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squats

Maverick

Maverick

New member
is it better to to full squats or quarter squats......

seems like the muscle is worked more when you do quarters because the muscle is always in tension.

full squats, you can rest when your ass almost hits the ground.
 
Full squats. Always full squats. Many reasons but the one that sticks out the most is experienced lifters in the gym won't think you're an idiot that is working his ego instead of his squat by using more weight then he can properly lift.

This is assuming your not some phenonom that half squats with 800lbs.
 
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mikeyboy604 said:
is it better to to full squats or quarter squats......

seems like the muscle is worked more when you do quarters because the muscle is always in tension.

full squats, you can rest when your ass almost hits the ground.
Click to expand...

Partials only really work your quads... you will get nothing on your glutes or your hamstrings with partial reps.
 
wnt2bBeast said:
not sure what youre asking?
you will not hurt your knees squatting below parallel
Click to expand...

Sorry, what I mean is that you say that stopping at parellel stresses the knees more then going through the parellel to get to the deeper position... im not sure how this works, as you still have to go through the parellel position.

I assume its the pause in the parellel position thats the problem?
 
mad_monkey59 said:
Sorry, what I mean is that you say that stopping at parellel stresses the knees more then going through the parellel to get to the deeper position... im not sure how this works, as you still have to go through the parellel position.

I assume its the pause in the parellel position thats the problem?
Click to expand...
yes reversing at para open te knee up to great shearing force then going below parallel..

when you squat below parallel the hips and glutes take over rather than the knees :)
 
wnt2bBeast said:
yes reversing at para open te knee up to great shearing force then going below parallel..

when you squat below parallel the hips and glutes take over rather than the knees :)
Click to expand...
Hmmm, interesting... I'll have to do some research now.
 
yes, what wnt2bbeast is saying is that when you stop directly at parallel and go back up, at that very moment shearing forces are placed directly at the knee joint whereas when you stop below parallel the weight is transfered to your posterior chain...(like he mentioned, glutes and hams)..in other words, always full squats
 
mikeyboy604 said:
is it better to to full squats or quarter squats......

seems like the muscle is worked more when you do quarters because the muscle is always in tension.

full squats, you can rest when your ass almost hits the ground.
Click to expand...

actually sorta both. when Im repping squats- I will go full, but if im adding alot of weight for the first time- i will do partials- becuase than its about training your CNS to handle greater loads.
 
If you want to see some real squaters goto www.cpc-powerlifting.com and check out some real form. See if you can find bruce greig or tyler tessier, wendy greig, brent miksell...etc. My buddy Tyler Tessier has squated 729lbs in competition and he was under 195lbs at the time.
 
i use half squats sometimes with heavier weight. its the same idea as benching with boards or doin rack deads. thats the way i look at it. i dont rely on them for size, but just to spice it up a bit.
 
TheOak84 said:
i use half squats sometimes with heavier weight. its the same idea as benching with boards or doin rack deads. thats the way i look at it. i dont rely on them for size, but just to spice it up a bit.
Click to expand...
but you cant get stuck on your descent when squatting so what would a qrtr

squat solve? power out of the hole will determine whether or not you lock it out..

only benficial non full squat exercise i see is pause squats at parallel
 
wnt2bBeast said:
but you cant get stuck on your descent when squatting so what would a qrtr

squat solve? power out of the hole will determine whether or not you lock it out..

only benficial non full squat exercise i see is pause squats at parallel
Click to expand...

actually i think box squats are better, id use a combo of them, one of each a month, depending on frequent u work each muscle
 
I squat to parallel, maybe a little below and I don't have any knee issues whatsoever.

As for full squatting, it's cool and all, but I feel like knees get stressed more when doing them, so I don't squat full.

Who's better, a 500lbs full squatter or a 500lbs parallel squatter? Imo, who cares if you're squatting that much or more. Most guys that think they know how to squat do half-squats at best from what I see. Going all the way to parallel or a little lower is still pretty deep.

If you like full squats then do them, especially for athletics, but if you want to go for pure power then I'd go parallel squats.
 
GhettoStudMuffin said:
I squat to parallel, maybe a little below and I don't have any knee issues whatsoever.

As for full squatting, it's cool and all, but I feel like knees get stressed more when doing them, so I don't squat full.

Who's better, a 500lbs full squatter or a 500lbs parallel squatter? Imo, who cares if you're squatting that much or more. Most guys that think they know how to squat do half-squats at best from what I see. Going all the way to parallel or a little lower is still pretty deep.

If you like full squats then do them, especially for athletics, but if you want to go for pure power then I'd go parallel squats.
Click to expand...

eventually when you get to bigger weights your knees will not feel so good..
if your a bb'er full squats at 250 are much better than qrtr squats at 500..

if youre a powerlifter you need to break parallel for a squat to count..so either way squatting to para is not the way to go..you may not have plans on competing but still youll need to train that way otherwise your just fooling yourself
 
I agree that full squats are best but it drives me nuts that at my gym everyone including instructors say that if you go below parallel you will hurt your knees.
Some people have even come up to me to tell me I am going to low and told me that their knees used to hurt going so low and stopped hurting since they now only go as far as parallel..
 
