Not to take anything away from Ricky Dale Crain!
Earlier I used to coach very small groups of athletes who mostly came from the same background as I did- middle class Indians from an active athletic background. For most of us, we could not go to the bathroom without spending about a half hour in a rock bottom bodyweight squat. So while I understood that there might be people who could not squat deep, I rarely encountered them.
In general I always advocated squatting rock bottom (not relaxing at the bottom, the ligaments should never take the strain) because well, my guys and I could. Basically my logic always was the greater the range of motion, the better the muscle recruitment and the more the athletic return. Between a guy who could full squat 225lbs and a guy who could half squat 315lbs I always choose the guy who did 225 with a full range of motion.
Also deep squats have great glute and lumbar recruitment, in my experience more than deadlifts. Plus I always felt that deep squatting ability improved running and jumping ability a lot more than shallow or even parallel squats.
The primary fear, from a knee damage point of view, of squatting deep is that at the rock bottom position the ligaments will have to take the strain, damaging the knee capsule. Honestly that will only happen if you let the knees travel significantly ahead of the toes, let the knees collapse inwards, and relax in the bottom position. The simple solution is to keep "the chest out, knees out, glutes tight and abs braced". If you do this, all problems go away. The secondary problem is keeping the lumbar spine arched. Many people have an annoying tendency for their butts/tailbone to tuck under. This however can be easily rectified by keeping the abs tight. In my experience it has more to do with abdominal weakness than with mobility issues. Goblet and front squats are also terrific to solve this.
However, recently I have started working with, let us say more affluent athletes who come from more sedentary backgrounds. I recently was coaching a group of 15 athletes, only to my dismay to find 13 of them could not perform a proper bodyweight squat and 11 of them could not touch their toes and 12 of them could not even sit cross legged. I had never faced a group of "athletes" who were this immobile.
For such athletes the answer to the question how deep to squat is-
How deep can you squat with good technique?
What ever it is, you should squat as deep as you can. With a few basic cues- cramp your hip flexors, brace the abs, push the knees out, weight on the heels, look up, chest out, brake at the hips- even the most immobile athletes can be made to squat at least halfway. Box squats and power rack squats can be used to regulate the range of motion.
I have come to understand that there are 3 basic reasons people cannot squat fully-
1. Tight Ankles- If a person cannot perform a bodyweight squat in good form with the heels flat but can do so with an inch of heel elevation, the problem has nothing to do with the hip- the ankles are tight. Stretch the calves as much as you can and strengthen the doriflexors and your guy will be full squatting in no time. In the interval have him squat using a low box- do not elevate the heels.
2. The knee hurts- This happens purely due to the tendency to let the ligaments take the load. The only solution is to teach the athlete how to puff out his abs and create intra abdominal pressure. With good and puffed out abs and tight glutes, there is no way the knees will hurt. Tight glutes will additionally prevent the knees from collapsing inwards and travelling too far forward.
Sometimes the glutes are weak and need activation. If your athlete tends to twist around or let the knees come inwards, this is your problem. Dont cut ROM instead perform a lot of loaded and unloaded hip thrusts.
Sometimes the real culprit is a lack of internal and external femoral flexibility. Do twist holds from the flexibility post on this blog to solve that issue.
In any of the above cases, while solving the issue at hand, utilize low box squats or chambered bar squats to parallel for training.
In certain cases, like elderly trainees or people with real knee issues, you do have to cut the depth. For such people box squats to an appropriate height are generally best.
3. Lumbar spine rounds or the tailbone tucks under-
90% of the time, this is due to a weak anterior core and can easily be resolved by hammering the abs from a variety of movements and performing goblet, zercher or front squats in the interval.
In any other situation, arising from a lack of hip mobility, maybe tight hip flexors or inflexible hamstrings or poor hip rotation and groin flexibility, do hip belt squats while working on the issue. Hip belt squats are a great way to train the squat without putting pressure on the lower back. I have no idea why this movement is not more popular.
Bottom line is, I still maintain that one must squat as deep as possible but it comes with a condition- as possible. Any ROM that is hurting you is probably bad for you. Try a different variation and spend the interval working out your issues. Over time work towards improving ROM. In a worst case scenario if that is not happening, you can always use high and low box squats and standard squats done at least till parallel.
Honestly parallel squats are an achieve able goal for anyone (in the long run) and should be the minimum standard to shoot for. But if in the long run you are unable to clean up your issues then you have to do the best you can.
If you cant even do half squats in the long run, my honest advice to you is to just drop squats and focus on deadlifts instead. At-least the temptation to use crazy weights that you should not be handling in the first place will not be there. And the shear force on the knee is lesser. I forget the study it was but even common sense should tell you that the lever arm is the longest when the knee is 90% and since you can half squat a hell of a lot more than you can parallel squat the stress on the knee is actually a lot more in half squats than parallel squats. And at this point half squats will just damage the knee further, so it is best to find other ways to work your knee, like duck stance deadlifts.
If it is a back problem and no variation is working out for you, you can always go for hip belt squats.
If you have a knee and back problem go for hip belt squats done to parallel while you work out your issues. If you cant even do that, I can only offer my apologies and feel bad for you.
