I had an interesting conversation with a client this morning about squat depth and knee health, and I thought it might be of interest to some of you.
There’s a bit more information about this on the Facebook group – if you’d like to read more, please do join at www.facebook.com/groups/fitbiztraining
So, a deep squat is defined as going below parallel. Parallel is the point of a squat at which your hips are in line with your knees. Below parallel is the point at which your hips are below your knees.
Clearly, a lot of people will struggle with the mobility required to squat to below parallel – and if this includes you, then you definitely should be not contorting yourself into a squat any deeper than you can sit into comfortably and easily.
For those who do have the mobility required to sit into a deep squat comfortably and easily, then assuming you’re using good quality programming, you’re not maxing out too often or pushing through pain, then you’re probably safe to squat deep. Generally, I would not restrict a client’s range of motion if they were able to squat to full depth.
If you can’t get into a deep squat position, then it is likely a sign that your mobility is lacking. Whether this matters or not depends on your individual situation – is your mobility sufficient otherwise? Do you care about being able to squat deeper?
If you have knee pain when you squat, then consider your technique first – there might be a simple fix.
If that doesn’t help, then you’d be wise to consider your mobility. Often, knee pain is related to tightness in your hips and/or ankles.
It’s also possible that there is some weakness around your knee joint and that working on improving the stability of your knee might help too. While deep squats have been shown to IMPROVE knee stability compared to other activities, some specific stability work is more likely to be helpful if you have pain when you squat.
IF you have a pre-existing knee issue, then it is possible that things might be different for you.
The same advice is true whether you can or can’t squat deep for whatever reason:
Take things slowly, progress gradually, and keep within pain-free limits.