Are You Squatting Too Low?
Whether or not you consider yourself a “gym connoisseur” there are a few things that almost everyone who has been before knows. Never drink out the water fountain, never leave a bench you are using unattended, and never I mean never hit the gym at 5 p.m. and expect all the equipment you need to be readily available. At best the 5 pound dumbbells will be waiting for you, that is unless someone has brought their suspiciously strong 3 year old with them of course. Another thing that is most commonly known among gym goers are the 3 main lifts. Deadlift, Bench Press, and every females best friend Barbell Squats. Almost every female has a special place in their heart for squats. Even I am guilty of skipping an upper body day in efforts to increase my Meg knee- I mean mobility. The real problem is that there are so many different ways that people have been told to do squats you start to wonder which way is the safest and most effective.
If you have read any of my past blogs you will notice that I managed to slip in the fact that I used to play basketball in every single article. Even the waist trainer one….it was hard but I did it. Back then we used to lift every day before practice unless it was day of a game or the playoffs. Although knowing what I know now it would have been beneficial for all of us to do certain pregame lifts. Who knows I might have even scored a 50 point game I mean I was only 48 points away one time. But anyway, in the weight room we used to do what was known as “quarter squats”. The name sort of explains itself we would only go a quarter or at most half of the way down when we would squat no matter if we were using weights or not. We did this because this mimicked the defensive stance that you had to at least pretend you were in so you did not get benched for being a “defensive liability”. I say this because there was no real reason for us to be going all the way down in our squats it would have no true benefit to us as basketball players come game time at all. So maybe there is not one right way to do squats, it all could truly just depend on the goal you are trying to achieve.
When I was studying to become a Personal Trainer the form that was stated as “correct” was the Butt to Femur variation. Now if it were any other subject I would have stopped there and not even bothered to read the other 5 paragraphs that followed that statement……if you’ve ever been to college you get it. But since this is something that actually interested me I continued on reading that section. The section continued on to say that “although Butt to Femur was the goal for those looking to increase their mobility you should NEVER go beyond your current means of mobility”. That means if you can only go halfway at the moment then only go halfway, and gradually over time slowly start to increase the depth in your squat to reach your desired goal. Pretty interesting right? It almost makes me think that if I actually read through those long articles and finished the chapters of the books that I was assigned, that I might come to some knowledge that I actually find interesting or even useful……I’m still gonna skim the readings but it is interesting.
I used to get alot of slack from people (by people I mean the random dudes sliding up on my stories) about how I place my legs super wide and out when I am doing squats. As I said before I used to be an athlete (3 times in one article think that’s a personal record) and I had to squats almost 4–5 times a week especially when we were in the offseason. That would put a lot of stress on my knees so I researched and studied other effective and more comfortable ways to position myself when I was doing squats. I actually came across that form when I was doing research in class during a rest day. My teacher who was also our strength and conditioning coach saw what I was researching and told me about the wider stance that might help put less stress on my knees. So taking the lessons I learned from watching endless hours of “Sid the Science Kid” I went and put his hypothesis to the test and he was right I felt way less stress on my knees when I was squatting. The only true downside to the wider squat stance is that I can not go as far down as I could if my legs were normally spread apart, which is why I do not go as low on squats especially when I am lifting heavier. I know what you are probably thinking “Why didn’t you just ask him to begin with instead of doing hours of research Khaleah?”. Well I also happen to be the person who will wander around campus for hours lost rather than just ask another classmate where the building I am looking for resides….that’s why.
If you have read any of my previous articles you will see that most of them come to the same conclusion. There is no one right way to do things (except waist trainers definitely not a fan) and it all depends on what your goals are and what puts you in the best position to prevent an injury. That being said it does not mean all forms taught are good. I have seen some that if done exclusively for years will definitely have negative side affects on the body overtime. There are few things that every squat form should make sure of no matter the variation. Make sure the bar is not resting on your neck but instead more of your upper back area, do not let your knees fold in when you go down, and do not lean forward when you squat that that will put a big strain on your back and if you are squatting heavy might cause a future injury.
Thank you for reading!!!! Make sure to look for next month’s article where I have a completely different topic but ultimately come to the same conclusion. Also make sure to check me out on social media and to check out my website for help getting your fitness journey started.
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