Squats...

AABru
AABru Posts: 610 Member
Hi ladies. I am curious about how you would describe "parallel" when you squat. Do you squat below parallel or at parallel? Anyone with arthritic knees squatting below? I have arthritis in both knees and tendonitis in my right ankle, and am trying to squat parallel. Meaning I squat so that if my butt is any further pushed backwards, I would fall over, but the tops of my thighs are not parallel to the floor. Should I be working on my ankle flexibility to get deeper, or is this fine?

Replies

  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    Work on your ankle flexability, most definitely. When then say parallel, they don't mean that your hamstrings are parallel, but that your BONES (femurs) are parallel. Most people call it an *kitten* to grass squat. This helps to transfer some of the strain of the weight off of your quads and into your stability muscles, glutes,and hamis. I'm trying to pull up the book on my phone, but have you looked at the illustration in the book? Below is a great article on squatting and bar positioning. I like a low back squat myself, this bar positioning gets the bar off my spine and neck and counter balances the weight allowing me to get deeper into the squat. I have knee problems (surgery on both twice by the time I was 15 and years in physical therapy) and find that if my knees aren't tracking properly over my foot (when you're tired you tend to start collapsing in, transferring the weight out and straining the knee) I end up with pain, however if I'm tracking properly it's better than any pt I've ever had (I actually have a lot of pain if I take too long a break from the weight room).

    http://lacrossesc.com/should-you-back-squat-or-front-squat/

    and this is a video of me squatting taken on Saturday:

    The feed back from the bodybuilding board on here is that my form is pretty good:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ATmI49o4Qg

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/684435-squat-form-check
  • Tari_D
    Tari_D Posts: 121 Member
    Bump! I'd like to know this too. I don't have a particular problem I don't think but I do struggle to get that far down, my knees always seem to click :frown:
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    One of my pals read through this and he suggested bench squats, google it.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
    Bump! I'd like to know this too. I don't have a particular problem I don't think but I do struggle to get that far down, my knees always seem to click :frown:

    Hum, talk to a doctor, but if it doesn't cause pain it could just be that you're too tight and need to stretch more often. I know that my tendons pop over things they shouldn't be popping over to remind me to stretch.
  • Tari_D
    Tari_D Posts: 121 Member
    Bump! I'd like to know this too. I don't have a particular problem I don't think but I do struggle to get that far down, my knees always seem to click :frown:

    Hum, talk to a doctor, but if it doesn't cause pain it could just be that you're too tight and need to stretch more often. I know that my tendons pop over things they shouldn't be popping over to remind me to stretch.

    I spoke to the trainer at my gym who I do a lot of classes with (which I know isn't the same as a doctor) and she said that it is likely to just be tightness and I need to keep working on stretches which I am trying to do. It doesn't hurt at all it''s just weird.
  • AABru
    AABru Posts: 610 Member
    My squat looks about the same as yours, but I keep my head up. I have trained in power lifting, and coached a highschool team for 5 years, but I haven't lifted seriously since I had my first child in 2006. I am a "can do" coach, and would workout with my kids so I could be right there to check their form and help spot. When I stopped coaching, I started tutoring and although it is productive for the students, it's not so productive for my body. :grumble:

    So...if I can get my spouse to the gym, I will ask him to video me. I'm thinking of trying the front squat as well. I am still in stage one of NROL4W, without me having to go back and read, do the later stages include more olympic lifts: power cleans, clean and jerk?
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,157 Member
    AABru, can you squat to parallel when you have NO WEIGHT on your back/front??

    When I started NROL4W, my IN-flexibilit(ies), PLUS, my weak ankles, meant that I had to REALLY start by learning just a body-weight squat. It took me about 4 weeks to get a body-weight squat done properly.

    Only then did I start adding some weight. And, even now, my squats are my WEAKEST of the big lifts. It is just taking a LONG TIME for my body-mind connection to work on the squat piece. (Plus, I have hip problems, but that's a different discussion.)
  • AABru
    AABru Posts: 610 Member
    Beep-I can, but I have tendonitis in my right ankle. Have been icing, naproxen, etc to help. My feeling was maybe I just was cheating myself. Especially after I saw two men doing squats on the smith machine yesterday and they weren't even CLOSE to parallel, yet had 315 pounds on the bar. I would rather fix it now (as you did) rather than wait and think I have good form with 315 pounds!!! I SO wanted to correct them! :noway:
  • AABru
    AABru Posts: 610 Member
    PLUMSGRL-I deadlift opposite squats...

    Wanted to mention that I did Stage one Workout A 5 today and managed full parallel squats. Took awhile to get the rack in front of the mirror, but my sets were 115, 125 and 135 fully parallel. I will start at 125 for A6 and either do 125, 125, 135 or 125, 135, 135 depending on how I feel.:bigsmile:

    Thanks for eveyone's help!
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member

    romanian deads are easier on your knees, but they also focus on a different main muscle. The romanain dead is for the hamis, and the squat is for the quads. I did go to bodybuilding.com and pull a link to all the quad work, though. Looks like there may be some decent options in there:

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/7/muscle/quadriceps