Deep Squats Vs. 90 Degree Squats

In this QUAH Sal, Adam, & Justin answer the question “Is it best to do ass to grass squats or mix it up?"

If you would like to get your own question answered, follow us on Instagram where we post QUAH requests weekly.

January Promotion (#1): NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS SPECIAL BUNDLE OFFERS

January Promotion (#2): MAPS Anabolic 50% off **Code “JAN50” at checkout**

MAPS Fitness Programs & More

Mind Pump Merch

Free resources & guides on building muscle, fat loss, improving mobility, & more:

Check out the full episode 1721 here:
“Deep Squats Vs. 90 Degree Squats"
LIKE this video if you learned something new!
COMMENT your thoughts on this topic.
SUBSCRIBE for more valuable fitness content

#MindPump

CONNECT WITH US:

SHOP MIND PUMP:

PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP:

PODCAST:

[GeordellTheIncred]

What you guys are saying is completely true! Most of my life I’ve been squatting 90° & when I started trying to do deep squats it just wasn’t the same because my body was trained to do 90° all the time! I hate when you do squats & someone tries to tell you that it wasn’t a squat because your not going all the way down! Now if you’re barely bending your knees that isn’t a squat! Loved the video guys & this is very informational for people who don’t know!

[analyticalchick]

For ass to grass, make sure you can do it with no weight first and good control like Sal says. The deep squat is probably going to progress always lower weight than the 90 degree heavy squat so you would have the deep squat and the heavy squat. Maybe do deep for a month then heavy for a month or deep on Monday and heavy on Friday.... Also, part of the reason why people ask this is they like an excuse to curse and rhyme. It lets out our inner child. I remember how we'd sit on the kitchen table so we could say "tables are for glasses, not asses"

[davifurtado]

Squatting ATG is tough dude, it's literally twice the ROM compared to a parallel squat. I was talking to a guy once on how after a year of training I was able to squat 90kg and he told me after a year you should be able to squat 120kg at least and I thought I was weak af, then I found out he was squatting parallel and I was squatting ATG. I measured, my bar was moving 43cm more than his EVERY SINGLE REP. It's TWICE the rom of a parallel squat

Squatting ATG is way more sensitive to weight and your numbers will look like shit. You also can't follow programs like 5x5 because of that

[brandonnicholas]

I feel like the reason is not that it's tough but because we've been told for decades to only go parallel for safety reasons, it's bad for your knees to go deep, or we/I've been told it was a waste of time to go deep. Growing up (I'm in my late 30's) I never remember hearing any of my HS gym coaches, gym instructors or anyone else saying "strive for ass to grass as long as you can control it and it's safe". It's only in the last 10-15 years where I've started to hear people talking about it being okay. But that's just my personal experience.

[BluegillGreg]

Training a variety of squats is a good way to get overall balanced development. I go ATG with lighter weight on overhead squats, and go to pins set slightly below parallel on heavier SSB squats. I gently touch the pins as a way to maintain control. This keeps depth consistent and gives feedback on any technique/fatigue related lateral instability.

[alienfire]

I love this channel. Keep up this content, gents!

[KnuckleHead]

I’ve never gone ass to grass cause of mobility and loss of good form. I usually go slightly passed parallel and it feels comfortable for me

[anthonygarvin]

"if ya ask the question, ya kinda already know, "....Hit me like a brick. Yep, a journey working towards your goal with effective stability and control, ..had to let ego, ...go!

[calvintrainer]

Result is everything.
I am 68 and after all those years I've decided to do ATG squat 2.5 months ago and I am glad I did. I also add deep front squat aka Olympic clean squat recently and I like it even more. My legs are responding very well as my glutes and hamstrings too. Don't let your ego get in the way. I started humbly with just the bar and with Olympic lifting protocol I use low reps like 3 and keep adding weight until I struggle to do 2 reps. Total sets # are quite high. My knees feel great at 68 and the thighs are growing. In fact my legs feel so good I've begun my preparations to run/sprint drill soon. At this age I can testify that The foundation of youth is in the legs. You can debate all you want but wait until your my age then tell the world about it. Because I don't use bodybuilding protocol for my legs, rather I use Olympic lifting protocol, it allows me to do leg every 2-3 days and in between I do leg/knee mobility works

