A** to Grass Squats are OVERRATED 

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No skid marks, no squat.

The only thing I still seriously scoff at is the quarter rep stuff. I see so many skinny legged guys in the gym loading up 2+ plates and barely moving that shit. If a dumb, giraffe-esque guy like me can take 3 plates below parallel, most guys should be about to figure that shit out.

My quads grew significantly when i changed to deep squats.

Parallel box squats has allowed me to squat despite my meniscus tear at the age 62.

Idk guy, I just like doing beautiful lifts. High bar atg squat is a powerful visual symphony.

we need to get Alexander and Dr. Mike in a room to chat

For wrestlers/judokas/BJJ peeps, strength in the super deep squat position is extremely useful.

After 3 years of lifting i figured every body is different so form will vary. I injured myself listening to the form police.

If I see a guy with 18 inch arms and 21 inch quads and they’re not squatting deep, I’m judging the everliving fuck out of them. Free will ends where I have to look at quarter rep squats

Depth is definitely not overrated

I started lifting too late for the online debate, but I started squatting deep out of necessity. Once I started going atg on heavy days, I had to drop a hundred pounds and relearn the squat😢, but I stopped getting knee & hip pain. Study of n=1, so take that for what you will, dear reader.

The biggest thing that usually helps my clients is squatting ATG. If anything is a benefit from squatting as low as possible, is joint health. Especially if you use bands & chains to flatten the strength curve

I squatted for a very long time. And it wasnt til i started to do ass to grass that my strength blew up. Idc what anyonw says, a2g is the best looking squat variation and engages your leg muscles in the most natural way possible.

I'm 52 and am able to squat deep. I do it for powerlifting but also because I lose that ROM if I don't practice it. I admit that there is a bit of ego because an old guy squatting deep in a commercial gym is a rarity.

"Why my squat looks like garbage. A coping video"

Strange how you see quarter squats but not quarter bench or quarter curls

I spent years freaking out over squat depth. It got to the point where it actively ruined the excercise for me. I would record, freeze frame, and just completely disregard any lift I did if my depth wasn't provably below parellel. If I didn't record the lift, the PR didn't count. I have difficulty reaching below parellel. Even at my deepest, the crest of my hip goes just barely below the tip of my knees, even without weight on the bar. (I'm very duck-footed, I can literally turn my feet backwards.) See my PFP. I started to dread squatting, because it became more about the lift looking good than about actually getting a good training stimulus. And, more importantly, enjoying my time in the gym. I would be bummed out all week if I did a set where a rep or two was a titch shallow. Lately, I've changed my mindset. I go to squat because I enjoy it. I'm not competing. How many people can rep 405 to parallel? Sure, its more impressive to rep the same weight ATG, but lifting is all about YOUR journey. YOUR progress. As long as I'm consistently progressing, getting bigger, and enjoying my time lifting, that's all that matters to me.

Lifter A vs Lifter B was an interesting time

These are the 2 factors which work best for me in squatting. 1. Do everything medium. 2. Don’t make a big fuss about it just tell yourself it’s easy no matter what you’re trying to do.

I dont get why there's such an aversion to recognizing that sometimes you need some stretching and strengthening to reach a bit more depth safely, whilst still not becoming a form purist and "functionality" fanatic, and also not going full meat head and thinking that working on mobility is always a waste of time and you should be lifting as much weight as possible. Balance is key, I obsess over the squat and wish I could go ATG just like Clarence, unfortunately my body is not the same so that might never happen but I'm still happy going a little deeper each time and seeing If I can actually gain more mobility.

Im surprised to hear you say “throw science out the window”. Definitely too far.

Well yeah, but uhhhhhh. Injury prevention of the utmost priority as a lifter gets older. You only prevent injury being strong in the deepest ranges of motion you can achieve and working your flexibility under a load

Guys, do not listen to e -beggers. stretch everyday, squat proper. Yours faithfully, Weightlifters and wrestlers.

They are 100 percent not overrated.

Bromley talks sense all the time But I don't know about this one

I high bar ass to grass squat cause I have naturally good mobility and it’s asthetic It also built my 30 inch quads, natural

Bouncing out of the bottom can be avoided by pausing for 1 sec but then they'd have to drop the weight even more. The bouncing lets them do more weight in full range of motion. I still think bouncing with full rom is better than half rom more weight

Ok now I'm a hater. Bromley used to be cool! Now it's all mass produced click bait and anti-science

Recently switched to low bar from high bar atg and it feels way stronger and way better on my hips and knees. I would highly recommend learning the techinque.

