Exercise, Strength Training

February 4, 2010

Are Full Squats Bad for Your Knees?

I recently was asked to write a paper for the NSCA Hot Topic series, and decided to address one of the most controversial subjects in the fitness field: namely, are full squats bad for your knees? As I detailed in the article, the answer is no, deep squats do not pose increased risk of injury to the knees *provided* you have no existing knee issues. Without question, deep squats may be contraindicated for those with knee pathology depending on the extent of the injury (it should be noted that any exercise may contraindicated because of injury). If you fall into this category, a qualified physician specializing in sports medicine should be able to assess what you can and can’t do. Otherwise, squat depth should not be an issue from an injury perspective. In fact, the deeper range of the squat is actually protective of many of the knee structures!

Assuming you have healthy knee function, what you should in fact consider with respect to squat depth are your goals. Deep squats have relevance to various sports, as well as many activities of daily living. These are powerful reasons why you would be well served by squatting as low as possible, at least on some of your sets. What’s more, glute involvement increases the lower you go in a squat. This means that if you want to maximize the development of your butt, then deep squats are highly beneficial. On the other hand, quadriceps development is greatest squatting to parallel. So if you are most concerned with developing your frontal thighs, deep squats might not be a necessity.

The bottom line is, don’t be afraid to squat low as long as you don’t have any existing knee problems. Make a decision based on your goals, not fear of injury. If you’re interested in reading about the science on the topic, you can check out my Hot Topic article at the link below.

The Biomechanics of Squat Depth

Stay Fit!

Brad