parallel squat

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The parallel squat is one of themost effective exercises that canbe performed in a strength andconditioning program, but it is also oneof the most controversial. Many of the

concerns about the safety of the squatcan be attributed to misinformation.This paper will discuss the benefitsand risks of the squat so that coachescan make an informed decision about

whether or not they should includeit in their strength and conditioning programs.

The parallel squat is considered theking of all exercises because no other

exercise works as many major musclegroups as effectively as the squat. It alsostimulates the cardiovascular systempositively and burns more calories inthe same time period than any other

exercise, and as such also can be a usefulexercise for general physical condition-ing. Consequently, at BFS we believethat if athletes did nothing but parallelsquats, they would have a good weight-training program not great, but good.Conversely, if they leave out the squats,minimize them, or perform them incor-rectly, athletes may not be able to fulfilltheir athletic potential especially in

sports that have a high strength compo-nent, such as football or wrestling.

We believe that the parallel squatbuilds the foundation for great speed,regardless of the size of the athlete.

A six-foot-four, 265-pound footballplayer who has good athletic ability might be able to run a 40-yard dash in4.6 seconds if he practices the squat.If that athlete does some other type of free-weight exercise or substitutes anexercise machine for the squat, such as a leg extension, it is unlikely that he willachieve such results. Further, there aresome machines and apparatus used for

BFS guidelines on the benets and risks of this popular exercise

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BFS POSITION PAPER

The Parallel Squat


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squatting that may do more harm

than good. One example is the Smithmachine.

One problem with squatting using a Smith machine is that although itmay reduce the stress on the lower back because the athlete can lean backwards

while maintaining balance, it placessignificantly higher shearing forces (i.e.,forces that work to pry the joint apart)on the knees because the hamstringsare not as active during the exercise.

Further, squatting with a barbell on a guided vertical (or slightly angled) pathdoes not allow for natural compensa-tions in the movement of the spine,a restriction that can place unnaturalshearing forces on the spine.

It also should be mentioned that infour lawsuits in which sports-liability consultant Dr. Marc Rabinoff servedas an expert witness, four individuals

became paralyzed using Smith machines

because they didnt know how to prop-erly use the safety apparatus on thesemachines. That being said, its not thatmachine exercises have no place in anathletes training, as they are especially valuable in rehabilitation, but that

we believe free-weight exercises suchas squats should form the core of anathletes training.

One myth about squats that hasled many athletes and those inter-ested in improving their appearance toavoid them is that they will widen thehips and cause the body to develop a blocky appearance. This idea was pro-moted by the famous late bodybuilding trainer Vince Gironda 1. Gironda wascalled the Trainer to the Stars becausehis clients included Hollywood celebri-ties such as Clint Eastwood, Cher andDenzel Washington. He also trainedprofessional bodybuilder Larry Scott,

who in 1965 won the first Mr. Olympia title, and Mohamed Makkawy, whotwice placed second in the Olympia.

Anatomically, the idea that squats widen the hips is not valid becausethe insertion of the gluteus maximusmuscle, one of the prime movers in thesquat, is not on the hips (Figure 1)

Although most high school weight-training programs for athletesinclude squats, many coaches allow

their athletes to squat way too high, usepoor biomechanics, such as by allow-ing the knees to buckle (Figure 2) orleaning forward excessively, and spotimproperly (Figure 3). These problemsincrease the risk of injury and decreasethe effectiveness of the strength andconditioning program.

KNEES AND SQUATS

Are squats bad for the knees?

Despite credible, peer-reviewed evi-dence to the contrary, this question isconstantly raised, even by those whohave no connection to athletics orphysical education.

Much of the controversy origi-nated from the belief that squats wereharmful to the knees, an idea that wasintroduced by college professor KarlK. Klein and medical doctor Fred L.

FIGURE 1: It is a myth that squats will make the hips wider and create a blocky ap-pearance because the gluteus maximus muscle does not insert on the hips. Shownare Jesse Buttereld (left) and Chloe Van Tussenbroek (right), multisport athleteswho have competed in the School Age National Weightlifting Championships. Jessewent on to become a professional model.

FIGURE 2: Allowing the knees to buckleis a common error in squatting thatmust be corrected to prevent injury.

