Squats... pain in the ankles and knees

[southwest-rider]

Hello everyone, how are these workouts treating you
Well as the title says, everytime my wife does squats she says she feels a little pain in the front of her ankles and a bit more on her knees. I think that this is because of bad form, we worked on her squats when we began this workout and she was not feeling the pain, but I think that now that she is on her own (we have different work sched, therefore never at the gym together ) she went back to bad form. I say this because she tries the same exercise on a squat machine with no pain.
Do you guys have any tips on how to keep good form when doing squats, and maybe even during a deadlift ???
Thanx for reading everyone, happy days

[missjane]

There are tons of threads on squats and deads in this forum that should keep you reading for quite some time. I highly recommend Rippetoe's book "Starting Strength" for great reading on squat and dead form.

What do you mean by 'squat machine'? I hope she hasn't gone on to the Smith Machine.

[southwest-rider]

I'm not sure if its a smith machine, why is that bad? I think more than likely it's a squat machine... I don't understand why they would be bad if its not hurting you, I know some machines tend to hurt you, but thats mostly due to the fact that they sometimes dont fit you right.

[southwest-rider]

thanx for the comment missjane, i will read into the book you mention, i like the title of it

[missjane]

The Smith Machine does not promote good squat form -- your body doesn't take the natural path when doing the squat. You'll see it mentioned in many of the squat threads in the forum. What is a squat machine, then?

[UConnJulie]

She might also need to add in some extra mobility drills for ankles and hips ... search T-Nation for an article by Mike Boyle about the 8 essential mobility drills ... those are good ones which would bring her a long way. That said, form is crucial. I would probably have her only bodyweight squat until she can squat properly without cueing. She doesn't want to end up with an injury!

[Lisa~]

For squats, start your reading with this article by Krista Scott-Dixon: learning the squat

Then review any of the Squat Rx videos that you think are relevant.

This is a thread that covered why the Smith machine is bad: Quote of the Year (no, century) from Muscle and Fiction

These two threads discussed deadlifting technique: Deadlifts - form?

Julie and Cass deadlifting: CT workout - This Sunday