World Fitness Network reader A.J. asked left the following comment on a recent article about squats:
I find it very hard to do a “good” squat because I can’t go down too much. I find that I can’t go down even if I’m not using any weight. I don’t know why, maybe its because of the way that I am built? Is it still okay if I do 1/2 squats?
I find that I can go lower if I have a wider stance…so should I increase my stance?
A.J. asks a great question that most people struggle with as they begin squatting. It’s a common experience to realize that squatting all the way down is difficult at first. Half squats won’t necessarily hurt you (if you do them with good form), but they won’t help as much as full squats either.
Why squat all the way:
- Full involvement: The bottom of the squatting movement is where the glute and hamstrings come into play.
- Rebound: The elasticity in the muscles and other tissues helps you to get a slight rebound in the bottom of the movement.
- Knowing your gains: If you always go all the way down, you’ll know that a 10 pound increase is due to strength gains and not from squatting less deeply.
- Look strong: You look like more of a man when you go all the way down. If you’re a girl, you look like one of those tough (but not too tough) girls that guys love.
The bottom of the squatting movement is where the glutes and hamstrings really come into play. As you lower into the bottom of the movement, those muscles will lengthen and prepare for contraction. Once at the bottom of the movement, you forcefully reverse this stretch and the posterior chain (hams, glutes, spinal erectors) contracts and shortens.
For illustration, here’s a picture of the squat movement when the thighs are parallel to the floor. The contraction can be seen as the muscles shorten on the ascent.
Translation: You work a lot more muscles by going through the full range of motion. Working more muscles means more benefit.
Becoming able to squat:
Squat Stance: The right squat stance for you is a highly individual thing. A person with long legs compared to the rest of the body will need a wider stance. A person with a longer body will probably need a narrower stance. Read this article about getting the right squat stance. Here are the standard tips:
- Foot Placement: Place your heels at about shoulder width. Note that your shoulders are wider than your hips.
- Point the toes out: About 30 degrees will work for most people.
- Knees out: Don’t let them point straight forward. Keep the knees pointed out at the angle of your feet.
Flexibility: Even with a perfect stance, lack of flexibility will keep you from getting the full range of motion on your squats. Stretching which will increase your range motion, and your range of motion will increase muscle involvement, which will then increase muscles built in the legs, which will increase the body’s ability to have more muscle overall. So get stretching.
- Stretch when your workout is over. This is the safest way and also the most effective. You’ll lengthen your muscles back out for greater volume.
- Calves: Stretch the calves so that the heels can stay flat throughout the movement.
- Hamstrings: Lie on your back and pull your knees into your chest.
- Groin Muscles: Sit on the floor. Touch the bottoms of your feet together in front of you so that your knees are pointing out on either side. Use your elbows to slowly press the knees down.
- Thighs: Lie on your left side. Grab your right ankle with your right hand and slowly pull the ankle upward behind your leg while your knee is bent and pointing away from your body. Switch sides.
Practice: Go through the squat motion without any weight and look yourself in the mirror. You can do this in the gym with an empty bar, or you can get in front of a full-length mirror with a broomstick at home.
Look at yourself at yourself from the front and the sides so that you can check your form. Go through the movement without any weight enough times that you get it down solid. This is one of the best things you can do to improve your form and truly get a feel for whether you’re squatting right.
Once your form is down, go ahead and start piling the weight on, and never accept anything less than the full range of motion. Don’t count the rep if you don’t go the full way down.
A squat done half way is a squat that’s not quite done.
Have you had the same experience before? What helped you to improve your range of motion? Share your experience with others- click here.
New to WorldFitnessNetwork.com?
Download a copy of this 100% free e-book about how to change your body type within 90 days: 3 Months to a New You.
Related posts:
- Getting the Right Stance for Squats
- What Are Box Squats And Should You Do Them?
- Are Lunges Better Than Squats?
Tags: flexibility, legs, range of motion, squats, Training Tips
Loading ...
January 31st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Great tips Jason.
Recently I have been struggling a little with my squats… I think that I’ll print this and read it just before I hit the gym next time.
Thanks :)
January 31st, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Alex- Thanks for the kind words, hope it goes well.
February 1st, 2008 at 7:12 am
Good point about gains when squatting all the way down. When using good form and a good range of motion you’ll know you have truly gained that extra strength when adding weight.
Another reason to squat all the way down is if you are only half squatting your progress will eventually be marred and you’ll inevitably end up deloading in the long run.
A while back ago I let my ego get in the way and piled on the weight and only half squatted. Consequently I made no size gains and when I finally decided to use good form I realized I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was
If you are a beginner start off right the first time. If you are an intermediate and thnk maybe you need to brush up on your form a bit, drop the ego and squat correctly.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Sean- so true, it can happen to anybody that piles the weight on too quickly. I just went through that a month or two ago. I put on the weight too fast and wasn’t going all the way down. Had to take off 20 pounds to get back down to the bottom and work back up from there.
December 16th, 2008 at 3:10 am
Great article, short & to the point. I do full squats (thanks to Mehdi of Stronglifts) & know that my hamstrings play a role, but did not really know how. This article explains it well & I am glad I do full squats. I am still in the process of increasing the weights, but my entire thighs are rock hard already.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
The conclusions made in this article are logical; however, there are no references or studies cited to back up the claims.
Check out this article:
http://weighttraining.about.co.....rallel.htm
It cites scientific studies which have compared muscle activation in full-squats to half-squats and concludes that mixing up both full and half squats may be the best way to go.
March 11th, 2010 at 7:19 am
@Jon M. – interesting reference you cite, but ironic to your post, that article doesn’t cite any references either (those two he lists are not very relevant if you read the full studies)!
I can’t find any good studies comparing them. But I think there’s a good reason for that.
Let’s say you are right – there’s no real difference. I then ask, “but how do you define a half squat?” Are you thinking “half” means you go 70% down? 50%? What about if I only go 10% down – is that equal to a full squat?
No way.
That makes it hard, in a scientific setting, to define “half squat.”
But even if a study defined a half squat and found out that there was no difference, you’re still left as an individual person to figure out “how much is far enough to count as a half?”
From a practical sense, defining the target as “breaking parallel” ensures that people aren’t cheating so much that they get no benefit.
March 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Darrin:
I took a look at those sources and you’re absolutely right. The definitions of full, half, and parallel squats are unclear, especially in the study using the EMG. The study didn’t even list the %’s for parallel squats without balance boards.
I found this study which compared differences muscle activation in the quads, hamstrings, and gluteus maximus at three squat depths (partial, parallel, and full). They concluded that the glutes are the only muscle that becomes more active as squat depth increases. So full depth squats do indeed activate more muscles.
http://journals.lww.com/nsca-j.....ty.14.aspx
I’ve always been interested in squats more for the claimed positive effects on GH, testosterone, IGF-1, the CNS, and other muscle building hormones and the resulting potential for increasing upper body size.
As parallel squats can be performed using a much heavier weight than full squats, I’m wondering if they would have a greater effect on hormone production than full squats even though they do not activate the glutes as much. What are your thoughts?