Earlier I used to coach very small groups of athletes who mostly came from the same background as I did- middle class Indians from an active athletic background. For most of us, we could not go to the bathroom without spending about a half hour in a rock bottom bodyweight squat. So while I understood that there might be people who could not squat deep, I rarely encountered them.
In general I always advocated squatting rock bottom (not relaxing at the bottom, the ligaments should never take the strain) because well, my guys and I could. Basically my logic always was the greater the range of motion, the better the muscle recruitment and the more the athletic return. Between a guy who could full squat 225lbs and a guy who could half squat 315lbs I always choose the guy who did 225 with a full range of motion.
Also deep squats have great glute and lumbar recruitment, in my experience more than deadlifts. Plus I always felt that deep squatting ability improved running and jumping ability a lot more than shallow or even parallel squats.
The primary fear, from a knee damage point of view, of squatting deep is that at the rock bottom position the ligaments will have to take the strain, damaging the knee capsule. Honestly that will only happen if you let the knees travel significantly ahead of the toes, let the knees collapse inwards, and relax in the bottom position. The simple solution is to keep "the chest out, knees out, glutes tight and abs braced". If you do this, all problems go away. The secondary problem is keeping the lumbar spine arched. Many people have an annoying tendency for their butts/tailbone to tuck under. This however can be easily rectified by keeping the abs tight. In my experience it has more to do with abdominal weakness than with mobility issues. Goblet and front squats are also terrific to solve this.
However, recently I have started working with, let us say more affluent athletes who come from more sedentary backgrounds. I recently was coaching a group of 15 athletes, only to my dismay to find 13 of them could not perform a proper bodyweight squat and 11 of them could not touch their toes and 12 of them could not even sit cross legged. I had never faced a group of "athletes" who were this immobile.
For such athletes the answer to the question how deep to squat is-
How deep can you squat with good technique?
What ever it is, you should squat as deep as you can. With a few basic cues- cramp your hip flexors, brace the abs, push the knees out, weight on the heels, look up, chest out, brake at the hips- even the most immobile athletes can be made to squat at least halfway. Box squats and power rack squats can be used to regulate the range of motion.
I have come to understand that there are 3 basic reasons people cannot squat fully-
1. Tight Ankles- If a person cannot perform a bodyweight squat in good form with the heels flat but can do so with an inch of heel elevation, the problem has nothing to do with the hip- the ankles are tight. Stretch the calves as much as you can and strengthen the doriflexors and your guy will be full squatting in no time. In the interval have him squat using a low box- do not elevate the heels.
2. The knee hurts- This happens purely due to the tendency to let the ligaments take the load. The only solution is to teach the athlete how to puff out his abs and create intra abdominal pressure. With good and puffed out abs and tight glutes, there is no way the knees will hurt. Tight glutes will additionally prevent the knees from collapsing inwards and travelling too far forward.
Sometimes the glutes are weak and need activation. If your athlete tends to twist around or let the knees come inwards, this is your problem. Dont cut ROM instead perform a lot of loaded and unloaded hip thrusts.
Sometimes the real culprit is a lack of internal and external femoral flexibility. Do twist holds from the flexibility post on this blog to solve that issue.
In any of the above cases, while solving the issue at hand, utilize low box squats or chambered bar squats to parallel for training.
In certain cases, like elderly trainees or people with real knee issues, you do have to cut the depth. For such people box squats to an appropriate height are generally best.
3. Lumbar spine rounds or the tailbone tucks under-
90% of the time, this is due to a weak anterior core and can easily be resolved by hammering the abs from a variety of movements and performing goblet, zercher or front squats in the interval.
In any other situation, arising from a lack of hip mobility, maybe tight hip flexors or inflexible hamstrings or poor hip rotation and groin flexibility, do hip belt squats while working on the issue. Hip belt squats are a great way to train the squat without putting pressure on the lower back. I have no idea why this movement is not more popular.
Bottom line is, I still maintain that one must squat as deep as possible but it comes with a condition- as possible. Any ROM that is hurting you is probably bad for you. Try a different variation and spend the interval working out your issues. Over time work towards improving ROM. In a worst case scenario if that is not happening, you can always use high and low box squats and standard squats done at least till parallel.
Honestly parallel squats are an achieve able goal for anyone (in the long run) and should be the minimum standard to shoot for. But if in the long run you are unable to clean up your issues then you have to do the best you can.
If you cant even do half squats in the long run, my honest advice to you is to just drop squats and focus on deadlifts instead. At-least the temptation to use crazy weights that you should not be handling in the first place will not be there. And the shear force on the knee is lesser. I forget the study it was but even common sense should tell you that the lever arm is the longest when the knee is 90% and since you can half squat a hell of a lot more than you can parallel squat the stress on the knee is actually a lot more in half squats than parallel squats. And at this point half squats will just damage the knee further, so it is best to find other ways to work your knee, like duck stance deadlifts.
If it is a back problem and no variation is working out for you, you can always go for hip belt squats.
If you have a knee and back problem go for hip belt squats done to parallel while you work out your issues. If you cant even do that, I can only offer my apologies and feel bad for you.
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