[STBRetired]

Full reps or partial reps. I think it all depends on the particular exercise. The goal is to keep constant tension on the muscle(s) being exercised. With a standing barbell curl, the beginning 4" or 5" inches and extending to the chest are useless since they don't provide sufficient tension. Therefore, partial reps would be the way to go. Squats and standing presses have similar leverage characteristics. All the way down for both is providing stretch and tension but going all the way up to lockout is useless. So you adjust your ROM to cut out that useless portion of the movement to keep the most constant tension on the muscle. If you want to fill in the places where you aren't extending then use cables or chains or bands at a different angle to hit those areas.

[MomoSimone]

This was really helpful. I've always gotten confused with squat depth. For a while now, I've been doing ass to grass and feel like I own every aspect of it, but during our most recent lockdown (in Sydney, Australia), I was seeing a personal trainer once a week just to get out and do some exercise as gyms were closed (I'm not overly motivated if I can't use a gym) and she told me to only squat to parallel. But I've had another trainer at the gym tell me my form was good on the deep squat. I feel like everyone has different ideas when it comes to squat depth, but I feel like what you guys have discussed makes the most sense. Why not do full range of motion like with every other exercise?!

[jordansours]

It took me over a year to get 225 ATG with good form takes a lot of time but it is rewarding

[wyndell]

for jumping and sprinting quarter squats, absolutely strengthen the most explosive zone in the squat range. you are able to move faster which will allow you to engage more fast which fibers, using squats for improving jumping and sprinting should be done in a very sport-specific manner for optimal results, and that would be quarter squats. not to be confused with hypertrophy training, which would require a fuller range of motion.

[jasonhill]

Awesome video as always. I have recently been working on my mobility by just doing overhead squats with just a stick and double kettlebell front squats. Well yesterday I did ass to grass high bar back squats and easily went full range of motion. Not heavy only 5x5 at 225. But my range of motion has improved tremendously. I believe you should always strive for full range of motion. But slowly and steadily increase resistance. Keep up the content guys. I love it.

[beenay]

People ask this because the gym trainers tell people not to squat deep. They tell people to do partial squat. They say only partial squat can give them muscle gain. All you tube fitness trainers also tell people to do only partial squat. For them right way to squat is only partial squat because their coaches have told them so.

[cnetate]

Atg is humbling. I cannot squat parallel! My body wants to go Atg so parallel is super awkward and therefore, I can't lift as much as another lifter. This was always a problem with me when I power lifted. I can kill it in bench and deadlift but my squat would be 80 to 100lbs lower then a competitor. But as the same time, you could look at my legs, gutes and tell they are significantly more developed then the other powerlifters. I hated that about power lifting.

[sircefiro]

An Xray of your hips should be considered for long term trainers, quite a lot of people have asymptomatic femoroacetubular impingement in which case it's usually better to not squat too deep

[vicerichter]

I was told deep squat for powerlift reps. parallel for reps and working out. But I will say this. Deep squats do improve your parallel squats because bottom-end ROM allows for more explosive pushes from bottom-end or at your low point in the rep because you need alot more strength to be able to break the bottom-end hold/lock out since you are doing it from basically a seated squat in a deficit and also it is hard on your knees. Deep squat improves your form and increase strength in the 90 degree hold for parallel squat meaning you will be able to lift heavier and without failure.

But you must train up to it.

Also you have to be made for the technique and strong for it otherwise it is a waste of time. I myself can get away with ATG 225 for reps and Im gonna say it is 100% because of my short legs while everyone else is at a disadvantage if you got long legs or long femurs and stresses your knees.

[catman]

I have arthritis in one knee and tendonitis in the other knee, and squatting ATG makes my knees feel 10 times better.

[DrakeBrunette]

I started doing multiple variations of squats a few months back and my body feels amazing for it!!! I especially love bodyweight squats with my TRX and leaning into them from different angles.