Right now you expect me to say that the knees should never pass over the feet. Hogwash! This is flat out wrong. Almost every trainer in the world has repeated this mantra as if it were Gospel. The truth is that there is a study that says this MIGHT result in knee pain. The same research also suggests that if you limit how far forward your knees move, you are more likely to INJURE YOUR BACK. Pick your poison.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c375/ff851b69346484952590c2d1185252d7792e.pdf
What you really should be looking out for is how far IN your knees might moving. Many people have tight hip adductors (groin) muscles, and others might have weak gluteus medius and minimus muscles, but proper positioning creates the better balance.
Look at yourself while squatting. It is not hard to see if the knees are collapsing inward, yet is an extremely common mistake. Knee pain is very likely to result. So make sure your shins are as vertical as possible.
If this seems impossible, try the stretch described below. Tight groin muscles might be preventing proper hip positioning, and thus preventing proper knee positioning.
The feet need to be as wide as you can, and and straight forward as you can. Any outward rotation of the feet will result in an ineffective stretch. Then shift your body to one side and hold for 2 seconds, then the other side and hold 2 seconds. Be sure not to hold your breath.
As I stated earlier, I often use the squat as an assessment tool for people with low back, hip or knee pain. Watch yourself in a mirror facing front to check the knees for buckling in. Then turn sideways to check for "bowing". You might be surprised what you find.
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