Squatting Exercise Information

The squat is called the "king of exercises". EMG studies show that over
200 muscles are activated by squatting. The squat is one the most widely
used exercises in all of sports, athletes from beginner to professional
all squat.

Types of Squatting Exercise

Powerlifting Squats: This style has the feet placed wide, with the hip
at an acute angle and the knee is close to a right angle. The bar is
placed lower on the back and the knees are over the feet. This places
a greater portion of the load on the gluteals and hamstrings, enabling
larger loads to be moved. The drawback of this method is that a large
shear force is put on the lumbar spine and great erector spinea
development is necessary for proper execution.

Olympic Squats: In this method the bar is carried high on the traps
to place a greater load on the quadriceps. The feet are slightly wider
than shoulder width, the hip angle is at a right angle and the knees
are at an acute angle. Bodybuilders and Olympic lifters favor this
style to stress the quads and limit the glutes. The great shear force
generated at the knee is the major pitfall of this style.

Athlete’s Squats: This is a compromise of the two above styles with
the angles of the hip and knee approximately equal and the bar across
the middle of the traps.

Squatting Variations

There are many variations of the three basic methods mentioned above.
They include jump squats, lunge squats, one legged squats, twisting
squats, Smith machine squats, safety squats, leg press/hack squats,
block squats, and partial squats. These variations are alternatives
to squats, while some have added benefits; others are down right
dangerous.

Squatting Safety

Partial squats are particularly dangerous; in fact squatting above
the parallel position is actually more dangerous than going below
parallel. Dr. Fredrick C. Hatfield of the International Sports
Science Association states the following reasons:

Contrary to popular belief, squatting above the parallel position;
knees at approximately 90 degrees flexion; is actually more
dangerous than going to parallel or below. There are two reasons
for this. When you look at the structure of the knee, you’ll note
that at about 90 degrees flexion, the tibia’s sloped shape allows
it to shear upwards and over the femur. This causes a lot of
compressive forces against the patella, and pulls forcefully
against the posterior cruciate ligament. These potentially
destructive forces become significantly less as you descend
further into the squat position, largely due to the fact that
the tibia’s surface isn’t sloped posteriorly, where it
articulates with the femur. The second reason is that, because
of better leverage doing partials, you’re obliged to use a far
heavier weight in order to gain any sort of adaptive overload
on the muscles involved; dangerous to the entire shoulder
girdle, neck, low back, and knees.

Simply stated the knee joint was not designed to flex part way
with a heavy load applied to it. It can withstand high forces
when used in a full range of motion, but heavy partial
squats are not recommended at all.

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