Ass to grass squats

[Eric1987]

Is it bad for you to do the super deep squats ass to grass? My friend said it is bad for your glutes, hamstrings, and lower lumbars. I want to make sure I'm not going to injure myself before I do them in my routine.

 

[_cato_]

No. As long as you aren't losing arch/tightness in your lower back when you do it.

 

[zedhed]

Your friend is less then fully educated on squats. If a person can go safely ass to grass then thats all good. Not everybody has the ability to do this safely. The only part that he got right is the part about lumbar. Some peeps have the flexibility to do this and some just dont and never will have. If you cant do it with excellent form then dont do it! The primary concern is that a person does go just past parallel. Stopping above parallel is just asking for knee issues, ie, 1/4 squats.

 

[Eric1987]

Thanks guys. Sorry for the random dumb questions. I was reading on the net that it can actually strengthen the knees and puts less pressure on them. Is that true?

 

[stevesmi]

^^^ depends on how much weight you are doing and your form. if you are trying to do a lot more weight than you are capable and have crappy form then don't waste your time.

i love doing deep squats with light weight.. i feel so sore the next day.. especially my glutes... if your quads, hammy's, glutes are sore the next day you know you did them right..

 

[miked8c]

ATG front squats with 5RM weight, oh baby. Nothing better than sitting so low with 300+ lbs. resting on your shoulders that you could literally sit on the ground if your ass went down an inch or two more. Then fighting the weight all the way back up.

 

[zedhed]

Front squats is a whole diff program tho then back squats.

 

[Eric1987]

^^^ depends on how much weight you are doing and your form. if you are trying to do a lot more weight than you are capable and have crappy form then don't waste your time.

i love doing deep squats with light weight.. i feel so sore the next day.. especially my glutes... if your quads, hammy's, glutes are sore the next day you know you did them right..

How can you really do them incorrectly?

 

[SPEKTOR-AAA]

Many people do them with wrong form. Ill name a few troublesome areas. From the start when addressing the bar and actually loading it off the rack most people dont have enough "tightness" in their core. They deflate their chest and fail to pull the shoulders back and tight. I also notice feet placement to be a common troublespot for most. I know everyone has their preference but to me shoulder width, toes slighty/naturally pointed out is a perfect stance. Next trouble spot is when people fall into the squat position. They typically sell themselves short and dont go deep enough or spring down in such a fashion that they lose half the benefit of the squat. Next from the bottom people push from their toes rather then from the heels of their feet. Now a squat is pretty common sense but for most they fail in a variety of ways.

 

[gymjunkie09]

How can you really do them incorrectly?

just you tube mark rippetoe squat and you find a ton of instructional vid...I thinks that's how you spell his name I may be wrong tho lol