Okay you’ll hear people tell you that squatting is bad for the knees and truthfully it can be. That having been said it’s not if done correctly.
First:
If you let your knees come together while squatting this places a great deal of stress on your ACL. Since your ACL is already being stressed by the quadriceps tendon pulling on the tibia let’s not agrivate the situation. However, if you keep your knees apart this is not an issue.
Keep in mind that this is addressing the angle of the femure so knee movement relative to foot position. If you’re standing with your feet close together of course your knees will be close together. The concern is when your knees come together during the movement.
Second:
The second concern deals with mechanical impingment. When you squat the axis of rotation is your knee. That is to state that your knee is working as a hinge.
When you squat very deep your calf and hamstring will connect. This connection will change the axis of rotation to the point of contact between the two muscles. This will cause your knee to be pulled “open” like a pair of scissors. (I really wish I could upload a pic into this forum). So long as your deep squat ends prior to this severe impingement you don’t have anything to worry about from the knee standpoint. This is why bouncing out of the bottom is the ultimate evil in a squat. It causes this scissoring motion of the knee and can cause great injury due to the force generated by the bounce motion.
Finally:
The whole knees behind the toes thing is a common misconception. If you have long femurs then your knees are almost guaranteed to pass in front of your toes if you go past a 90 degree bend. My knees pass my toes well before parallel unless my feet are very widely spaced.
Depends on the goals. During powerlifting, going below par doesn’t make much sense, but in the bodybuilding sense you should go as low as you feel comfie with.
Like someone else, there’s no other exercise you do partial ROM on, so squats shouldn’t be an exception.
Partials also ready your nervous system for heavier loads, as previously stated. Say your bench is 250. If you load 300 on there and hold it for a few seconds, your body will adjust. When you max out at 250 right after it, 250 will feel much lighter than before. Same principle with squats. I know I’ve tried just holding about 50 lbs more than I know I can do, and it makes my max feel so much lighter.
I started going all the way down a month ago. Used to just go to parallel. My poundages dropped, but my legs feel much more tired despite the decreased poundage. And having come back from a knee injury, I must say my knees feel great!
I have transitioned from a belted up, bouncing 1/2 squat to a more parallel, unassisted form. I’m told they look good, but are not “ass to grass” with bigger weight.
One thing that has helped me get more depth is to descend slowly so that you are not “fighting momentum” at the bottom (no drop / no bounce), an old timer pointed this out for me.
I believe this is due to the fact that most people coming to full squats from partial squatting are weakest at the bottom point, I know I am.
It may seem like more work at 1st but it the long run this may pay out, enabling you you get more range of motion by reducing the tendency to stop short due to the “perceived load” arising from excess momentum.
Also, let 1/3 of your beath out on the way down, and the remainder on the way up, contracts the diaphragm and helps trunk stability.
Not to mention the obvious advantage of keeping abdominal pressures manageable and your intestines in your gut (as opposed to your filling nut sack or hanging from other orifices).