LOOOOw squats

[KillTech]

i was squating like ass to heels today... is that safe for the knees? yea it was weighted i was doing actual squats ona squat rack...

[Trickstar]

If you got no injury, then it is fine. Work on your flexibility to decrease chances of injury.

[NightHunter]

As long as you maintain proper form, you're fine. If you feel uncomfortable, get someone who knows proper form to observe you.

[chicanerous]

If you're

- not old as fuck
- have no preexisting injuries
- use good form
- descend and return under control

then your knees might be fine.

[anfeyd]

I'm teaching my cousin how to squat, and he does the same thing. However, whenever he is close to his heels his back rounds, so make sure you're keeping tight.

[mr popular]

I don't see the fucking point in doing these haha.

And yes, it can be bad for your knees because there is a lot of shearing force put on them when going that low.

[anfeyd]

I don't see the fucking point in doing these haha.

And yes, it can be bad for your knees because there is a lot of shearing force put on them when going that low.

Most people do them because their flexibility allows them to -- not because they want to. They do not feel the 'bounce' because theyre too flexible, so most need to shove their glutes back even further to feel the stretch reflex sooner.

[Rayzer]

Fitness Mythology
Challenge the Dogma
By Marc McDougal
First published at www.johnberardi.com, Jan 31 2003.

Allow me to first ask you to let go of your ankles, stand up straight, and pull your pants up. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault. You may not have even realized that you have been “taking it” from the fitness industry for a long, long time. Why should you even be suspicious, the people that teach college courses about weight training do this for a living! The personal trainers at your gym are “certified” which equates to fitness omniscience, right? So how can anything be amiss in the weightlifting universe?

My friends, amiss it is. And I’m here to expose some truths. But first, I must warn you. Much of the following information is contrary to popular opinion. So if you’re offended by anything that Oprah’s trainer doesn’t endorse - get out while you can, lest the waters of your fragile reality be stirred.

Myth #1: The Knee Shall Never Cross The Line Of The Toe

Every new trainer loves to spout this one off as a display of his or her biomechanical knowledge. They constantly scour the gym-goers movements on a noble quest to ensure patellar safety across the land. Unfortunately this unsubstantiated notion is perpetuated and accepted as fact in gyms everywhere. These are the same trainers that allow a gross deviation of the patella to the medial or lateral aspect during an exercise (the knee pointing a different direction than the foot), which actually is dangerous and degenerative.

If one were to assess knee injuries in athletic (read as: sport) environments, it becomes apparent that a high percentage of patellar trauma cases are sustained while the knee is beyond the all-sacred toe-line. In a misguided attempt to avoid knee injuries, the exercise community has therefore made this knee position taboo. In reality, the opposite reaction would have been preferential. Since this knee position is unavoidable in sports, or even in everyday life (try walking up or down stairs or a hill without your knee crossing your toe line) the proper way to prevent injuries is to strengthen the musculature around the joint by allowing the knee to travel into the “unsafe” zone in a controlled environment.

All joints contain feedback mechanisms inside the connective tissue and joint capsules called proprioceptors. These communicate with your nervous system to tell your brain what position your joint is at. This is how you can close your eyes and be aware of exactly what angle all of your joints are at without actually seeing them. To simplify a complicated issue, the more time you spend with your knee past your toe-line, the more you teach your nervous system to activate the protective soft tissue around the joint therefore PREVENTING injury during athletic situations (Supertraining, Siff & Verkoshansky, 1993). Close your eyes and think of a highly succesful strength coach. Yep, he agrees. Somehow, this news just doesn’t buy column space in Muscle and Fatness.

So remember this - the “golden rule” that the knee should never cross the line of the toe during any type of lunging exercise should be buried in the ocean with the lost city of Atlantis. (Of course, if this position causes consistent pain, then you should avoid this particular variation of the exercise).

Myth #2: Full Squats (below parallel) Are Bad For The Knees
More squat myths?!?

We’ve all heard it, if you dip below parallel during a squat, your kneecap will blow off and land in the front desk girl’s mocha latte. Well it just ain’t true! What’s that, you need a little more evidence? Ok boys and girls, its time for today’s episode of Fun With Musculoskeletal Anatomy.

The knee has four main protective ligaments that keep the femur from displacing on the tibia (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL). These four ligaments are most effective at their protection during full extension and full flexion. Full extension would be when you are standing; full flexion would be when there is no daylight between your hamstring and your calf. When the knee is at 90 degrees of flexion (the halfway point), these four ligaments are almost completely lax and cannot exert much if any of a protective force at the knee (Zatsiorsky V. Kinematics of human motion. 1998 - published by Human Kinetics - p.301).

Unfortunately, the position where the protective ligaments of the knee are not doing any protecting is the common recommended stopping point of a squat. Therefore, as it as it turns out, this is the exact worst place you could reverse the motion under load.

If flexibility allows (heels staying planted, torso not flexing forward past 45 degrees), then a full squat where you lower yourself all the way to the ground is far safer on the knees than the traditional half squat. Guess what joint angle most leg extension machines start at? If you said 90 degrees, give yourself a pat on your healthy knee. This makes a full squat even safer than a leg extension machine (Wilk K et al. A comparison of tibiofemoral joint forces and electromyographic activity during open and closed kinetic chain exercises. Am J Sports Med; 24(4):518-527).

So am I telling you never to do parallel squats? No! Am I saying that you’ll injure yourself on a parallel squat? No, again! What I’m trying to do is simply make an argument for the safety of full squats, thereby relegating squat myth #2 to the fiery pits of hades.

http://trickstutorials.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17928

[karatekid]

My P. E teacher told me not to do them, because I will have a big ass like a woman lol.

[Fanya]

low squats helped my vastus medialis(es)

[Honken]

I do them. They're fucking awesome. Greater range of motion, less momentum and necessary for snatches/c&j's.

[Pale Nimbus]

ATG squats are great for you.

[Ashtar]

My P. E teacher told me not to do them, because I will have a big ass like a woman lol.He does have a point there, I've read that the deeper you go the more the glutes get relied on compared to other muscles, still not sure why that'd be though.

But how big are women's glutes? More likely women just have more ass fat. It's entirely different.

[anfeyd]

He does have a point there, I've read that the deeper you go the more the glutes get relied on compared to other muscles, still not sure why that'd be though.

But how big are women's glutes? More likely women just have more ass fat. It's entirely different.

As your legs move past parallel there is a lot more reliance on driving the hips back upward synergistically with the quads.

[Ashtar]

So the glutes aren't used more? Maybe someone ment in comparison to using the hamstrings. I have heard front squats emphasize quads more compared to back squats which are more posterior chain, but I don't understand why that is well either.

[chicanerous]

So the glutes aren't used more? Maybe someone ment in comparison to using the hamstrings. I have heard front squats emphasize quads more compared to back squats which are more posterior chain, but I don't understand why that is well either.
The torso stays more upright in a front squat than a back squat by virtue of the difference in loading. Since the degree of inclination of the torso is controlled by the hips and the hips are controlled by the posterior chain, the larger degree of inclination in a back squat results in a larger degree of posterior chain involvement (in comparison to the front squat) in order to return the torso to a standing vertical position.

[compleks]

You're going to confuse him, Chic.