Squatting Deep

[T_man]

I've read from users on this forum that squatting deep is better than parallel, but lately since getting back to the gym & squatting I've noticed some slight aches and sometimes pain in my knee.
Also, today when squatting heavy, whenever I went deep (as to the floor deep) I'd get a sharp pain in my knee which I would not get when going to just about parallel and so was forced to do them parallel.
Shall I just not go that deep anymore and just do them to parallel?

 

[T_man]

Id stay with the parallels and nix the deeps. Perhaps a wider stance would take some pressure of the knee a bit.

Was a wider than shoulder width stance

 

[Stewart14]

funny you mention knee pain, i am not the greatest squatter by any means, in fact, I truly suck at them, but regardless, I have usually always done them with a wide stance to parallel (powerlifting style if you will), and I never had any knee pains or anything.

lately, I've been making a conscious effort to bring in my stance and do deeper high bar squats. Well, after my squat session today, my right knee is really feeling funky, everytime I walk on it, it almost feels like my legs are uneven and any pressure I put on that knee from a step hurts.

I don't know why....I made sure to stay on my heels as much as possible, and consciously tried to keep my back straighter during the decent and to drop into the hole as deep as I could.

It's making me wonder as well. I happen to think there is a sweet spot that is just below parallel that is the point where you will still get the benefits of going deep without wrecking your knees.

 

[PushAndPull]

First, I would stop going deep and see if that solves the knee problem. If that doesn't work and you're going heavy week in week out it could just be general wear and tear and maybe alternating some lighter workouts in could help.

 

[Merkaba]

are your toes and knees tracking together?

 

[gtbmed]

We have to see vids of the squats if we really want to talk about form. You likely have some flexibility issue or you're movement isn't quite correct.

I used to squat to about parallel with a wider stance. I started squatting oly style and I've had no knee pain. I see a lot of benefits to squatting that low.

 

[FMJ]

are your toes and knees tracking together?

That's what I was going to ask too. I do heavy deep squats and never have knee pain.. but if you are a shoulder width and not keeping your knees over your toes, basically bowing your legs in so that your feet are pointing at a 45 degree but your knees are bending at 90, that could be causing you pain. I 've read a few times that it's going only parallel that causes the most knee stress, below that takes stress off the knee.

 

[fufu]

Need a profile view video of you squatting.

 

[Perdido]

are your toes and knees tracking together?

This fixed my squat. No more knee problems for me.

 

[T_man]

Ah, that must be the problem then. I was focused on keeping my back straight and pusing through my heels, and at the wide stance my knees probably moved outwards. I shall get someone to video me next time as I'm still sore.
Thanks for the replies, I'll get back to ya asap!

 

[gtbmed]

Don't worry so much about having your weight on your heels. Keep yourself balanced over your feet.

 

[Stewart14]

are your toes and knees tracking together?

you know how they tell you when you squat wide stance to push your knees out as you squat down, is that what this is in reference to? As in, you should attempt to do the same thing even with a narrower stance?

 

[FMJ]

you know how they tell you when you squat wide stance to push your knees out as you squat down, is that what this is in reference to? As in, you should attempt to do the same thing even with a narrower stance?

No, I don't think you should push your knees out on narrow stance. The idea is to keep your knees in line with your toes regardless of how wide you stand or direction your foot is pointed. They probably just say to push them out on a wide stance because people may be in the habit of keeping thier knees in front of them when they squat, even if their feet are wider apart. For a narrow stance, I keep my knees in front because thats where my toes are. Wide stance, my toes are not in front of me so neither should my knees.

 

[Perdido]

Check the feet position at about .30 in this video. Once i did this it's ATG with no more angry knees

YouTube Video

 

[Merkaba]

No, I don't think you should push your knees out on narrow stance. The idea is to keep your knees in line with your toes regardless of how wide you stand or direction your foot is pointed. They probably just say to push them out on a wide stance because people may be in the habit of keeping thier knees in front of them when they squat, even if their feet are wider apart. For a narrow stance, I keep my knees in front because thats where my toes are. Wide stance, my toes are not in front of me so neither should my knees.

Yes I mean the toes are pointing where the knees pointing, and when you go parallel both are overlapping and in the same direction.

 

[maturemuscle]

From personal experience and observing others, I think the biggest problem with squatting deep is loading too much weight on the bar. 10 or 15 years ago I was guilty of squatting 405 or 455 but not going deep enough. One day I faced the truth and took off plates until I could do a proper squat. Now I see other guys load the bar up with 3 or four plates on each side and proceed to perform less than parallel (usually not even close). They would get more benefit from the squat if they only did 225 and went past parallel.

 

[T_man]

Okay I didn't get a video today but I did the same weight squat and made sure to track my knees over my toes without them caving in or moving outwards. It was a narrower than usual stance but I had no problems.
Furthermore I found towards the end of the last set, my knee wanted to cave in, I didn't let it, but maybe this is also what happened to a small degree last time I did them.

Thanks for the help

 

[gtbmed]

I tend to keep my feet pretty close when I squat deep. To me that's the most natural way to squat.

 

[FMJ]

I tend to keep my feet pretty close when I squat deep. To me that's the most natural way to squat.

Interesting. I'm just the opposite. I find it easier to do it with my feet a little more than shoulder width, feet at about 45 degrees. When I go down I let my knees go out to the sides of my body, but still over my toes. If I do it closer with my feet straight, my quads touch my stomach and I can't go as deep.

 

[gtbmed]

I keep my feet at shoulder or maybe hip width. They're pointed out slightly, maybe 10-15 degrees but not much more than that. I never have problems with my quads touching my stomach as my torso is generally very upright.