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B l a i r K u n z


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Allman, Jr. In 1961 Klein published a study that contained some question-able research methods and suggestedthat squats could decrease knee stability and thereby increased the risk of kneeinjury. He later detailed his findings ina book he wrote with Dr. Allman, The Knee in Sports (Penn State Press, 1971,Figure 4).2

In the years that followed it wasshown that there were flaws in thestudy, and the results could not bereproduced. Further, other studiesshowed exactly opposite results; namely,that weightlifters and powerlifterstended to possess tighter knee jointsthan control groups and were lesssusceptible to knee injuries. What isinteresting is that Klein and Allman didnot disapprove of parallel squats, whichare recommended by BFS, but full squats as performed by Olympic lifters.However, few people have actually readKlein and Allmans book, which saysthat parallel squats are fine and havebenefits to athletic performance.

In the years that followed, weight-

lifters, powerlifters and sport scientists were eventually able to convince themedical community and lay public thatsquats were not harmful to the kneesand that competitive weightlifters andpowerlifters did not have greater levels

of knee instability than other athletes orthe untrained population 3,4. Further, weat BFS contend that performing squatsby descending under complete controlto achieve a parallel position resultsin many positive changes, such as thefollowing:

The lower-body muscles becomestronger and bigger, especially thequadriceps and hamstrings.

The tendons become thicker andstronger.

The knee ligaments become thickerand stronger.

The entire articular capsule of theknee becomes thicker.

The bones of the legs become stron-ger and slightly bigger because of increased capillarization.

The cartilage of the knee becomesmore resistant to injury.

These positive effects explain why athletes who do squats correctly havefar fewer knee injuries than those whodo not squat at all. Including squats intheir program and performing themproperly is especially important for

female athletes, because they are up tofive times more likely to suffer kneeinjuries than men are in sports such asbasketball and volleyball. According tothe American Orthopedic Society forSports Medicine, each year approxi-

mately 20,000 high school girls sufferserious knee injuries, most involving theanterior cruciate ligament, which helpsstabilize the knee.

Proper squatting technique offersathletes the best defense against kneeinjuries. That being said, deep squatscan present some danger to the knee

joint, especially if the lifter comes downfast, is out of control or bounces atthe bottom position. Common sensetells us that a football player who doesdeep squats with, say, 400 pounds isasking for problems if he comes downhard and bounces at the deep bottomposition. But if an athlete lifting thesame weight comes down under controlto the parallel-squat position and thencomes up, the knee joint should be inno danger whatsoever.

SQUAT DEPTH

Understanding the importanceof depth in squats is imperative. Webase our standards on a parallel depthor slightly below it. The high school

All American standard is 500 pounds

for males with heavy builds and 325pounds for females with heavy builds.The all-state standard is 400 pounds formales and 235 pounds (think two platesand a collar) for females. BFS set thosestandards to help athletes and coaches

FIGURE 3: Examples of great spotting by high school athletes


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understand when an athlete achievessomething remarkable. Only an excep-tional athlete with special understand-ing of how to do squats can reach those

standards. If an athlete squats a foothigh, or three inches high with 500pounds, it is meaningless. Not a wholelot is really happening, and the athlete

will miss out on great benefits.The guiding principle in squat-

ting is that its necessary to squat sothat the tops of the upper thighs areat least horizontal to the floor so thatthe hamstrings and gluteal muscles arestrongly activated. If you dont squat

low enough, you only activate the quad-riceps (front thigh muscles). It is ourunderstanding that if an athlete doesnot squat low enough, this reducedmuscle recruitment will not improveknee stability and may even decreaseknee stability by creating muscle imbal-ances. And it should be noted that peer-reviewed research suggests that squatting to parallel does not increase the stress

on the patellofemoral joint compared tosquatting above parallel.5 Finally, squat-ting to parallel is necessary to allow for a natural movement of the sacroiliac (SI)

joint. Improper function of the SI jointis associated with many types of lowerback pain.6

At BFS, we offer a simple test tohelp athletes and coaches determinethe proper depth. Its called the marbletest (Figure 5). If an athlete were toplace an imaginary marble (or dowel)on the middle of the top of the thighsduring their deepest squat position,

which way would the marble roll? If themarble would roll towards the knees, theathlete is not squatting low enough. If the marble would stay stationary or rolltowards the lifters hips, the depth is fine.

What youll find by using this standardis that the bottom of the thighs has to bebelow parallel at the bottom of the squat.The marble test is better than

judging the position of thebottom of the thigh, as ath-letes with large legs would berequired to squat considerably

lower (Figure 6).Does BFS have any

problem with an athletesquatting lower than parallel?Certainly not. All we aresaying is that an athlete mustsquat to at least parallel toeffectively work the ham-strings. As for the sport of powerlifting, the extraordi-narily high poundages lifted

by many of todays power-lifters suggest that there hasbeen considerable leniency among someorganizations as to what parallel is, along

with the supportive gear that often canadd hundreds of pounds to a powerlift-ers best result in this exercise. Further,the hyper-wide stance used by many powerlifters, which reduces the forwardmovement of the knees and minimizes

the involvement of the quadriceps, isnot the athletic stance that BFS believes

would have the best carryover to athlet-ics. Another way to think about this is tosay that powerlifters are trying to lift theheaviest weight possible over the shortestdistance possible, whereas at BFS we aretrying to lift in such a manner as to havethe best carryover to athletics.

