Butt Wink in the Squat: What It Is and When It Actually Matters

At the bottom of the squat your pelvis tucks under and your lower back rounds, often only in the last few inches of depth.

Why it happens

How to fix it

Squat to just above where the wink starts

Find your actual depth by filming from the side. Training a clean range beats forcing a range you cannot control.

Experiment with stance width and toe angle

Small changes often buy real depth immediately. This is the highest-leverage fix and costs nothing.

Brace properly before you descend

Big breath into the belly, brace like you are about to be punched, hold it through the rep.

Add hip flexor and adductor mobility work

Helps some people meaningfully and others barely at all, depending on whether the limit is soft tissue or bone.

Worth knowing: A small wink under light load is extremely common and not inherently dangerous. Under heavy load, or paired with back pain, it is worth reducing depth.

Not sure if you are actually doing this?

The hardest part of fixing a form fault is that you cannot see yourself lift. Upload a video of your back squat and CleanerReps returns specific written corrections against a checklist built for that exact lift, usually in a couple of minutes.

Check your back squat form

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Other back squat faults