Heels Lifting Off the Floor When You Squat: Causes and Fixes

Your heels rise as you hit depth and your weight shifts onto the balls of your feet.

Why it happens

How to fix it

Test your ankles with a knee-to-wall test

Under about four inches of clearance means ankle mobility is your limiter. Now you know which fix to spend time on.

Squat in flat hard-soled shoes or a heeled lifting shoe

A raised heel effectively donates ankle range. This is a legitimate permanent solution, not a crutch.

Widen your stance and turn the toes out

Reduces the dorsiflexion demand right away.

Cue "screw your feet into the floor" and keep tripod contact

Big toe, little toe, heel - all three stay loaded through the rep.

Worth knowing: Ankle mobility responds slowly. Use the shoe fix now and train mobility in parallel rather than waiting.

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.

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Other back squat faults