Because Olympic weightlifterssquat all the way down (Figure 7), andin competition actually bounce out of the bottom position, why doesnt BFSrecommend this style? After all, kneeinjuries to competitive weightlifters arerare, especially compared to knee injuriesin other sports. What is wrong with going all the way down?

If an athlete has a qualified Olympiclifting coach to work with them on thissquatting method and the coach believesthis form of squatting is superior, fine.

The problem is when an athlete squatsall the way down and relaxes, the knee

joint opens up slightly, subjecting theconnective tissues to stress levels higherthan their tensile strength. In the case of

weightlifters, who perform snatches andcleans bouncing out of the bottom posi-tion, the stress does not become excessive

FIGURE 4: The publication in 1961 of The Knee in Sports written by Karl K. Kleinand Fred L. Allman, Jr., led to manymisconceptions about the safety of thesquat exercise.

FIGURE 5: A dowel can be used to help determinethe proper depth of a squat.


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because they perform these lifts whilekeeping the muscles under tension.

Nevertheless, the reality is that a coach in high school may have 50 kids to

work with at the same time, and it is dif-ficult for any strength coach to give theone-on-one attention this type of squat-ting deserves, particularly in light of thefact that there are relatively few qualifiedOlympic lifting coaches in this country.Further, its not so much that squatting deep injures the knees but that it placesthe lower back at a higher risk of injury.

Unless an athlete has exceptionalflexibility and proper supervision, whatoften happens when an athlete squatsall the way down is that their lowerback will round. Rounding places high,unnatural stresses on the lower vertebraeof the back (L3, L4 and L5). Further,this stress is compounded by the com-pression forces on the spine, which areestimated to be six times greater at thebottom of a full squat than at the top(so that an athlete squatting 200 pounds

would have 1,200 pounds of compres-sion forces at the bottom).

Likewise, using a flat or tail-underback posture (as is often taught infitness classes to supposedly increasethe involvement of the glutes) placesexcessive strain on the supportive tissuesof the lower back. In his book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness 7, the late Mel Siff

warned against this technique: Keeping the back flat is common advice in thegymnasium training environment, yet itsvalidity is rarely questioned. Actually, a

flat back devoid of any curvature is notonly virtually impossible for a normalperson to achieve, but it also reduces theability of the spine to absorb or distrib-ute shock and stress effectively. Thehealthy spine is meant to have severaldifferent curvatures, whereas the straightspine suggests the presence of a specifictype of pathology. Again, if an athletehas exceptional flexibility and one-on-

one coaching from a qualified Olympiclifting coach, it would be better to go

with a parallel squat, or slightly below.Next, there is the mistaken belief

that squats invite adverse effects on thecardiovascular system because they causea rise in blood pressure. It is true thatblood pressure rises, but the effect is only temporary and the heart adapts positively to this stress by hypertrophying the leftventricle. It should also be noted that leg presses performed on a 45-degree angle

increase the blood pressure significantly more than squats do. Of course, if anathlete has any cardiovascular issues, they must consult with their private health

care practitioner about the effects thatsquats will have on their condition.

Finally, there is the argument thatsquatting all the way down doesnt work the quads and hamstrings throughoutthe full range of motion. Thats true,but thats why BFS has made glute-hamraises and lungeshigh-priority auxiliary exercises. Both of these exercises putminimal stresses on the lower back while

working the quads, especially the vastusmedialis (an inner thigh muscle thatcrosses the knee joint and is thereforekey to maintaining knee stability) and allfour heads of the hamstrings.

When BFS started 32 years ago,one of the most controversial aspects of our program was our promotion of thesquat. Most of the controversies were a result of misinformation, which we cannow resolve with scientific research. Ouroriginal claim was that the parallel squatis one of the best exercises for athletes,and we continue to stand by it 100percent.

Note: A PDF of the complete 5,300-word

position paper, including references and detailed instructions on how to perform

the squat, is available for download at

www.biggerfasterstronger.com

FIGURE 6: Lifters with large thighs willhave difculty reaching parallel if thebottom of the thighs is used to deter-mine parallel.

FIGURE 7: Weightlifters squat all the way down, but this depth is not necessary for mostathletes and should only be used under the guidance of a qualied weightlifting instructor.

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