Back squat 1rm

[acidhell]

Hello Mark! Nice forum!

I am a sprinter, 100m is my main sport. I am trying to restrengthen my legs/hips after 3 hamstring tears this season... This week i resumed very quickly my old strength and hit 175kg for one very heavy repetition

http://www.dailymotion.com/acidhell/video/x3q2rd_back-squat-175kg-deep_sport

Do you think the depth is right? I was pretty sure i hit the correct depth (slightly below parallel), and honestly i am not used at stopping at parallel. But seeing this video, i thought i could have gone a tad lower.. what u think?

[Mark Rippetoe]

No, that is not parallel, and it is not actually a squat due to the Smith-like rails attached to the bar. If your intention is to use the squat for strengthening your hamstrings -- a superlative idea -- you have to squat in a way that makes them work. You must get deep: hip joint below the top of the patella, at least, with good lumbar extension. You must sit back at the bottom with your knees out, not forward, to stretch the hamstrings into a position where they can contribute more to hip extension. And you must drive your ass up HARD out of the bottom -- up, not forward -- to make the hamstrings and adductors fire so that the posterior chain is recruited efficiently.