Last May, I wrote a post entitled “Toeing the Line” where I discussed differing philosophies regarding toe angle while squatting and touched on the benefits having a more forward toe angle during a squat.  Kelly Starrett is a big proponent of a more forward toe angle stating that it maximizes torque and power production in the hip while maintaining stability in the knee.  That sounds great to me, but I was always a little fuzzy on what exactly that meant.  But thanks to Justin Lascek of 70′s Big, the same Justin who came to Intrepid in August 2010 for a lifting seminar and lecture, for posting this rather intelligent breakdown of what Kelly is eluding to when he means a more toe forward squat optimizes force production and torque.

Bottom Line:  A forward toe angle in the squat (0 to roughly 10 degrees) means more musculature is used in a tighter way when the lifter has the mobility to use a more forward toe angle correctly. Being tighter with more musculature would result in being stronger throughout a squat.

Read Justin’s entire post here where he further discusses the “torque” created by a more forward toe angle and how the force gets distributed to more muscles that might otherwise be rather uninvolved in a more toe out angle.  He also eludes to the fact that a great deal of mobility is needed to obtain such a strong position so for ideas on how to improve your squatting mobility search “squat” or something similar on Kelly Starrett’s MobilityWOD.com and get to work.  Just 10-15 minutes out of your entire day, everyday, and you’re on your way to success.

WOD 3.21.12

Partner WOD
5rds:
10 Lunges
20 Sit Ups
10 Hang Power Cleans
12 Ball Slams

One partner does the lunges while the other does sit ups, and switch. Repeat with HPC and Ball Slams.