CrossFit Athletic Group

I know I have made references to the knees before, and how it relates to hip and foot stability, but I don't think I've ever done a visual example. Considering the amount of times you've probably heard me, Murley, or Emma say KNEES DAMNIT! and had no idea why we are making such a big fuss about it, I'd like to show you exactly what I consider good, acceptable, not acceptable, and downright dangerous. So, here we go.

Knee = hip

First off, the most important thing to understand is that the reason why we ask you to do something with your knees (usually knees out) has nothing to do with your knees; it's for your hips.

How your knees move dictates the rotation of your hips. Your hip can do two things: it can flex and it can extend. When your hip is in flexion (aka leg in front of you), you need external rotation. When your hip is in extension (leg behind you), you need internal rotation. Here is an example of what it looks like.

This is not opinion, and the rotation is not an optional bonus. It's like the "u" to the letter "q." The two always have to be coupled together, and the knees help with that. So naturally, the opposite of each instance creates instability, and therefore leads to loss of strength, loss of power, and increased risk of injury.

Loading order

Aside from the laws of torque mentioned above, another main principle for our movement is loading order - which means whatever bends first carries the most weight. In the case of the lower body, the hips nees to move first so they can take most of the weight. In the picture of Mrs. Carey above, you will see her front shin is completely vertical, meaning she initiated the descent of the lunge with the hips going down, not the knees going forward, unlike the picture below.

You gotta love our Fieldhouse days. It was right when we started to realize that the Champions Club was a legit thing. Unfortunately we did not know too much about movement back then. Above, you will see then-rookie-coach Nicole Murley having a contest with handsome gentleman Matt Morrow to see who can make their knee crash forward the most. Morrow is winning by a landslide.

To call or not to call

So here is the reality: the stuff mentioned above is recognized universally as correct human mechanics regardless if you are doing front squats, back squats, deadlifts, jumping, or running. Not up for debate. Any deviation from the standard in this case is an error; your hips are either stable or they're not. And since we are fortunate enough to know this, it is something we have to reinforce. In the picture above, Murley's knee is just a little bit forward - especially compared to Morrow - but it is still not the standard set by our body's mechanics. So do I address the issue? Of course. The delivery might be different though. Here are a couple examples of errors and how we treat them.

Tara and Amy - sometime in 2013

Knowing what I know now, this would not have been allowed. This is an obvious error that should have been addressed at a lower weight. We see this and we immediately stop the athlete because these are not squats by our standards. The reps or set would not count.

Hannah Enderich - last week

This fault is not as obvious as Amy and Tara's example, and up until recently is something we would have overlooked. But any movement of the knees away from where they are supposed to be is a momentary loss of power. Hannah is doing an air squat, so the weight is not an issue. The issue I think, as mentioned in Movement Shapes with Jacob, is lack of midline strength. Still, this is an error and weight will be limited until it is fixed.

Purpose

Despite all of this, people rarely get hurt when their knees wobble on a squat. So why is this an issue? Well, I see two reasons. The first is because the lifting potential. Since external rotation is the strongest position for our hips to be in during a squat, that means it gives us the potential to lift the heaviest weight. Any moment of knees coming in reflects a weak position. We want you lifting heavy weights; if that means we hold you back temporarily to learn the technique that will get you there, then so be it. Once we get used to that position, the weight will come extremely fast.

Secondly, we train for things outside the gym, which, for many of you, is your sports. Take a peek at Lauren's knees during a hoop session in June.

This was taken pretty soon after she came back from college and is completely atrocious. So would I stop her during this session? Absolutely not. Why? Because she is not good at shooting off the curl and her playing time depends on her learning that skill. To me, that's a risk that has to be taken for a serious athlete, and it comes with any sport. Since we are turning a blind eye to this on the court, we have to be extra picky when we are in the weight room as we progress through the movements. Like the following...

Blocking movement (as shown in the feet together jump) is the most common practice. In the last two pictures, she is close to perfect but there are slight deviations that have to be fixed without relying on blocking. But the bottom line is any time Lauren's hips are in flexion in the gym, we demand constant external rotation (controlled mostly by the knees). A few weeks ago I took a picture for comparison purposes. Take a peek.

Not great. Still an error. But better. The fact that her feet are straight helps keep the knees relatively safe, and in the meantime we will be reinforcing good knee - and therefore good hip - mechanics in everything she does in the gym.