Squat shoes - knee pain

[AKD]

I’ve been squatting in Chucks since day 1 several hundred days ago. I recently purchased squat shoes. They feel great when coupled with the SSB but when I low bar in them my knees hurt. I can put my flat shoes on for the next set and feel great so there’s no lasting effect but I’d like to be able to use them I guess. In general, is there something deliberate that I need to change in my form when wearing these cards flat shoes? Should I try to fix it or return them? I’ve had no issues with my Chucks and only bought the squat shoes because I thought I was supposed to?!

Thanks,

Andrew

[Austin Baraki]

What load are you typically using with the SSB compared to low bar?

[AKD]

The load is definitely lower in general with the SSB but the pain in my knee can occur during the warmup sets for low bar in the same load range as SSB. What I feel might be happening is my knees are going out a little too far because I'm pushing them out but the squat shoes also sort of do that for you.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

The load is definitely lower in general with the SSB but the pain in my knee can occur during the warmup sets for low bar in the same load range as SSB. What I feel might be happening is my knees are going out a little too far because I'm pushing them out but the squat shoes also sort of do that for you.

I don't think your knees are likely to hurt from "going out too far". I think if the squat shoes change your mechanics in a way where you're not really well-trained, perhaps decreasing the load and volume for a period of time and working back up to that is the right call.

I don't think the shoes are doing anything unique to cause knee pain, however.