For bodybuilding, ATG squats are simply better, dude. If you can get the same stimulus with less weight on the bar, you do it. For strength, a specific ROM is more important, but in bodybuilding, you're not chasing numbers or performance. Going ATG vs parallel lets me take 20% off the bar right away, and if I'm trying to control the eccentric and keep tension at the bottom (not bouncing off my tendons), then even more.

Tom Platz would argue with you, find someone with better legs than him to back you up and I’ll believe you

A lot of guys who bomb the squats ballistically, they wind up with a serious hip injury. If

Took me nearly 18months (tight Achilles) to be able to squat deep with proper form. My back issues went away. My sciatica issues went away. My D grew thicker (not longer) and lastly the guys doing half squats started noticing my deep deep depth and got very jealous. I go deep. It took time.

Its funny how the biggest and strongest guys always have the 'worst form' according to the 'internet' gurus.

going ass to grass works for me nowadays so much that I wish I did that when I was 16 and not at old guy age

Bromley absolutely pumping out the content at the moment and I'm all for it

ATG for muscle makes most sense, considering you're contracting the muscle from the biggest stretch, it makes sense you get the best overall contraction. Same way you do dumbbells for better chest development, or even don't stop bench past leveled elbowd to get max chest stretch.

deep squats are goated because if you can squat 500lbs atg doing a parallel squat feels like cheating honestly its so much easier night and day difference

Im an Atg squatter and struggle with low bar thats why ive just started to add low bar in as well

I really enjoyed this vlog. Subscribed! In a nut shell try everything in moderation and enjoy your journey to us 99% with average body that want to live a healthy lifestyle.

When i dropped the weight and focused on getting my hip crease below my knee, I started to feel my quads way more. I would go lower, but i have shit leg hip and ankle mobility due to age and the fact that I weighed nearly 400 pounds 4 years ago.

Great stuff!!

What a coincidence - these are some of the things I've been thinking about recently. Really thought provoking. Great vid, Brom.

Good video. I think mentioning how a person's build is obviously relevant to how deep they can squat, but I also think it would be worth mentioning that getting good with a deeper squat will make you a more flexible squatter, and person in general. To me this is a big advantage of being a deep squat cultist that should be covered in addition to a hypertrophy and strength evaluation. I would consider my build on the more disadvantageous side for high bar deep squats (I'm 6'1, so not terrible), but more importantly, when I started squatting my hip and ankle mobility were trash. Once I watched a Tom Platz clinic on RU-vid and devoted my lifting life to the Quadfather, it took a while to get into a confortable position, where I could drive my knees forward enough to sink down into a squat. Once it did though, I got into a groove: my hip flexors got strong as shit, my ankles are got more and more flexible (still improving!), and I can squat down to grab a pot from under the sink in record times. As you mentioned, one should no doubt include other forms of squatting that focus on producing force in other positions for a more well rounded training approach, no argument there. But the advantages of a deep squat for unfucking an average desk worker's hips and ankles blow whatever strength specific adaptations that come from doing a box squat with a bunch of fucking chains and bands and chaos theory shit you showed out of the water. Just my two cents, anyway.

I never approach anyone at the gym to give advice except for one thing and that’s tall guys doing 3 plate quarter squats. I’m 6”3 with super long legs so I know how hard it is to start but after getting weightlifting shoes with a higher heel it changed everything.

I think the problem many of us have with partial rep squats is that we often see shallow depth because someone with subpar leg development is trying to ego lift way too much instead of reducing weight and getting full ROM. Personally, if I see a guy with huge legs doing a half squat, it doesn’t bother me at all.

I like what atg does for my knees. Zero bursitis when I run now

The Texas came out in that “Fives” 😂

I vote Clarence Kennedy.

I try to do ATG because if I start getting just to parallel then ill start adding more weight and my form will suffer because if I can only go to parallel then maybe i shouldnt lift that weight at all. Instead, improve my ATG strength and slowly get there.

