeps going up. So maybe I'm doing something right... who knows. :D
 
You need pretty disgusting hip mobility to break IPF depth with a wide stance
 
0ni said:
You need pretty disgusting hip mobility to break IPF depth with a wide stance
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Idno, I can break parallel with a wide stance (at bodyweight, at least; I've never done sumo squats with weight, so again anything I say on the topic is moot) and my mobility is nothing to write home about.
 
Greater than 150% of shoulder width
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWbTe7ePu8M[/ame]
 
Narrow stance is probably more likely to fail legal depth. A lot of people squat rock bottom with the hamstrings touching the calves, but the forward knee movement results in the hip still being higher than the knee.

Wide stance is more likely to result in a more upright shin and the angle in the knee can be less acute to make legal depth.

Of course there are those mutants who can keep good posture with any stance. The best thing for squats is to eat more and become more blobby.
 
tasgymbrah said:
I'm povo at the moment, would dunlop volleys do?
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If your flat footed put a small plate (an inch) under your heels if u cant afford lifting shoes.

My members whom are flat footed wear lifting shoes. This generally resolves that issue straight away.

Dunlop volleys are cheap and great for lifting in general.
Ive had a few boys buy from the salvation army. Cost like 10 bux only problem is they usually dont always have your size.

Post a video up when u can.
 
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