I know there’s a ton of literature out there on proper squatting form, but I’m asking you guys for your personal experience here.
LONG POST: IF YOU WANT THE ABRIDGED VERSION SCROLL DOWN PAST THE SECOND DASHED LINE.
Okay so I’ve been lifting 5 months now, and did it on and off for a few months a year in high school. But after spraining my ankle and just finding T-Nation, I figure now is the perfect time to fix my squatting form.
In the past I feel I’ve been decently safe I just haven’t been going low enough, more like hamstrings parallel to the ground, but I keep feet shoulder width, natural spine alignment, toes pointed every so slightly out, etc…
So the only thing I’m really changing is depth, something struck me from “The Tabata Method” by Dan John. He says, “Having said that, if you don’t know how to front squat correctly, the Tabata method might teach you to lift better than a thousand coaches. In the four minutes, it’s easy to get 64 to 70 reps, which teaches the nervous system better than a PowerPoint presentation.” Now I’m doing back squats but I felt like a similar approach would make sense.
Link to the whole article if you want it:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=490160
So I did 2x a 2 minute set alternating 20 seconds go, 10 seconds rest @ 95 pounds. I judged the right depth by using a box about 12-14 inches just to touch and go (NOT Westside style box squats) I used to do about 205 x 10 not quite full ROM just for a reference point, remember I’m coming back from an ankle injury too so I haven’t lifted legs in about a month too.
Now that got my quads sore nothing terrible, but finally getting to my question…
Not constantly but sometimes when I just move my knee through it’s full range of motion, like a leg extension w/no weight or even walking up stairs, I get this slight soreness in my knees that I can only describe as creaky. I wouldn’t call it “pain”, but I’m wondering if this is normal for someone who is new at going to proper depth?
It would make sense to me because I haven’t even been lifting my bodyweight out of that deep of a knee bend since high school football (2 years ago), that maybe it’s just an adjustment thing. Anyway I’m going to keep the weight light and see how it’s going but I’d hate to just rationalize away something I’m doing wrong. Anyone else have an experience like this?