Hi guys,

today I want to bust a myth that squatting deep is bad . At my gym I only see people squat to the parallel, my friends are doing that too. I feel bad because of it. Everyone is not developing their legs fully and risking their knees more then me… In this post I will give links to sources that bust this myth too, because my own opinion is not enough and you probably need some links from specialists about it.

Here are the links and quotes about this topic:

1. Marc McDougal wrote for johnberardi.com about Fitness Mythology and mentions this:

“More squat myths?!?
We’ve all heard it, if you dip below parallel during a squat, your kneecap will blow off and land in the front desk girl’s mocha latte. Well it just ain’t true! What’s that, you need a little more evidence? Ok boys and girls, its time for today’s episode of Fun With Musculoskeletal Anatomy.
The knee has four main protective ligaments that keep the femur from displacing on the tibia (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL). These four ligaments are most effective at their protection during full extension and full flexion. Full extension would be when you are standing; full flexion would be when there is no daylight between your hamstring and your calf. When the knee is at 90 degrees of flexion (the halfway point), these four ligaments are almost completely lax and cannot exert much if any of a protective force at the knee (Zatsiorsky V. Kinematics of human motion. 1998 – published by Human Kinetics – p.301).
Unfortunately, the position where the protective ligaments of the knee are not doing any protecting is the common recommended stopping point of a squat. Therefore, as it as it turns out, this is the exact worst place you could reverse the motion under load.
If flexibility allows (heels staying planted, torso not flexing forward past 45 degrees), then a full squat where you lower yourself all the way to the ground is far safer on the knees than the traditional half squat. Guess what joint angle most leg extension machines start at? If you said 90 degrees, give yourself a pat on your healthy knee. This makes a full squat even safer than a leg extension machine (Wilk K et al. A comparison of tibiofemoral joint forces and electromyographic activity during open and closed kinetic chain exercises. Am J Sports Med; 24(4):518-527).
So am I telling you never to do parallel squats? No! Am I saying that you’ll injure yourself on a parallel squat? No, again! What I’m trying to do is simply make an argument for the safety of full squats, thereby relegating squat myth #2 to the fiery pits of hades.”

I definitely trust John Berardi and believe he wont let some loser post wrong information at his site… You can also Google Marc McDougal and find info about him, that proves he knows some stuff about bodybuilding.

2. T-Nation.com writes about 5 myths of bodybuilding in Debunk the Chump:

This relentless myth arose in the 1950’s and was based solely on one flawed study. A researcher in Texas, Dr. Carl Klein, was hell-bent on proving that deep knee bends (squats) were destructive to the knees, so he conducted a study with 100 lifters and 100 nonlifters. He put this little apparatus onto the knee and pushed laterally to see if it would move.

Pushing from the side like this showed ligament laxity. The gadget on the knee showed just how much it would bend. The problem with the study was that, before the subject got on the table, Dr. Klein would ask him whether or not he was a lifter. If the subject said yes, the good doctor would press harder on the apparatus! (One important reason why double-blind studies are more reliable!)

The results were flawed because of the researcher’s bias and have never been repeated in subsequent studies. But the damaging data was out there: people were told that “squats were bad” and they still spread this myth today—50 years later!

3. Some more links about squats:

How to improve your flexibility to be able to squat fully: Third World Squat

Debunking Exercise Myths Part 1 by T-Nation

And another thing. I have not read this book, but I have been told that it writes in depth about squatting below the parallel. It’s Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength”. I will read it in the future for sure and review it for you guys. For now, I believed I have provided enough material to bust the myth.

Now, if you want strong, well developed legs then squat deep and don’t listen to others!

Another post about squats will come in the future. It will be about flexibility. Some guys are not flexible enough so I will give them info on how to improve it and it will be easier to squat deep.

Best of luck,

Adrian

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