How deep do you need to squat? If you watch some of the greatest Mr. Olympias squat in the videos posted later in this article, you will find that most of them were not deep squatters. In contrast, if you are training for powerlifting competitions, your thighs should descend at least to parallel, and the top surface of your leg at the hip joint must descend lower than the top of your knees. Jonnie Candito is a classic example of a powerlifter who can perform rock bottom squats with a lot of weight.
Jonnie Candito Deep Squats
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Not everyone can hit rock bottom depth like Jonnie Candito. If you are a bodybuilder, you must ask yourself if it is beneficial to reach rock bottom depth, or if it is even necessary to reach parallel. There are some athletes and bodybuilders who feel obligated to squat as low as possible in order to attain full leg development. However, you can refrain from all the talk and philosophy about how to perform squats, and simply observe the actual performance of several Mr. Olympias when doing their squat workouts. If you do this, you will find that they seem to be more comfortable with a moderate squat depth as opposed to squatting as low as possible.
Squat Depth of Mr. Olympias
These same Mr. Olympias who only use a moderate squat depth may use a deeper squat in conjunction with hack squats, Smith Machine squats, front squats, and various dumbbell squats, but when doing traditional barbell back squats, the idea appears to be to keep the stress on the front quads more than to go as low as possible. This seems to be true of six Mr. Olympia’s including:
Phil Heath: 7 time winner of the Mr. Olympia as of this writing
Ronnie Coleman: 8 time winner of the Mr. Olympia
Arnold Schwarzenegger: 7 time winner of the Mr. Olympia
Lee Haney: 8 time winner of the Mr. Olympia
Jay Cutler: 4 time winner of the Mr. Olympia
Dorian Yates: 7 time winner of the Mr. Olympia
These six Mr. Olympias account for 41 years of Mr. Olympia wins. The following videos demonstrate the preferred squat depth of each Mr. Olympia listed:
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Phil Heath: 7 time Mr. Olympia
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Ronnie Coleman: 8 time Mr. Olympia
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Arnold Schwarzenegger: 7 time Mr. Olympia
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The next video shows a picture of Arnold doing deep squats starting at starting at 38 seconds. Notice that Arnold’s heels are propped up on a block to allow increased squat depth.
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Lee Haney: 8 time winner of Mr. Olympia
Fast Forward to 9:20 to see Lee;s first set of squats, and 10:50 to see his second set
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Jay Cutler: 4 time Mr. Olympia
Jay starts squatting at 12:50 in the video.
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Dorian Yates: 7 time Mr. Olympia
Fast Forward to 4:02 to view Dorian’s Squats
Most of the Mr. Olympias appear to be focused on keeping the lifting stress on their quads instead of trying sit back into a deep squat like a lot of powerlifters do. Jay Cutler squats fairly deep with lighter weighs, but not as deep with heavier weights. Arnold squats very deep when he places a board under his heals, but not as deep when squatting flat footed. Ronnie Coleman was involved with competitive powerlifting before turning completely to bodybuilding. Out of all of the Mr. Olympias in the videos, Ronnie probably has the deepest squat depth when squatting flat footed with heavy weights. His squat depth is fairly deep, but not super deep. Hopefully you can see from the videos that most of the Mr. Olympias were not deep squatters when doing back squats, yet they still attained fantastic leg development. Of course they all used a huge variety of exercises to develop their legs, and some of them didn’t squat that often.
The bottom line is that if you are not a competitive powerlifter, do you really need to achieve maximum depth on your squats when you train? If your knees, hips, or back bother you from doing deep squats, you may find relief by simply squatting with less depth. You may also find that you feel stronger, safer, and healthier by using less squat depth. There may be some lifters who accuse you of cheating because you are not squatting as deep as possible. Don’t feel obligated to listen to them. If your goal is to develop stronger legs without aches and pains, you can do it without deep squatting. A more sensible approach is to to find a comfortable squat depth and stick with it. Some people will probably warn you about losing mobility, but you can go deep with bodyweight squats, light squats, belt squats, and kettlebell squats; you don’t have to do deep barbell squats with heavy weights to maintain full mobility.
At this point, I want to make it clear that I am in no way saying that I am against deep squats. If you are a bodybuilder, an athlete, or a recreational lifter, you can do deep squats if that is your preference, but what if deeps squats bother your knees, hips, or back? I believe you can still achieve tremendous benefits if you choose to squat with less than full depth, and you shouldn’t feel as though you are cheating if you do. Best of training to you.
Resources
Why deep squatting is not for everyone, and how individual differences effect squat depth:
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