SLS/PE1 - Turned out foot issue

I can't seem to keep my feet together doing the deck squat. My right leg in general is somewhat turned out, so if my knees are pointing straight ahead, my right foot points out/right about 20 degrees (left foot points straight).  When I do this exercise, that right foot keeps kicking out when I roll into the squat, so that when I rise up my legs are separated by 6-12" and the right foot is pointed out.  

I've been just plugging away like this for two weeks, but today I tweaked something behind my right knee in my third set.  Nothing serious I think, but it convinced me to pay more attention to proper form! 

I would really appreciate any tips on dealing with this issue. Not sure how to scale this exercise since it's already at the bottom of the ladder! 

I had the same problem, and I am now using mats high enough to allow me to keep my feet together and straight.  I think my issue is mobility in the right knee and ankle.  It feels like it will take me quite some time to get to the floor.

Cheers

Does the turned out foot have less ankle flexion range of motion than the other?  Usually in squats turning out the feet is a way to bypass bad ankle ROM.  Form check video's are by far the best way to get specific suggestions from the coaches to your situation.

Thanks,  Wayne and Ryan!  I think my ROM in the ankle is about the same in both ankles, but the form check video is certainly a good idea so I'll try that. 

Having one foot that's turned out can be indicative of and number of imbalances in the lower limb or hips.

It maybe an ingrained habit, structural issue, or muscle imbalance. If you have means getting with a good physical therapist, or similar can help you suss out the issue so you can better correct it. 

Form checks can also help us help you.

In any case it's important that the knees track with the foot during the squat, so if your knees are thinking forward and foot outward, there's a problem waiting to happen.

Until you can get that foot to point forward better to let the knee also to go out with it to avoid problems.

I often have students do a slightly different variation on this as a lead up to the close knee version. I call the weightlifter's deck squat. Basically as you roll up come into a wider knee squat, at the sides of the glutes and angled out, knees angled out. It will look similar to the bottom position of a weightlifting snatch. 

Anecdotally speaking, whenever I find a foot turning out in any squat variation, it seems I always find a tight piriformis/glute med is the culprit.

Googling around a turned out foot seems to be fairly common, in particular the right foot. Someone had a theory that this had something to do with driving, where we angle our right foot to better work the gas pedal. 

In my case, I think the issue is more below the knee than in the hip. If my knees are straight ahead, the ankle is pretty turned out on the right.  Also, my right ankle is a bit larger than the left and kinda "caved in" (i.e. if I look down on the inner right ankle bone, it tracks over the floor, whereas on the left side it lines up over the inside of my left foot).    In brief, it's a mess down there! 

I've just uploaded a form video and of course appreciate any advice/tips from ya'll here to get that ankle sorted out as much as possible. It's not a problem in my normal (non-athletic) activities, and I even played two hours of mellow tennis on it last night. It does keep me from squatting any amount of weight and is probably a big contributor to my not being able to run without injuring myself however.