I found this on the net and was wondering what you guys think...I do lighter ROM sqats myself, but not all the time.



They Don't Know Squat
By John Paul Catanzaro

There seems to be much confusion amongst trainers and trainees as to whether squats should be performed all the way down or just half way.

In most gyms today, a common instruction during squats, deadlifts, and lunges (as taught by many personal training organizations) is not to allow the knees to travel beyond the toes.

Doing so will ultimately cause the destruction of your knees! I do not agree. There are certain instances where partial range of motion (ROM) is indicated, but for the most part, I teach people the full squat for the following reasons:

- It is the most primitive movement pattern known to man; our ancestors used to perform many daily functions (i.e. harvesting, gathering, hunting, cooking, eating, etc.) in a full squat position.

- Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, we spend 40 weeks in the fetal position (which is basically a full squat) prior to entering this world - do we come out with bad knees?

- We should strive to train in full ROM for each and every exercise. The squat is no exception.

- Every exercise produces stress around a joint - the body then adapts to this stress.

- Cocontraction of the quadriceps, hamstrings and gastrocnemius maintains integrity around the knee joint.

- Sheering and compressive forces do occur around the knee joint (as opposed to only sheering forces that occur in some open kinetic chain lower body exercises, such as the leg extension); however, the large contact area of the patella with the femoral groove (as knee flexion increases during the full squat) helps to dissipate compressive forces.

- Therefore, not only is the squat - as a closed chain exercise - considered a natural movement pattern with high functional carryover, but it is also a safe exercise if performed correctly (and that includes full ROM!)

- Drawer tests are performed at a knee angle of 90 degrees because there is a greater amount of laxity in the knee joint at that specific angle. So, does it make sense to only go down half way where you are most vulnerable especially when greater loads can be used (because you are much stronger in this partial ROM?)

- According to Ironman contributor, George Turner, the fulcrum moves to the knee joint in a parallel squat as opposed to the muscle belly of the quadriceps in a full squat.

- Think about it, if you constantly trained in a limited ROM, the likelihood of injury increases if one day you happen to squat beyond your trained ROM.

- Partial squats performed on a regular basis will decrease flexibility.

- There is a low incidence of lower back pain and knee injury in Aboriginal and Asian societies which perform full squats on a regular basis.

- Even Olympic weight lifters who practice full squats have quite healthy knees compared to other athletes.

- Although you may find some research that indicates full squats as potentially harmful to the knees, only one study has ever proved this to be true. However, it was performed on a skeleton - the same results do not hold true with surrounding connective tissue. On the other hand, numerous studies show the benefits of full squats.

Unfortunately, many personal training certification courses are teaching half squats as a safe version suitable for all individuals and this has now become written in stone.

God forbid that you deviate from this golden rule to do something that our bodies are meant to do! Read this carefully: squatting should be performed in a full ROM where the hamstrings make contact with the calves (so that no light can be seen passing through your legs at the bottom position.)

It is okay for your knees to travel beyond the toes (just do not relax the knees in the bottom position.) In other words, keep the legs tight and try to stay as upright as possible throughout the exercise. So, next time some fitness instructor approaches you in the gym and advises not to go deep while squatting tell him/her that they don't know squat!

I do deep, full range of motion squats. I squat down until my arse hits the floor!

I will say that over the years, I do feel my joints and tendons have taken some abuse. After a heavy leg day, my joints and tendons are pretty sore the following day.

So, maybe it would be safe say; when your doing a heavy leg day, and I mean heavy weights, that you should maybe do partial and/or half ROM.

NOTE: Not to be confused with half ass!!!

And when you do lighter leg days, meaning lighter weights, then it would be okay to do full ROM.

I do both and I still got good knees at 42 years old.

ALSO, very important: Always stretch, and warmup before squatting... Just like everything else, but definately when doing this exercise...

That's just IMO...

i like to box squat as i feel its the best functional exercise there is, but i will still full squat to prevent any block in my squatting, alot of people only go paralell, but the prob is, if they drop in to deep they'll end up stuck at the bottom if they cant full squat, i tend to rep out on full squats and hit low reps on box squats, just my preference, full squats for me have led to some issues with pains in my tibalis..

but as they say " you aint squat till you squat " < very true