Barbell Squats and "Knees Over Toes" : A Literature Review
A literature review suggests that restricting the movement of the knees upto the level of the toes might be counterproductive
Viraj Bhide, CSO
4/18/20251 min read
Paper: Illmeier G, Rechberger JS. The Limitations of Anterior Knee Displacement during Different Barbell Squat Techniques: A Comprehensive Review. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2023; 12(8):2955. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12082955
HEKA's Cliffnotes Version:
The idea that the knees should not be moved beyond the tips of the toes when performing a barbell squat is an old one with uncertain origins. The paper above is a literature review which seems to show that this idea is incorrect.
In effect, letting the knees go past the toes is "by no means harmful but actually beneficial for the barbell squat movement pattern in healthy athletes".
Deliberately restricting this "AKD" (short for anterior knee displacement) results in disproportionately high forces being transferred towards the hip joints and lower back.
The authors suggest that in most cases, it is preferable to use deep squat variations as these exercises seem to "offer a number of fundamental advantages, such as increased muscular activation, improved functional capacity, superior athletic performance, and performance-enhancing transfer effects of dynamic maximum strength to dynamic speed-strength of hip and knee extensors".
In these variations, a larger AKD need not be deliberately restricted. In other words, it is OK to allow the knees to go over the toes.
In any case, it is very important to have a sufficient range of motion in the ankle for a safe deep squat, regardless of the specific variations in technique.
The suggestions in this article do not apply to knee rehabilitation patients due to the larger shear stresses in the knee associated with greater AKD.
