The deepest squat ever

[squat_gnome]

I've been squatting since I was a toddler. years of ass-to-calf bodyweight squats, years of sitting at the bottom position for minutes (we use squatting toilets), and now recently started doing barbell squats.

I prefer to go all the way down, ass-to-calf style when doing high-bar and front squats. but after reading the book and checking my form, realized that in the last moment at the deep my lower back starts to round a little (just a little). the rounding of the lower back happens exactly at the last inch of the depth, as if I stop an inch higher it doesn't happen.

Do I lack flexibility? or is it normal?

[MattJ.D.]

a lot of people mistake slight rounding of the lower back with safe anatomical position of the lowerback...if i remember what rippe said correctly

[Tom Campitelli]

Many people are unable to achieve a rock bottom/hamstrings to calves squat without a little loosening somewhere. Nothing abnormal about that at all. Whether you are actually rounding, or just seeing some normal artifacts of a deep squat cannot be discerned without a video. Does your back hurt?

[Dastardly]

Low bar squats, and to some extent high bar squats work better when depth is intentionally restricted even if you can go deeper. The important thing is to create tension in your thighs (particularly hamstrings). Going rock bottom can kill this tension, so you end up limiting the amount of muscle used in the lift and therefore the weights used.

It is quite dependent on anatomy though.

[blowdpanis]

Low bar squats, and to some extent high bar squats work better when depth is intentionally restricted even if you can go deeper. The important thing is to create tension in your thighs (particularly hamstrings). Going rock bottom can kill this tension, so you end up limiting the amount of muscle used in the lift and therefore the weights used.

It is quite dependent on anatomy though.

The tension isn't killed from going too low, though. The tension is killed by relaxing stuff to go too low. There is a pretty significant difference between the two - limiting depth, in my opinion, is a workaround for an inability to stay tight, i.e. poor control of the spinal extensors. If you can consciously stay tight, you SHOULD go as low as you can, which isn't going to be much beyond parallel in any variant of a squat if the pelvis/low back is actually kept in neutral alignment and barring you having extreme/freak flexibility.

[Dastardly]

The tension isn't killed from going too low, though. The tension is killed by relaxing stuff to go too low. There is a pretty significant difference between the two - limiting depth, in my opinion, is a workaround for an inability to stay tight, i.e. poor control of the spinal extensors. If you can consciously stay tight, you SHOULD go as low as you can, which isn't going to be much beyond parallel in any variant of a squat if the pelvis/low back is actually kept in neutral alignment and barring you having extreme/freak flexibility.

It is possibly for certain people to go "too deep" in a low bar squat. This usually goes hand in hand with letting the hips go forwards/back stay too vertical though. I guess you are getting at the same thing with "tightness". But people can definetely do it this "wrong way" with back in good tight extension, just a failure to sit back/bend over enough.

[dsp]

I widened my stance and pointed my toes out more, and now there seems to be a tension in my hamstrings/glutes that makes coming up MUCH stronger. It has also limited my depth to a little below parallel. I can't get the same bounce as I used to, but the movement feels much stronger. I personally think you're not getting anything extra by going a few more inches lower and using the super bounce out of the bottom, and then grinding out the bottom 3/4 of the lift

[squat_gnome]

My back is not hurting (yet), but I'm squatting with only 50KG (bar weight included) so I guess I might get nasty back pain in the future when my strength increase and I do more than 150KG squats.

I can go all the way down without any problem in flexibility (I've been doing this movement since I was a toddler at least 5 times daily, each time holding the rock bottom position until my job was done... squatting toilets, everybody in my country does that and is that flexible, even the elderly).

But with barbell squats when I go rock bottom, as I try to ascend up, the first few inches of the movement feels very hard and needs a very explosive power to pass that section, sometimes I feel like I'm pinned to the ground and cannot rise up. and when I concentrate my strength and pass that explosive part I go all up like a rocket all the way up with no more effort automatically. even I have to step on the brake at the last moment before my knees lock out to prevent a fast and aggressive knee lock that makes a nasty noise.

I think this kind of squat has its own benefits, I can't lift much using this form but it does make really explosive legs I guess.
I'll take a video soon of my lower back in the deepest position for you to better judge.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I think this kind of squat has its own benefits, I can't lift much using this form but it does make really explosive legs I guess.
I'll take a video soon of my lower back in the deepest position for you to better judge.

You know what makes really explosive legs? A heavy squat. You know what is not a heavy squat? 50kg. Squat to the correct depth so you can move more weight and get strong enough to start worrying about what makes your legs "more explosive".

[Carlos Daniel]

You know what makes really explosive legs? A heavy squat. You know what is not a heavy squat? 50kg. Squat to the correct depth so you can move more weight and get strong enough to start worrying about what makes your legs "more explosive".

Dynamite!