How deep on heavy squats?

Frank_Just_Frank

Hey everyone, I'm curious about how deep you should squat when lifting heavier. In the past, I was content to go down to parallel and made it to 405.

A couple months ago I hired a trainer and he had me lower the weights by a lot and practice squatting all the way down and slowly bringing the weights back up in time.

We haven't gotten to the point where I'm squatting anything impressive but yesterday I got back up to 315 just for kicks; I have to admit it feels better on my back now that I've been practicing it this way.

Is there a point where it's not good to squat deep? Is the "parallel rule" a minimum or is there a point where you're supposed to change it and stop at a higher level?

Chief_Rocka

As low as you can go without rounding your lower back. If you can't break parallel without rounding your back, you need to work on your flexibility. If you compete, you should practice going as low as you need to.

Frank_Just_Frank

That makes sense, thanks!

ilovedeadlifts

As low as you can go without rounding your lower back. If you can't break parallel without rounding your back, you need to work on your flexibility. If you compete, you should practice going as low as you need to.

agreed here.

I typically just try to break parallel and make it a "legit" squat. Don't get carried away with thinking your *kitten* needs to touch your ankles, but don't squat a mile high either.

KiltFuPanda

I generally go to parallel for the heavy squats - no need to go further.

However, on lighter weights, I'll go as low as I can possibly can. Not only does it strengthen the parts of the chain that don't get worked on the upper half of the movement, but a few seconds' pause at the bottom makes for one heck of a good stretch.

jr4015

Before I would say parallel was where you needed to be but now I would say you should just break below parallel when going heavy and especially when competing. I learned this the hard way when I trained for a recent meet and kept squating straight across during training. The federation that I was competing in was a little more strict and needless to say I bombed out of the meet and didn't get any of my squats in.

cajuntank

For me, my squat weight was increasing faster than my deadlifts. I was sucking at deadlifts, then I read something from Rippetoe about large disparaging weight difference between squats and deadlifts. He had 5 possible reasons for this.

1. You don't squat low enough
2. You don't squat low enough
3. You don't squat low enough
4. You don't squat low enough
5. You don't squat low enough

Gotta love Rippetoe :laugh:

Needless to say, I backed my squat weight down by as much as 20%, started trying to go deep...not ATG, but still...worked back up in weight, and wouldn't you know it, I pulled my 1x5 set of deadlifts that I had been struggling hard with relatively easily for all 5 reps.

Punktorian

You should be able to do both an Olympic style squat and a wide stance powerlifting squat/box squat. Front squat as well. If your goal is to be more athletic and just stronger overall then you should be able to perform all 3 with respectable weight. I find Olympic style squats and front squats to be great secondary movements on squat days, sometimes even deadlift days if I need to get them in.


A bit more on the subject.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_V2TszOZSk

Just general stuff, really it depends on your goals.

shutupandlift13

I've been having depth issues as well with my heavy sets. I aim for at least parallel on my heaviest weight, for sure break parallel on the lower weights. My dynamic effort sets I always do deep squats on, A2G.

I've switched to a wider stance which has helped some. Unfortunately, wider stance is no good for most olympic movements so I have to switch things up for oly work. I will say that no longer squatting with a rack has made me a little scared almost to get really deep when I get heavy. I have lost a little trust in my bail out technique so I think once I get that confidence back, my depth will get better. I've decided to back off to what my weights were two cycles ago in an attempt to build some better muscle memory for proper depth as well as an ego boost on my squats.

chrisdavey

Sounds like he switched you from low to high bar squats which you can go much lower with without lumbar flexion.

I squat to parallel as that is what is required for comps. I do front squats lower than parallel though.

username_misso

i squat a bit below, i dont want there being any question of depth.

rdzilla

I like what everyone has said so far.

In addition, it often depends on what end-goal you're looking to achieve. For strong man training I don't concentrate so much on depth as I do for the weight being moved but without half-assing the end goal of the exercise - stronger functional strength. For my athletic training, like for rugby, I work on the depth more and explosion from the hips. Not only is having that bottom-end strength more suited for athletic settings but it also encourages more flexibility in your hips, back, hams and ankles. All of which helps to prevent injury.

Frank_Just_Frank

Thanks everyone. I'll just keep working at deep squats for training and I won't stress it too much next time I test for 1 rep max.