Tip Toes Down When Squatting Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Toes Down When Squatting Squats causing lower back pain Here' s why your toes might be the problem and what to do about it by Tony Gentilcore March 2, 2019September 19, 2022 Tags It Hurts Fix It, Powerlifting & Strength, Squat, Tips, Training I started with a new client recently and during our initial conversation he mentioned how, no matter what he did, squats had never felt great, particularly on his back. "All my previous coaches have attempted to fix things and nothing has ever stuck," he said. I asked what these other coaches did to "fix" his squat and he unveiled a laundry list of stretching this, smashing that, performing a bevy of positional breathing drills while repeating the Elvish alphabet backwards, or otherwise what I refer to as being "corrective exercised to death." The next step was to get Dr. John Rusin to come in and perform a squat exorcism. I did none of those things. Instead I did something revelatory: I watched him squat. And it wasn't pretty. Every rep was off-balance and I could sense his frustration. Me: "Do you always squat with your shoes on?" Him: "Yep." Me: "Can you take them off?" He did and Sha-ZAM... what I saw punched me in the face. On every rep, his toes would come off the floor. Something no one would notice with shoes on. This helped to explain why he'd always lose his balance, and why his back was flipping him the bird whenever he squatted. What s Happening Here When the toes come up, you lose what's called the "canister position" where the ribs are stacked on top of the pelvis, thus compromising a ton of core stability. When the toes come up, some lifters will have a tendency of "falling" into their lower back, overextending it. Lack of core integrity means you have to make up for it somewhere else, like the lower back. Ideally you want to think more about "foot pressure" – pushing into the floor with even weight distribution on the big toe/metatarsal, small toe, and heel. Cement the toes into ground; don't dig into the floor. Try to maintain even foot pressure throughout the set. Squat with your shoes off, at least for a little bit, to make sure you're able to keep the toes down. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Tip To Grow Do This BEFORE Your Big Lifts Use this technique to increase your mind-muscle connection and build more muscle. Bodybuilding, Tips, Training Eric Bach April 11 Training Lift Lighter Weights to Grow Muscle Lift heavy or go home. That's always been the mantra. But new evidence suggests you can lift light, grow muscle, and stick around. Info here. Bodybuilding TC Luoma April 5 Training The Best Number of Sets for Getting Stronger A solid new study determines the best number of sets for building lower-body strength. Hint: You're probably doing way too many. Info here. Legs, Powerlifting & Strength TC Luoma March 20 Training Triple Decker Delts What would you give to have delts so big and wide that you had to strip naked and coat yourself with lard before being able to pass from room to room? Training Don Alessi March 21