I go all the way to parallel, maybe a little lower, never said anything about 500lbs "qtr" squats lol. Big difference between a real 500lbs parallel squat and a 500lbs qtr squat.

I've done full squats with 225lbs and my knees felt more stressed than going to parallel.

I know a group of powerlifters who have been training for 10+ years that always squat to parallel or box squat a little lower and their knees are fine. And these guys are in their late 30's. ONe of them is a masters lifter and he's 52. He always gone to parallel while training and his knees are fine.

That's kind of a blanket statement saying you're gonna have knee troubles if you squat to parallel all the time.

Kind of reminds how some people say full squats are bad for the knees when they are not.
 
GhettoStudMuffin said:
I go all the way to parallel, maybe a little lower, never said anything about 500lbs "qtr" squats lol. Big difference between a real 500lbs parallel squat and a 500lbs qtr squat.

I've done full squats with 225lbs and my knees felt more stressed than going to parallel.

I know a group of powerlifters who have been training for 10+ years that always squat to parallel or box squat a little lower and their knees are fine. And these guys are in their late 30's. ONe of them is a masters lifter and he's 52. He always gone to parallel while training and his knees are fine.

That's kind of a blanket statement saying you're gonna have knee troubles if you squat to parallel all the time.

Kind of reminds how some people say full squats are bad for the knees when they are not.
Click to expand...

hitting a paralle box every so often is not a bad thing..dont understand why a competetive PL would train his squat only to parallel? doesnt make much sense since hes going to be accustomed to stopping at parallel which will negate his lift..

when you get up into the 4-500 range with your squat youll understand what im talking about...its a blanket statement for a reason
 
I don't think I'll agree bro. Like I said, I know a crew of powerlifters that have been squatting and maybe I should rephrase this, a little below parallel for a long time with no complaints. One of them squats 800+ in the 240 or 242 class and benches 600 and he squats just a little below parallel.
Another guy is almost 40 and he squats the same and he squats 600 at 198.

I'm not saying some people won't have knee issues, but for me, I really don't notice alot of pressure on my knees when I squat. To carify, I actually squat most likely a little below parallel, like maybe an 1"-1.5". It's hard to tell because the squat rack I use has a mirror that doesn't go down low enough for me to see how deep I get, but I'd bet it's below parallel by a little. I use a standard squat rack, not a power rack and I always lightly touch the bottom guards on ever rep while maintaining an arch. That's pretty low, but definitely not a full squat either because that's pretty much ass to calves. I always felt alot of knee strain doing them like that so I don't do them like that anymore.

I think maybe it comes down to the individual. Some people get stressed knees stopping around parallel and some people like me get stressed knees going full.

Btw, I've done a slow controlled negative down to the bottom squat rack guards with 425lbs and felt no knee strain.
 
800 or 1k will not count unless you break parallel
theres a difference between a PL stance and a stance that say Needsize uses..you cannot get as low as NS does using a wide PL stance..

nothing wrong with using either of those styles if they fit your goals..

for most Pl meets the crease in your hip must be below the top of your knee...that is considered below parallel..NS squats ATF which is obviously much lower

Im not an expert but i keep my boxes low to train my body to break parallel with whatever weight i have..if i did a higher box for a few weeks then squat regular i would have a harder time breaking para as the weight increases..
just my .02
 
Well I know the boxes they use are pretty low. They do alot of safety bar squats on them.

I'm pretty much 100% positive that I squat a good 1" below parallel. Touching the bottom guards on a squat rack is pretty low. Next time you walk by the squat rack check it out. I touch it every time. I'm 5'8 1/2" so I'm not exactly tall either.

I just don't think full squats are superior or necessarily safer. I think it depends on the person's build and how they do them.
 
Hmm... I was always afraid to go past parallel because of what I had heard about knee issues... I blew out my rt medial meniscus in HS and I am in my 40's now... I can feel some shearing at parallel... but I will try some light ones past parallel and see how that feels.

I also thought box squats were bad because they cause compression of the spine at the bottom and your bottom stops moging and the weight does not ... thus dynamic compression of the spine.

Any on have mor on this?

Thanks for the great discussion guys!

SuperChicken1
 
Quarter squats have there place to overload the quads.
Parallel squats stress quads and ham/glutes and produce good voerall strength and size
Powerlifter squats stress the Glutes and hams and create great strength with medium effect on size.

Think about, greater range of motion with heavier weight will give incredible strenght and size gains, no figuring out the rep scheme or cadence is a whole nother story
 
wnt2bBeast said:
800 or 1k will not count unless you break parallel
theres a difference between a PL stance and a stance that say Needsize uses..you cannot get as low as NS does using a wide PL stance..
Click to expand...

The big difference is stance width. If you take a wide stance...you can't go much deeper than parallel. With a OLy type stance...you can. From what I've seen of NeedSize's squats from vids...they really aren't much below parallel because his knees are so far fwd that the hip bone is still parallel to the ground at rock bottom.

Why is a quarter squat dangerous to the knees in most cases? Because the movement most of the time is done with a close stance and it begins with the knees moving first...going fwd. The joint that moves first will nearly all the time take the brunt of the load. Sit back...way back (as we both know) and this should not be a problem with any stance.

B True
 
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