Live the healthy training
Squat
How Low Do You Need To Go?
When it comes to the Squat “How low do you need to go.” is a question that is more or less the first thing that is asked to me when training a client.
Surely the answer is as low as possible right? Well as all things in life it truly depends. In this article we will break down how low you should go, the pros and cons of Parallel Squats and Ass To Grass Squats.
Lastly we will give you some simple exercises to build up a deep squat safely.
Squats How Low Is Too Low?
There is no right answer for this. It comes down to what you want to achieve and any conditions limiting potential mobility.
If you have knee or back problems that will naturally be the largest limiting factor of how deep, you can safely squat. But even then, there are exercises you can do to build yourself a deeper squat.
The answer to how low is too low for your squats is lower than you feel comfortable or where it causes pain. common problems like butt wink
How Low Should I Squat?
If you are wondering with your squats how low should I go. And injuries aren’t a limiting factor. It largely depends on the fitness goals you have, whether you are trying to push the most weight, build the most muscle or general health.
Squatting How Low For Power
If you are planning on lifting serious weight and you are chasing weight progression than lower may not be better for you.
The lower you go into a squat the less weight you can lift.
If you ever see a powerlifter and a bodybuilder squatting side by side you’ll see the vast differences in style of squat.
A powerlifting squat wants to maximize muscle requirement while minimizing range of motion. Don’t take this as Powerlifting squats don’t build impressive legs, they do.
Powerlifters will generally only go down as low as parallel and generally have a wider stance with toes faced out more.
This allows maximal load due to more posterior chain muscles coming into the lift.
Squatting How Low For Muscle Building And General Health.
The biggest difference between squatting for muscle building and squatting for power is the range of motion.
Hypertrophy is maximized when you take a muscle through a full range of motion with control.
With this in mind, going as low as you can with good form is optimal.
If you want to know how to have perfect form, prevent injury and fall in love squatting, Click Here.
Squatting as low as you can is not only better for hypertrophy and making impressive Instagram posts. It will strengthen your knee joint. Leading to long term lower body health and mobility.
So, if you want to have long term knee health and impressive quads attempting to go Ass to Grass while avoiding Butt Wink, we will go over this later. Will be your go to squat form.
Does Squatting Cause Injury?
There has been a trend in the fitness community of people swearing off squatting claiming. “Squats ruin you back and or knees.”
Now anything with bad form is bad for you and making sure that you care more about form than weight will lend itself to a great deal of injury prevention.
Most injuries that happen in squats come from improper form with a weight you cannot handle. Especially if you are not use to low depth squats. Taking a weight that you are unfamiliar with and not able to control, forcing you to go deeper into the squat is a recipe for injury.
Exercises To Squat Deeper.
So you want to squat deeper but have the inability to?
Try these two exercises to improve your squat depth. At home. For just five minutes a day.
And all you need is a Kettlebell or a weight to hold.
Deep Squat.
shocker. Squatting deep means you need to squat deep.
If you can’t squat deep already this is where the kettlebell comes in.
Holding the Weight out in front of you as you squat down allows you to sit more upright in the squat. Helping you maintain proper position and over time getting deeper.
Hold 3 times for 1 to 2 minutes.
Deep Lunges.
This requires no weight. But holding a Kettlebell will extend the benefits.
Start by assuming a lunge position.
- With feet shoulder width apart.
- Take a large step forward with one leg.
- Lower down, bending at the front knee.
Now that you are in a lunge position push forward with knees over the middle toe. Keeping the back knee just off the ground.
This stretch will allow a deep hip flexor stretch with the back leg and a calf and ankle mobilization on the front leg.
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