Ass to floor squats

[XAX]

I use a wide stance myself. It helps keeping my balance and my knees from moving too much..

 

[Stanknogger]

I don't do ass to floor but I go pretty far below parallel, is that ok?

 

[needsize]

erick, try sitting the bar a little lower on your shoulders, changes the centre of gravity which helps you keep your balance at the bottom. If you do find yourself tipping, drive your hips forward and it will straighten you out.

 

[grishaxxl]

I've tended to avoid going below parallel bacuase 1) had a knee twist a few yrs ago and was concerned about that and 2) my Dad had to have knee surgery in his 50's because he squatted too heavy on ATF sqts when he was yoiunger and doing a lot of BB. Stretched something in his knees that, with age, lost elasticity and things were scraping each other in there.

For 1), I wrapped em for a while, did leg presses instead, but did not get the same growth form those (big surprise), so went back to sqts - what I found was that with very strict form, even without wraps, knees gave me no problems at all. As for 2), Dad and I are built quite differently (he has much longer legs) and so our body kinetics are completely different - my legs are better than his ever were, and - the knee incident apart - I feel much more comfortable with the exercise.

As for ATF's you're all right - take the weight down and the knee issue recedes - and those 3" that needsize picked up - wow - now I can't wait to get in there!

 

[Captain_insano]

I had to try them out to see what the fuss is all about. I don't think I will go heavy on that exercise, but just focus on the full range with a light weight. what is the 4-2-2 tempo?

I squat on the down motion for 4seconds...i pause for 2 seconds and then i come back up for 2 seconds...that is my tempo.

 

[Lord_Suston]

Did them last week could move for a day sore for 5 days, very pleased with the results. Gonna try them tomorrow, hoping I won't be that sore, I haven't done squats in over 6 months.

 

[FitnessFrk]

Using a 4-2-2 tempo kicks ass for ATF squats. Some people feel the need to constantly go heavy on squats which is not necessary for building size.

there is no risk of injury with going ATF if you have good static-passive flexibility.

 

[DaCypher]

I found a pretty interesting article on ExRx about safety issues and risks of injury while squatting. Here's the link if you haven't read it before.

When doing ATF squats, do your hams touch your calves? I find when I go that low it really stresses the knee awkwardly and somewhat dangerously (can cause dislocation as stated in the article).

 

[needsize]

When I squat I go as far down as my body will physically let me, hams touching calves, and it's never really bothered my knees. I find my secret is making sure I do a VERY thorough warm up first, here's my quad warm up:
5-10 minutes on tread mill
10 reps with the bar
6 reps with 135
5 reps with 225
2 reps with 275
2 reps with 315, then my working sets.
When I follow this type of warm up, I don't get any knee pain no matter how deep I go.

 

[bignate73]

hams touching calves is different than hams resting on calves which will seperate the knee and put stress on the ACL.