“It usually shows up as a hip and ankle stability problem, not a knee problem. I use a band pulling the knees inward on light squats, which forces the hips to push outward, and it tends to clean the pattern up fast.”
“Your knees cave because your hips and ankles aren't communicating, and under load your body finds the cheapest path. I use a simple overhead squat screen with a broomstick to spot whether it's a mobility lock or a stability gap, then fix the pattern instead of just chasing weight.”
“Knees caving in under load usually means your glutes aren't pulling their weight, especially the glute max, and your ankles or hips are tight enough that your knees take the path of least resistance. I see it constantly at RESPORT: the bar goes up, the feet flatten, the knees dive inward, and the athlete thinks it's a knee problem when it's really a hip and ankle problem wearing a knee mask.”
“Knee cave usually comes down to one of four things: weak glutes, not knowing the cue, poor coordination, or bad ankle mobility. The glutes drive your knees apart, so if they’re not firing, your knees drift in. I’d drop the weight, film yourself from the front, and think about spreading the floor with your feet on the way up.”
“It’s almost always the glutes not keeping up with the load. When the knees cave in, your body is hunting for stability from the quads and adductors because the hips aren’t doing their job.”
“Heavy knee valgus on a squat is almost always the hip abductors and external rotators giving up under load, not the knee itself. I’d put a band around your ankles and drill staggered hip abduction until that glute medius fires before you load the bar again.”
“Almost always it's not weak knees, it's weak glutes and bad bracing. I used to see it constantly at Onelife: the second the load got heavy, the knees collapsed inward because the lifter never learned to push the floor apart and keep the core locked.”
“I see knee cave-in most often as a hip stability issue, not a knee issue. When the hip external rotators and abductors can't keep up with the load, the femur drops into adduction and internal rotation, and the knees follow. Heavy squats are just the moment it becomes visible.”
“That knee cave-in is valgo dinâmico, and in my experience it usually means your glutes and abductors are losing the fight against your adductors when the load gets heavy. I'd drop the weight, add some unilateral work and hip thrusts, and think knees out on every rep, because pushing through it is asking for a knee problem later.”