In this blog, I’m going to teach you everything you need to know about butt wink!
What Is Butt Wink?
There’s no universally agreed upon definition. If I asked 100 different physical therapists, coaches, and gym-goers, I’d likely receive a variety of answers.
However, it’s most often thought of and visualized at the bottom of a squat when there is a combination of posterior pelvic tilt and flexion of the lumbar spine.
What Causes Butt Wink While Squatting?
Well, there are several factors that may influence its presentation.
One is anatomy. It’s not uncommon to hear about tall lifters or individuals who describe themselves as having long femurs struggling with squats because they have a difficult time maintaining an upright torso.
This ties in with another factor, which is range of motion, specifically of the hips and ankles. Less ankle dorsiflexion range of motion typically requires more of a forward trunk lean during a squat to stay balanced.
Otherwise, you would fall backward. If you squat with a very forward trunk lean, you may reach your end range of available hip motion before hitting your desired squat depth. This may require more movement from the pelvis and low back to achieve your desired squat depth, resulting in a noticeable butt wink.
A third factor is squat depth. A deeper squat involves more range of motion and therefore is more prone to butt wink being observed.
The last factor I’ll mention is skill or technique. Sometimes a certain squat stance or lack of body awareness can contribute to butt wink.
Is Butt Wink While Squatting Harmful?
Despite popular belief, there’s no research to suggest that butt wink during a squat is harmful. There’s not even research indicating that flexion of the low back during a squat puts you at a greater risk of injury. The idea that it is harmful actually comes from research performed on cadaveric pig spines, in which the researchers flexed and extended the spines thousands of times under load until damage occurred. This has never been reproduced in humans, especially in a clinical setting.
Now, before I completely lose some of you, hear me out. I’m not advocating or encouraging the purposeful demonstration of lumbar flexion and posterior pelvic tilt during a squat. However, rehab topics are usually presented in a very matter-of-fact way using black-and-white statements, so I’d like to introduce some nuance to help reduce the fear and demonization surrounding butt wink.
What most people don’t know is that even when the lumbar spine appears flat or neutral during a task, it is actively flexing and extending. This has been shown in squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings, good mornings, and strongman lifts. For example, here is a description from a study by McGill and Marshall in 2012 – “The kettlebell swing to snatch was initiated with the participant in a squat position with a neutral spine.” Surprisingly, the researchers found that what appeared to be neutral was actually up to 26 degrees of lumbar flexion.
This information makes it difficult to simply dichotomize butt wink as either “good” or “bad.” Instead, it’s helpful to consider when it might be worth intervening. But this is a challenge as well.
Is 1 degree of visible posterior pelvic tilt problematic? If not, when does it become problematic? How much load is necessary for it to be problematic?
If you asked those same 100 physical therapists, coaches, and gym-goers these types of questions, the answers would be even more variable.
I think a person’s history and goals are important considerations here.
If someone is consistently experiencing pain with lumbar flexion, particularly with a noticeable butt wink at the bottom of a squat, that seems like a reasonable and worthwhile thing to modify.
If a new lifter lacks awareness of their body position and demonstrates inconsistencies in their technique with every repetition, that can be a coachable moment that doesn’t require any sort of fear-mongering language or setting of negative expectations.
If a person just wants to build their quad muscles, you could argue that the butt wink at the bottom of a squat isn’t necessarily contributing to their goal.
How about if a competitive powerlifter or weightlifter consistently displays butt wink when attempting to hit new personal records? Is that something that needs to be changed?
More context might be needed.
What if this individual has been predictably squatting this way for 10+ years, has had no major injuries associated with their technique, has progressively gotten stronger each year, and has performed well in competitions?
In this example, it’s possible that trying to alter their technique could worsen their performance because it’s a predictable strategy that they use on a regular basis to successfully lift the most amount of weight.
There is no crystal ball to predict who is going to get injured and when. There are individuals who squat with “perfect” technique but still develop knee pain. However, we don’t describe knee flexion as being bad or dangerous.
Unlike dead pig spines, humans are adaptable and resilient. There are times when that ceiling of adaptability is reached, at least in the short-term, and that’s when the following modifications can be useful.
Fixing Butt Wink While Squatting
If you have limitations in your ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, four things come to mind:
- It might not matter as squat patterns vary between individuals based on anatomy, preference, etc.
- If you’ve never squatted before, it’s reasonable to expect your dorsiflexion to improve with repeated exposure to the movement.
- You can use heel lifts, weightlifting shoes, or wedges as needed.
If it’s a technique issue, consider these three options:
- You can limit your range of motion by performing a box squat or using some other form of external feedback.
- You can try changing your set-up by taking a slightly wider stance if you were previously using a narrow stance.
- You can attempt pause squats or tempo squats to improve your body awareness and positioning.
Here’s the other thing – if your goals don’t directly relate to barbell back squatting to parallel, there’s no reason you have to perform that movement.
You can do front squats or goblet squats, which should allow you to remain more upright, especially if you use weightlifting shoes or wedges as I mentioned.
Hack squats and smith machine squats are great alternatives as well.
One of my favorite lower body exercises is the split squat, which allows you to completely control your trunk position.
So if butt wink is something that you want to change, there are a lot of easy ways to make that happen. Just don’t stress about it more than you need to.
Do you want a structured plan that’s going to provide you with the knowledge and tools to feel more confident, capable, and resilient than ever before?
Check out our coaching and consultation services!
Want to learn more? Check out some of our other similar blogs:
Posture, Shoulder Impingement, Flat Feet, Fixing Knee Valgus
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