One potential solution: Place your heels on a weight plate or two and repeat for strength.
Ahead, learn why this simple squat modification can help you achieve deeper squats, and discover the importance of squatting through your full range of motion in the first place.
expert in this article
- Alyssa Parten, CSCS, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Powerlifting Coach
- Laura Su, CSCS, certified strength and conditioning specialist based in Seattle
How to squat with your heels high
Wondering if raising your heels will improve your squat range of motion? Follow the squat modification steps below and check out a demonstration from Laura Su, CSCS, a certified strength and conditioning specialist based in Seattle.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and a kettlebell in front of your chest, with your heels on the edge of one or two small weight plates and your toes on the ground.
- Drop and back your shoulders, engage your core, and look forward.
- As you inhale, sit down with your butt on the floor, then bend your knees and slowly get into a squat position. Keep your back flat and your chest lifted. Continue lowering until your thighs are parallel to the floor or are comfortable.
- As you exhale, press into all four corners of your feet to straighten your legs and stand back up.
Why This Squat Modification Is Effective
The science behind this trick is very simple. Elevating your heels with a weight plate reduces the amount of ankle dorsiflexion (imagine pulling your toes toward your shins) needed to complete a squat through a full range of motion, explains Su.
When performing a deep squat with the feet flat on the floor, the average ankle dorsiflexion was found to be approximately 23 to 26 degrees. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. However, when you raise your heel, the plantar flexion of the ankle becomes greater (imagine pointing your toes) and the dorsiflexion angle of the ankle decreases. biotechnology.
As a result, you may sink low into a squat even if your ankle mobility is limited.
“If your ankles are too tight or you simply have trouble lowering your body when doing back or front squats, [elevating the heels] This can be a great way to help you get the most benefit out of it. [movement](For the record, limited hip flexion range of motion can also hinder squat depth, but this hack doesn't address that limitation.)
This squat hack can be especially useful during front squats. The variation itself requires you to keep your torso more upright, Su says. Elevating the heels during barbell squats has been shown to minimize forward torso tilt. This potentially makes it easier to maintain the position and keep your torso stacked over your hips. biotechnology study. Additionally, the knees have to move further forward in front squats than in back squats, which requires more ankle mobility, she notes.
“If your ankles are tighter, the variations will be more difficult,” Su says. “Many people believe that eliminating ankle mobility factors allows them to have better balance and maintain a more upright posture.”
People with long femurs (thigh bones) in particular may find it easier to reach their target depth by raising their heels, Su adds.
“If you have long femurs, your knees have to move much further forward, and your hips have to move much further back to sink in or squat,” she explains. “You may actually have sufficient ankle dorsiflexion, but because of your proportions, you will have a harder time reaching depth than someone with a shorter femur.”
Squatting with high heels results in greater quadriceps activation, says Su. So even if you can squat or break parallel without any problems, it's worth using this hack when targeting that muscle group.
While squatting with your heels on a weight plate may be helpful for the average person, serious squatters and powerlifters who need to lift will want to use high-heel shoes (aka squat shoes) instead, says CSCS, a certified strength athlete. Alyssa Parten says: She is a conditioning expert and powerlifting coach. These sneakers are designed to keep the entire foot on the ground while elevating the heel, reducing ankle dorsiflexion angle and increasing quadriceps activation, she explains.
“Because of that [contact], more power to you,” she says. “If you are lifting for strength or power, I would say that would be a better alternative. “Anytime you have a plate that lifts your heel, there’s a portion of your midfoot that’s not in contact with the floor, which reduces the force you can exert in that position.”
“As long as you still maintain that movement pattern and continue to get stronger, it’s probably better than not doing it at all.” —Laura Su, CSCS
Benefits of Squats with Full Range of Motion
Unless you're powerlifting, which requires a squat depth below knee height, a squat that ends with your thighs roughly parallel to the floor is considered full range of motion, according to experts.
“If you want to perform more functions or increase hypertrophy in your lower body muscles, an inch or so below parallel is a good place to work,” says Parten.