I switched to High Bar for most of my Squat Work even way before I got interested in Snatch and Clean & Jerk because I got serious shin splints from my low bar experiments. in the end my knees started to feel better when I was only doing High Bar and Front Squats that's why I kept that instead of dealing with all the weird aches I got from my shitty low bar technique. could/should I have fixed my low bar? yea probably but at that point where 3 plates each side was my max low bar squat the switch to a two plate max high bar atg squat wasn't as painful on my ego as my stupid aches were, so I just rolled with it. had to work for a bit of mobility but once you have it it is laughably easy to maintain and it opened me up to other exercises and strength sports, so I guess in the end of the day it was kind of worth it, but I probably won't say that everyone needs to squat atg all the time, but just having that option to load that bottom position is kind of neat for joint health and just being able to do it doesn't mean you have to do it, then again, why would you then need to be able to do it if you don't do it? kind of a catch 22. TL;DR do what feels good and greases the groove, your 40+ year old self will thank you later

Atg squats are sports specific, not overrated

General fitness means general tolerances. I think everyone got super specific with the rise of raw powelifting and its unnecessary for most people.

If you are powerlifting should you always focus on depth on every rep? Or would it be more advantageous to have specific sets dedicated to ensuring competition depth?

I’m old, I keep squatting deep so I can squat to shit if I ever need to

Thank you for this video, this at least puts my mind at ease that my "just below the parallel" squat is ok

QUESTION - INJURY PREVENTION - by not going full ROM on heavy lifts, what are the implications to injury prevention? Does the benefits of less danger outweigh whatever benefits you might gain from going deep? Thanks!

I do my squats high bar, narrow stance, paused, ass to grass. Due to an injury this is now my strongest range of motion. Injury was a broken femur, torn rotator cuff, and broken wrist from a motorcycle crash, so squatting with a wide stance is now very painful on my right leg even only to parallel, and the result of the torn cuff was that even 6 months post surgery I can no longer get my shoulder into the low bar position, so high bar it is. Somehow, despite all that, I'm stronger now with high bar, narrow, ATG squats than I ever was with low bar wide stance parallels. When I eventually get back into a powerlifting meet I'll probably be one of the few people at my local meets squatting ATG high bar which is kind of cool. Still agree with the message here though, super extreme ass to grass rom isn't for everybody and isn't really super useful especially for training for powerlifting. Can be a lot more useful for bodybuilders though.

As long as I hit parallel I'm good

I dont even go parallel. Due to work injuries to the rear of my pelvic area when i round my butt with anything over 155 lbs, i will instantly drop. So i pretty much stop around 90° at my knees. It doesnt stop me from squatting, i love squatting and feel a tiny bit self conscious about my depth.

Thanks dude. I needed this.

I go deep on squats but here is a question: Why is it frowned upon to bounce a bench press off your chest ( which it should be) but not frowned upon to bounce a squat off of your calves?

I agree alot with this. I always did squats and pause squats (2 second pauses). But I feared doing a squat at 90 degrees because I knew it would be hard for me to stop the weight. There would be zero stretch.

It was a very long time before I accepted that my long legs, short torso body structure was not meant to squat low for quad gains. So, I lowered the weight significantly, raised my heels up. After squatting heels up for 1 year, my legs grew from 24 to 30 inches

I love a** to grass. I had to get rid of my ego but it was the best thing for me. never felt better, stronger, and more mobile. But I understand sport specific types of squats too

every evidence based guy I follow would also ask for context about 5 vs 8 and would probably say for size there's no difference 5-50 reps close to failure, not that I 100% agree with that take either but bit of a straw man

All I know is that my legs are bigger now squatting less load through a full ROM than they used to be squatting heavier at PL comp. depth.

The main counter I have to the sport range-specific approach is that in a field sport that has live opposition, a live, uncontrolled ball etc, the athlete may not always have complete control of what position they may find themselves in and need to be strong in. So I would still advise keeping *some* deeper squats in the program, sometimes.

My opinion with squats: Front squats or zerchers ATG, with pause and controlled eccentric, are probably the best variant to include in a routine for most, both for strength and growth. "Real world" lifting often requires getting deep to the ground with a vertical torso when doing a proper squat. If you can lean forward, you'll be more likely to be doing a deadlift motion than a squat anyways. Being able to fight against the forward torso lean and exert power through the legs despite that is, therefore, an ideal strength builder if your goal isn't specifically to build strength on the barbell movements. In addition to that, they serve as a better compliment to posterior chain work like heavy jefferson curls or romanians than back squats, which can often turn into "Good mornings with knee bend." The pause helps build that strength out of the hole, so that you don't become reliant on the stretch reflex. I don't need to explain the controlled eccentric, that's self evident. Ideally, you'd pair these with Cossack squats and deep lunges. While specificity for whatever your particular goals are is important, I think most people can build a leg routine around a main base of front squats, romanians, cossacks, and lunges and be just about set.

