If your squat stalls halfway down, or your lower back rounds under the bar at the bottom, the problem usually isn't flexibility. It's that your stance is fighting your hips.
The tuck is a signal, not a flaw
That moment where your pelvis rotates under at the bottom — often called "butt wink" — happens when your femur runs out of room in the hip socket. Push past it and your lumbar spine takes load it isn't built to carry.
The fix is almost never "stretch more." It's usually one of three adjustments.
1. Widen your stance and turn your toes out
Hip sockets vary a lot between people. A stance that works for someone else may not clear your anatomy at all. Start around shoulder width, turn your toes out 15–30°, and let your knees track over them.
Test it: descend slowly and stop the instant your pelvis starts to tuck. Widen slightly. Try again. You're looking for the stance where depth arrives before the tuck does.
2. Let your knees travel forward
Cueing "knees behind toes" forces your hips to do all the folding. Allowing your knees to move forward over your feet shares the work between hips, knees, and ankles — which usually buys depth immediately.
3. Check your ankles before you blame your hips
Limited ankle dorsiflexion stops your shin from angling forward, which shoves your hips back and rounds your back. Quick test: kneel with one foot flat, drive that knee over your toes without lifting the heel. Less than about 10 cm from wall to toe means ankles are the bottleneck. Slightly elevated heels — lifting shoes or small plates — often fixes the squat instantly.
How deep is deep enough?
Hip crease just below the top of the knee is a solid target for most people. Below that is a preference, not a requirement — and it's only worth having if you can hold a neutral spine there.
Putting it together
Warm up, then work through the three adjustments one at a time, in this order: stance width, knee travel, heel elevation. Change one variable per set so you know which one actually helped.
Most people find their depth in the first two.
The Itsha app shows this from the camera angle that actually reveals depth and spine position, with the working muscles highlighted as you move. Free on iOS.