1Knees move inward
What you see: The knees drift toward each other as you squat.
The fix: Often points to glutes that are not doing their share. "Knees out", and strengthen them.
Form guides · Movement check
The overhead squat: the squat that tells on you.
Trainers use it to see how your whole body moves, from your feet to your arms.
What good looks like.
With your arms held straight overhead, a squat has nowhere to hide. Stiff shoulders pull the arms forward, stiff ankles turn the feet out, and the knees and lower back take up the slack. That is why the overhead squat is one of the best-known movement checks in personal training. It is less a lift than a question: where does your body give way first?
- Feet shoulder width, toes pointing forward.
- Arms straight overhead, in line with your ears.
- Squat to a comfortable depth, five slow reps.
- Look for the feet, the knees, the lower back and the arms.
- Film it from the front and from the side, so nothing hides.
This is a coaching check, not a diagnosis. A fault here tells a trainer what to work on, not what is wrong with you.
- Arms stay in line with the ears
- Lower back stays put
- Knees follow the toes
- Feet stay pointing forward
The faults a trainer sees most
What goes wrong, and the cue that fixes it.
The cues in quotes are the words Brad Glaser uses with his own clients.
2Feet turn out
What you see: The toes swing out, often with the heels lifting.
The fix: Often comes with stiff calves. Stretch them, and squat only as deep as your heels stay down.
3Lower back arches
What you see: The low back sways at the bottom.
The fix: Often comes with tight hip flexors and a weak trunk. "Tuck it", "abs tight".
4Arms fall forward
What you see: The arms drift in front of your face.
The fix: Often comes with a tight chest and upper back. "Chest out", and keep the arms by your ears.
Make it easier, make it harder.
Easier
- Hands on your hips instead of overhead.
- Squat to a box.
- Fewer, slower reps.
Harder
- A dowel or broomstick held overhead.
- A pause at the bottom.
- Single-leg squat to a box.
Move within a range that feels comfortable, and stop any exercise that hurts. Have a health condition, or been inactive a while? Ask your doctor what is right for you first. VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio.
Let your phone check it.
Prop your phone up and train. VeraForma's camera draws the line on your body and names what it sees, with the number it measured.
Free: your reps counted out loud, and the common standing faults shown right on screen, with the fix in your set report. Go Premium and it speaks the fix while you move: "Knees out." "Chest up."
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free: your movement screen, Phase 1 of your programme and all of nutrition.
More form guides
Built by Brad Glaser · NASM Master Trainer · NASM-CPT, CES, PES · 20+ years · has certified 100+ personal trainers.
He owns a personal-training studio in Southern California. The same method he uses standing next to a client, built into the app.
Train it right, free.
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free account, no card. Brad's questions. One squat on camera. Then your results.