Ditto to what Ramo said, and Tiberius’ article links. Ass-grass squats are healthy!
Worried about load? Intensity is more important.
Legs respond better when more time is spent in the eccentric phase. So, use less weight, take 10 seconds to get all the way down (Get someone who hates you to count) and power up from the very bottom. Do 12 reps.
There is another reason why they’re healthy: Some thing to do with the movement of the synovial fluid in the knee-joint, but I don’t fully know how to explain it. Can anybody help? Thanks
Something else to consider, for those of us who engage in athletic activity outside of lifting, is that your knee pain may be originating from outside the weight room, and only becoming obvious after your leg day.
I know that for a long time, I thought that my squat form was killing my knees, but it turned out that I was running in shoes that were totally inappropriate for my pronated ankles. It might be worth taking a look at your other stuff (if there is any) before micromanaging your big lifts.
Thanksgiving 2006 I hyper-extended my left knee playing football. Every time I would play sports thereafter I would experience pain in the left knee, and it became increasingly worse over time.
Fast forward to September 2008 when I began to significantly develop my strength in squats, and over the past few months I’ve continued to improve my form and achieve more consistent depth below parallel (often times implementing ATG squats). It’s been a work in progress you could say.
Thanksgiving 2008 was the first time I played sports since this past August, because I was concentrating strictly on weight lifting. Not once during football did it occur to me that my left knee was NOT hurting, and it wasn’t till days later that I realized it was the first time in two years that I went pain free in my left knee both during and after playing sports. My point–squats, particularly achieving depth below parallel, has IMPROVED the health of my knees, not the other way around.
[quote]BlindSide6 wrote:
Something else to consider, for those of us who engage in athletic activity outside of lifting, is that your knee pain may be originating from outside the weight room, and only becoming obvious after your leg day.
I know that for a long time, I thought that my squat form was killing my knees, but it turned out that I was running in shoes that were totally inappropriate for my pronated ankles. It might be worth taking a look at your other stuff (if there is any) before micromanaging your big lifts. [/quote]
Agreed!
Everyone that thinks squatting(or other leg work) makes there knees sore should consider this point.
[quote]BlindSide6 wrote:
Something else to consider, for those of us who engage in athletic activity outside of lifting, is that your knee pain may be originating from outside the weight room, and only becoming obvious after your leg day.
I know that for a long time, I thought that my squat form was killing my knees, but it turned out that I was running in shoes that were totally inappropriate for my pronated ankles. It might be worth taking a look at your other stuff (if there is any) before micromanaging your big lifts. [/quote]
Running shoes are always inappropriate for heavy squatting; they’re too squishy!
[quote]jmb9286 wrote:
If your knees go past your toes or they buckle inward while doing heavy squats, then yes they are harmful. As with any lift, improper technique will take its toll on your joints sooner or later. The best way to avoid potential knee damage from squats is to do deep squats. Your thighs should go past parallel with the floor when you do deep squats.[/quote]
rolls eyes
It’s impossible to prevent your knees from going over your toes if you’re doing a deep squat. There is nothing wrong with letting your knees go over your toes so long as you aren’t doing the typical gym dork 1/2 squat.
Squat as low as your flexibility allows. Atg squats are safe if your body is trained enough for the required flexibility and use progressive overload just like every other exercise!!!
Shit. This is what happens when you talk about squats and knee health, but fail to distinguish between powerlifting squats, Olimpic lifting squats, and anything else.
At the bottom of a Powerlifter’s squat, the muscles that control the knee are very tense, whereas at the very bottom of the O-lift the knees actually get a slight break. That’s why O Lifter’s knees can track so far forward with no ill effects, whereas a powerlifter would shit bricks if his knees slide forward too far.
this is true, and I agree with your points. But from my (somewhat limited experience) I see more wide stance squats. You also should note I live near Nazareth barbell where Mike Miller trains. [/quote]
that living near miller has nothing to do with anything,
have u seen raw, and single ply fed? most require a very “deep” parallel squat and most lifters take a “narrow” stance
u clearly have not seen much powerlifting to say that most are wide stance HAHAHAHA the big thompson himself does narrow stance in his non triple ply meets u make me laugh
this is true, and I agree with your points. But from my (somewhat limited experience) I see more wide stance squats. You also should note I live near Nazareth barbell where Mike Miller trains.
that living near miller has nothing to do with anything,
have u seen raw, and single ply fed? most require a very “deep” parallel squat and most lifters take a “narrow” stance
u clearly have not seen much powerlifting to say that most are wide stance HAHAHAHA the big thompson himself does narrow stance in his non triple ply meets u make me laugh[/quote]
