Im one who can appreciate the great diversity of squats in the world.
High squats, low squats, front squats, back squatstheyre all beautiful.
And yet, people on the internetloveto argue about which squat is the best.
So heres a little guide to squat depth, and how to find the squat thats right for you.
What is squat depth, anyway?
Sometimes this is called an “ass-to-grass” squat.
(In a minute I’ll give you some tips for how to do that.)
When you’re training you’ll want some to find a way to be consistent.
Pick a depth, and stick to it.
you could look up the rulebook for the federation you compete in and seeexactlyhow they define legal squat depth.
Your eyes aren’t at the right level to judge it accurately.
When you might want to squat “ass-to-grass”
What about squatting lower than parallel?
There’s no such thing as being red-lighted for going too low.
But usually people only squatthatlow if they have a good reason to do so.
if you let your hamstrings kind of bounce off your calves at the bottom of the squat.
You’ll also often seeolympic weightlifterssquatting very low.
Essentially, they train the specific positions that their sport demands.
An important caveat is that not everybody feels comfortable squatting low.
You may see more muscle growth for your glutes and adductors, according tosome research.
You keep your hips and ankles limber.
There is a place for this in many people’s training!
High squats are also often done out of necessity.
In most of those cases, squatting high is the better option of the two.
(you might also use a shorter box over time if you are working toward lower squats.)
Most of the time, your issue is ankle mobility.
Your ankles need to bend pretty deeply to allow you to squat to parallel or lower.
you’ve got the option to also work on ankle mobility over time by stretching and foam rolling.
Heres squattings dirty secret:It doesnt matter.
You may ignore them.
(I discuss this myth at lengthin my guide to squats.)
Squatting ass-to-grass does not make you a better person.
