Calling people who squat heavy...

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13

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  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Make sure you are sticking your butt back far enough. My old lifting partner thought he couldn't go parallel but once he started trying to sit "back" instead of down he could. Yeah, try it with a box first. Also, if you have a spotter you might try it with a barbell, it might help you push down farther (make sure you are warmed up first).
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    second box squats as well as mobility work!

    This rehabbed my squat so I finally quit hurting my back and can progress loading the bar.

    I agree.

    I've used box squats to teach a few lifting partners how to squat properly and to work on their depth. You can squat to a slightly lower box each week
  • Loftearmen
    Loftearmen Posts: 380
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    I can't hit parallel without 315+ on my back. One trick is to sit back further and spread your knees wider. This will also help you to incorporate more glute/hamstring into your squat and reduce the range of motion a bit by minimizing forward knee travel.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    i've squatted heavy, and i've squatted bellow parrallel, but i've never squated heavy and gone bellow parrallel.

    People actually do this? when i go as low as i can i really lighten the load and my lowest rep set will be 8-10.

    IDK, just going as heavy as you can and going that deep into the knee joint seems... problematic.

    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Probably. And we're out to correct that misinformation.

    Squatting above parallel is dangerous.
  • danimalkeys
    danimalkeys Posts: 982 Member
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    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Probably. And we're out to correct that misinformation.

    Squatting above parallel is dangerous.

    It's not dangerous, it's just not as effective as going below parallel. I spent a lot of time doing high box squats with heavy weight (for me- often in the mid to upper 600's) and never had any problems. My squat workout at the time was doing full squats, then high box with +50lbs over my full squat work weight, and then deep pause squats (where you hold everything tight at the bottom position for a 3 count and explode up) with -50 of my full squat work weight for that session.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Probably. And we're out to correct that misinformation.

    Squatting above parallel is dangerous.

    It's not dangerous, it's just not as effective as going below parallel. I spent a lot of time doing high box squats with heavy weight (for me- often in the mid to upper 600's) and never had any problems. My squat workout at the time was doing full squats, then high box with +50lbs over my full squat work weight, and then deep pause squats (where you hold everything tight at the bottom position for a 3 count and explode up) with -50 of my full squat work weight for that session.

    It can be dangerous because it fails to engage the hamstrings. This can create an imbalance and really mess with your knees. It's where "squats are bad for the knees" came from. Many people squat without going full depth and never experience any problems. Just like many people go on VLCD's and do ok, and smoke cigarettes until they're 90 and don't die of lung cancer. It's still best to follow best practices and err on the side of caution.
  • Iron_Duchess
    Iron_Duchess Posts: 429 Member
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    Bump to read latter.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    "People only have to look at your quads to check your credibility. :wink:"
    [/quote]

    If that's the case, I may never have credibility. Last time I had 'definition' it was just a line. (that only I could see.)
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    Google's pistol squats.......

    Oh those are sooo hard!
    I had seen/heard of those before, but I definitely can't do them.

    check this out:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWvIu7s-vIM
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    No one can help your squat form without seeing you perform the squat. Suprised no one asked for a video in 2 pages.

    True
  • crazy4fids
    crazy4fids Posts: 173
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    bump
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    No one can help your squat form without seeing you perform the squat. Suprised no one asked for a video in 2 pages.

    True
    This is correct. I didn't even think about that!
  • LiftHuff
    LiftHuff Posts: 131
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    People actually do this?
    IDK, just going as heavy as you can and going that deep into the knee joint seems... problematic.
    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Actually going below parallel until you feel the "bounce" in the hole is what transfers the load OUT of the knee joint and into a hip-dominant exercise. If you are stopping above parallel, you are using your knees to reverse the downward motion of the bar before your glutes, hammies, and adductors are really involved fully in the activity, putting more strain on the joint and involving less overall muscle mass in the movement.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    People actually do this?
    IDK, just going as heavy as you can and going that deep into the knee joint seems... problematic.
    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    lol
    no
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    No one can help your squat form without seeing you perform the squat. Suprised no one asked for a video in 2 pages.