Interesting. I do ATG only and it sucks, this kind of is giving me justification to incorporate box squat and slightly below parallel one 😂😊 thank you!

@13:45- that may actually be a below parallel squat. Squats can look high from that camera angle/behind the lifter.

What I found the best for me is to squat as deep as possible just on the verge of rounding the lower back. I know I can go all the way down as I can easily sit on an asian squat for minutes, but if there's a big load on my back, my QL will be really pissed.

Amazing word density and information overload as usual.

I have severe osteoarthritis in right knee it only bends to 110degrees. So i can squat to just above parralel 😢

Saying deep squats will get you better results than shallow squats is like saying more training will get you better raults than less training. The real question is, "what are sacrificing for it?". For most people, it's consistency and patience. They will skip the whole day od gym just because of that.

I would say that training both atg and parallel it's valuable and find it's place. I think both offer benefits in a sense. Developing the mobility and using it just because you can of squatting all the way down it's cool if you like it or value it. However as you say isn't the only way to bend the knees fully and probably there's a better approach for that sake. I find for strength parallel to the floor it's better than atg.

Can’t back squat anymore fractured my spine and have DDD but always went as low as I could now I’m doing front squats seems not to agro my lover back but still try to go as low as I can

0:51 Man, the nostalgia... Back in those days I remember buying so many of those magazines and using them for discussion/debate material with my Dad and my best friends. 😅😂

I used to do ATG but had to stop due to worsening hip impingement. Yes it does make you feel "hardcore" but it's not worth it for everyone, especially as you age. Honestly wish I had changed up sooner.

never thought i'd see big z in yoga pants lmao

I get a lot more hypertrophy when I go lower. I also have stubby legs though.

ATG IS NOT NECESSARY!! However, I squat close or to ATG cuz at parallels or slightly above it , hurts my knees. I tried at parallel and it was a no go.

Well, except for competitive powerlifters and maybe strogman nobady needs to squat, though if you can I do think depth and technique should cone first, once solid progress like any other lift,if 200lb for sets of 10 is all you'll ever need I certainly think that will boost your longevity, though for muscle growth in the short to mid term it will be a very slight difference, even after years it might be only noticeable under stage conditions in direct comparison to you're twin/clone.

I think Ripp has it right in that anything below effective depth is counter productive.

I think it’s good staying around parallel and adding a secondary exercise like hack and hip belt squats to go deeper to prevent injuries. It will keep you squatting long term. Especially for guys over 5’10”. ATG comes with a lot of leaning forward for most. Same guys calling out people are leaning over to get the weight up. Nothing like a true Olympic squat.

The Seedman footage had me rollin 🤣🤣

Going parallel might be the best option cause pasr that point some other musles could get more involved like glutes or adducturs.

scientific literature has shown that all muscles benefit from the weighted stretch, hence why for those focused on hypertrophy the deeper the squat the better. If you just want to move weight for a powerlifting meet then sure, just hit the minimal depth they ask and lift as much as possible. To say ATG squats are overrated are either for click bait or just stupid and close minded.

I've always thought parallel-ish with a little wiggle room. You can't apply competitive standards to a non-competitor in a permanent off season anyway. Works for me.

Well since caffeine will build tolerance anyway, i guess take some caffeine before leg day should be a pretty good idea.

Shout out to Will Ferrell at 10:00 repping it out on the leg press! LOL

Majority of people want to gain muscle to look good, aka hypertrophy training. You want to get a deep stretch in the hole of a squat to get the most activation of your legs and glutes, so going ass to grass is the best route to take.

At least most S&C coaches who supported half squats had a good reason and some shaky evidence to support it.

But why does more range of motion equal more size? What is the mechanism?

This argument could also apply to bench presses. There is a benefit to doing 3, 4, 5 board presses or cambered bar presses. I say do them all to fill in all the gaps. And, do the same for DLs...different height deficits, low rack pulls, high rack pulls, & lockouts. Training them progressive then switch it up to something "the same but different."

Props to alex! A family that lifts together stays together!

As a 6’8” guy with long femurs… thank you

Your bouncing argument kind of makes sense until you go and watch weightlifters high-bar pause squatting without belts on. They are just the superior squatters unfortunately

Me over here just trying to crush a few watermelons. I lol’d at the human forklift comment. Also shoutout to all the HS strength coaches getting some advice from papa Bromley to help their budding strongmen.