How many times have you heard someone say drive your knees out when you squat?
- I know I have said it in the past!
What I used to think, was that you could use a band during a split squat to distract the hip, which in essence forced you to drive the knees out. Now while this is not inherently wrong, it may not always be the best solution depending on the individual. Yes, this band will allow you to recruit the glutes more, as you drive the knee outward putting the hip into external rotation, BUT, this also prevents the natural movement at the hip in certain ranges of motion.
Using a band to drive more external rotation at the hip
Most sticking points occur at about 90° of hip flexion in a squat. At 90° of hip flexion if we look at a movement limb arc model, the hips requires internal rotation of the femur (or the thighbone). At 60 to 110° of hip flexion, the muscles at the back of your hip that do external rotation actually gain more leverage in internal rotation (i.e. they will lengthen). In order to get into 90° of hip flexion you need space in order to internally rotate the femur. Therefore, by driving the knees out we are actually reducing the amount of space at the back of the hip because we are creating external rotation (driving the knees out and shortening the muscles that should be lengthened at 90° of hip flexion). This is why it may not be the most effective cue for some people.
An exercise that I like to use to help prevent the knee from coming in, is a box step down variation with a band around the knee pulling the knee outward (which forces you to resist that motion by driving the knee inward slightly).
Note: always start with body weight and a lower box before you progress to using load with a higher box.
This is a more ideal way to work on knee control, because based on the limb arc model from 60 to 110deg of hip flexion, it requires internal rotation. Here we are forcing the knee to work by internally rotating. You will get even more glute recruitment in addition to adductors (the inner thighs) because these muscle co-contract or work together when you are in single leg stance.
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