    True
    This is correct. I didn't even think about that!

    Me neither. I'm glad someone stated what should have been the obvious hah
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    People actually do this?
    IDK, just going as heavy as you can and going that deep into the knee joint seems... problematic.
    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Actually going below parallel until you feel the "bounce" in the hole is what transfers the load OUT of the knee joint and into a hip-dominant exercise. If you are stopping above parallel, you are using your knees to reverse the downward motion of the bar before your glutes, hammies, and adductors are really involved fully in the activity, putting more strain on the joint and involving less overall muscle mass in the movement.

    i can certainly feel my *kitten* engaging more when i go below parallel, just seems like its stressing things in the knee joint more. but perhaps its all in a good way.

    I guess i'm just thinking of the weight that i used to squat and only approached parallel. if i tried to squat that deep i feel as though i would have a good chance of hurting myself.
  • Nataliaho
    Nataliaho Posts: 878 Member
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    People actually do this?
    IDK, just going as heavy as you can and going that deep into the knee joint seems... problematic.
    I swear to god it seemed to be the prevailing school of thought when i was growing up that squatting bellow parralell was dangerous

    Actually going below parallel until you feel the "bounce" in the hole is what transfers the load OUT of the knee joint and into a hip-dominant exercise. If you are stopping above parallel, you are using your knees to reverse the downward motion of the bar before your glutes, hammies, and adductors are really involved fully in the activity, putting more strain on the joint and involving less overall muscle mass in the movement.

    i can certainly feel my *kitten* engaging more when i go below parallel, just seems like its stressing things in the knee joint more. but perhaps its all in a good way.

    I guess i'm just thinking of the weight that i used to squat and only approached parallel. if i tried to squat that deep i feel as though i would have a good chance of hurting myself.

    That's possibly true because your max capacity on a partial squat is going to be less than on a full squat, one is an easier lift than the other.

    When I think it about this question it always makes me think about olympic lifting. In both C&J and snatch you are not only taking a heavy load well below parallel, you're actually catching it there. Surely that would create the most insane impact on knees, but they seem to handle it.
  • Polymorphist
    Polymorphist Posts: 41
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    I didn't read through all of the replies, but I can tell you about my experience with squats.

    One year ago I started a strength training program which involved barbell exercises 3 days/week. The goal was to add five pounds of weight each session. Squats were a major part of the program and all three training days required starting with the squat.

    I had a LOT of trouble getting the movement down. Eventually I hurt my lower-back when I leaned too far forward with 200 lbs on my shoulders, a week off seemed to fix that. I dropped the weight down to the bar and started over. This happened several times - as soon as I neared about 200 lbs, my form would go to hell and i'd start to feel it in my back. By this time I was smart enough to stop before I actually hurt my back again.

    What seemed to help me was getting flexibility in the hips and hamstrings. I started doing hip flexor stretches at least three times/day. I also would do body weight squats but would hold the bottom portion of the exercise when I reached just below parallel. One other thing - I would point my toes upward when doing squats, this ensured that I was on my heels which also seemed to help.

    After I did the above suddenly my squat weight ballooned upward and I stopped hurting. I was flexible enough that trainers in the gym would compliment me on how deep I could go. My back also stopped hurting.

    So try stretching more. Once my squatting went up, all of my other lifts went up as well.
  • Cat_Lifts
    Cat_Lifts Posts: 174 Member
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    Given my tight hamstrings and hips flexors, I started stretching before workouts, primarily those 2 muscle groups if I knew I was doing squats. I've also heard the term of "sticking your butt out like a porn star" which kept the straight back in mind. Having my knees go *slightly* over my toes was apparently acceptable, which helped to make them much more easier.

    I used to have a problem with feeling I was falling backwards, so I was able to have a slightly wider gap in my stance to help with the midsection bulk. I felt as though I "grounded" myself a little more, rather than the bulk of the weight feeling like it was pulling me back.

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