And it is important to build yourself up to standard depth. Squatting through a full range of motion allows you to more fully train your leg musculature, says Su. In particular, the rectus femoris (quadriceps muscle) and biceps femoris (hamstring muscle) are most activated during the eccentric portion of the squat (during the descent) when the knees are bent to 90 degrees. A small 2023 study found that the gluteus maximus shows greatest activation at 90 degrees during both the eccentric and concentric (standing up from a squat) portion of the exercise. musclethree.
There are also functional benefits. In everyday life, you have to squat on the floor to grab a laundry basket or stand up after sitting on the floor with your cat. If you haven't been practicing full movement patterns and building strength in the gym, these basic movements may feel more difficult.
How to Squat Without a Weight Plate Under Your Heels
Squatting with high heels isn't necessarily a bad thing. This is especially true if you can perform the exercise with a full range of motion. But according to experts, you shouldn't rely on this hack forever. In addition to squats, you should prioritize ankle mobility exercises so you can ultimately progress to lifting without elevation.
To determine if ankle mobility is truly responsible for your struggle to reach depth, Parten recommends a simple test: assessing the overhead squat. With your arms extended overhead and your forearms in line with your ears, you will perform a few bodyweight squats to about the height of a chair. If you can't raise your arms above your head, your knees are caved in, or your heels are off the ground, try performing squats with your heels on a weight plate.
“If compensation is removed at that point, it indicates a mobility issue or muscle strength mismatch issue in the ankle and ankle complex,” explains Parten. “Then you’ll see that you have to solve that complex problem to improve your squat movement pattern.”
If the plate doesn't address this compensation, other problems, such as limited hip mobility and muscle underactivity or hyperactivity, may come into play, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine. If in doubt, contact a certified personal trainer for individualized guidance.
To get off the weight plate when limited ankle mobility is a driving issue, you should regularly practice movements like ankle swings, Su suggests. Start on the floor in a half-kneeling position, with one foot flat on the floor in front of you. Slowly pull your knees forward until you feel a large stretch in the back of your ankles and calves, then return to the starting position.
Distracting your ankles before a round of squats is also beneficial, says Parten. This is similar to an ankle rock, only the resistance band pulls the ankle joint from behind. The resulting exercises simultaneously stretch tight muscle tissue that can limit mobility and work the complex mobility of the ankle, she explains.
You'll also want to get your body into a deep squat position as often as possible, says Su. She explains that most people can easily do goblet squats even if their ankles are tight, because the weight in front of the chest acts as a counterbalance.
“I’ll have it.” [clients] Do the squat stretch by holding on to a squat rack or something solid in front of you, then lower into a squat and rock back and forth to reach your ankles,” says Su. “Basically, exposing yourself to the movements and ranges of motion you need to reach will be most helpful.”
Building a full range of motion is important, but don't beat yourself up if you need a little help.
“A lot of people are obsessed with mobility. They feel like they can’t perform a movement if they can’t get the full range of motion,” says Su. “I want to encourage people that that’s not necessarily true. Whether you have tight hips or tight ankles, there are many squat variations you can do even if you have limited mobility. Start with something simple like box squats or sit-to-stand. As long as you still maintain that movement pattern and continue to get stronger, it’s better than not doing it at all.”
Well+Good articles reference scientific, credible, recent and robust research to support the information we share. You can trust us on your wellness journey.
- Endo Y, Miura M, Sakamoto M. Relationship between deep squat movement and range of motion and strength of the hip, knee, and ankle. J Phys Ther Sci. Jun 2020;32(6):391-394. doi: 10.1589/jpts.32.391. Epub 2020 June 2. PMID: 32581431; PMCID:PMC7276781.
- Lu Z, Li Biotechnology (Basel). Jul 2022 8;9(7):301. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering9070301. PMID: 35877352; PMCID: PMC9312299.
- Cabral LA, Lima LCR, Cabido CET, Fermino RC, Oliveira SFM, Medeiros AIA, Barbosa LF, Souza TMFd, Banja T, Assumpção CdO. Muscle activation during squats performed across different ranges of motion in women. muscle. 2023; 2(1):12-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/muscles2010002