The goal with all the techniques that I teach, is to include the most amount of muscle mass and take it across the longest effective range of motion.
In strength training, we want to include all the muscles, so they get to contribute as much force as possible. But we also want to ensure that we are using our time as effectively as possible, to strengthen as much muscle mass as we can.
This is why squatting as deep as your mobility allows, is always going to be beneficial.
The only exception to this, maybe a Powerlifter that is practicing one rep maxes for competition purposes. In this sport, the primary goal is to lift the most amount of weight. A legal squat is one which is considered to have the hip crease just below the plane of your knee. This is considered “below parallel”. For a powerlifter then, it would make sense to practice this specific depth, to not go deeper than is necessary, as this would take away from the amount of potential weight they could lift in competition. With this exception, everyone else needs to squat as deep as their mobility allows, I’d also encourage powerlifters do the same outside of the times they are performing single rep max attempts.
The question then becomes, “how deep is too deep?”
Well, that brings me to the purpose of writing this article today. In fact, this is one of the most frequently asked questions I get asked when it comes to the squat. Without further a due, let’s get into it.
It’s All About Principles
I have a shoulder; you have a shoulder. I have a hip; you have a hip. There are structural components that exist between person to person. Our joints have evolved to perform very specific actions to be able to facilitate our survival across 400,000 years. Structurally, we are more alike than different, however there are nuances within our anthropometrics, and this is why there is not “one way” to squat or deadlift, but instead principles that you must abide by.
Structure plays a significant role in how your squat looks, but there’s also functional components to consider also. The positions that you are in all day can have a massive impact on how your squat looks. Those that are much “stiffer” will sure have a harder time sitting in a squat versus those that have good mobility and frequently move their body.
Nonetheless, both function and structure contribute to how your squat looks, so approaching the conversation with the assumption that there is a “one size fits all” squat depth is silly and shouldn’t be up for debate.
This therefore all boils down to principles, and I can present some to you here today in this article.
The “BIG 3” That Determine Your Squat Depth!
The muscles around the hips are the primary engine that produces the force during a squat. To maximise their contribution during the lift, we need to learn three concepts called “Finding Centre of Mass”, “Hip Drive” and “Hip Torque”. First, let’s discuss what these principles are and how to execute them!
Principle 1: Finding Centre of Mass (COM): Without the barbell, assume a stance where the heels are placed at shoulder width, and the toes angled out at 30-35 degrees. This is a neutral stance and will work for most people, however individual difference is a factor and may apply. Now we need to find your COM. If the pressure is on the balls of your feet, your COM is forward. If the pressure is heavier on one foot, the COM is either right or left. If the pressure is on your heels, the COM is back. Press your big toe and pinkie into the floor and keep the pressure over the middle of your foot throughout the entire process.
Principle 2: Hip drive: Squat down, making sure to break the knees and hips at the same time, then put your elbows against the inside of your knees, with the palms of your hands together and shove your knees out in so they are directly over your toes. Not inside, not outside, but OVER your toes. Look down at the ground, around 5 feet in front of you. Looking down will help facilitate a more horizontal back angle and keep the neck in a neutral position.
Once you are comfortable in the bottom position, we now need to learn how to produce hip drive. Achieve this by driving the hips straight up out of the bottom but making sure not to leave the chest behind. The hips and the chest must rise at the same rate.
This allows the powerful muscles of the posterior chain such as the hamstrings, glutes, and adductors to move the load. This is important: the muscles that produce hip extension are the largest and most powerful muscles in the body, therefore, we teach the squat in a way that uses these muscles so we can move the most weight. Once you can do this effectively, we then want to apply hip torque.
Principle 3: Hip Torque: Torque is a rotational force, and when applied to a joint, it helps make that joint more stable. If we can create torque at the hips, we can maximise force production because we can only produce as much force as we can stabilise. How do we create torque at the hips?
Twist the quads away from each other and maintain that tension in the hips on the way down and on the way up.
Bringing It All Together
To answer the headline, you should go as deep as you can, whilst being able to execute all these three principles at the same time. That is what it means to “squat as deep as your mobility allows”. You see, it’s impossible to say that there’s a one size fits all depth for everyone, simply because of the differences from one person to the next. I hope this makes sense and please let me know if you have any questions!
