Experimenting with an air squat and a narrower stance. I notice I can't keep my trunk upright at all. To maintain balance I have to have my back almost horizontal. The wider stance I take seems to reduce that angle and give more stability. Unless I'm going ATG it's a real effort to stay above that point and my quads burn-exactly what I found when pause squatting as I was holding position above my usual ATG.
I feel like my legs are lacking the strength to hold me just below parallel-even in an air squat- it appears I use the ATG version to obtain a bit of a rest, then just try and muscle the bar up from out of the hole and that's where it's going wrong. Clearly I'm rushing to get to he ATG rest position as quickly as possible in order to reserve enough strength to bounce out (probably on my knees rather than the proper stretch reflex which is why I'm experiencing the odd twinge of pain if I don't get the bar moving up immediately).