Ass to Grass Squats Vrs Parallel Squats
Throughout the professional fitness community, you will often meet professional who claim you must never go past parallel in your squats (90* depth advocates). In contrast to these people, you will often meet others in the professional community who dismiss this ‘restrictive’ notion, and argue that the body is organic and supple and strong and should comfortably be able to hit an ass to grass squat whatever the weight be.
I would argue that both of these views are wrong and that there is a middle ground that must be acknowledged and understood before programming sets, reps and weights for barbell squats.
The body can indeed squat to depth. Even with weight. However that is not to suggest the average person should be regularly hitting Ass-To-Grass squats with the heaviest sets they are capable of. Imagine asking a powerlifter to squat his or her 1 rep max that they usually perform to parallel but this time, to full depth. They’d snap in half. Yet they are incredibly strong athletes who regularly prove the benefits of heavy 90* squats to the body.
Yet the relationship between those who squat to full depth safely and correctly and the reduced risk of lumbar and hip issues is also well documented. As I said, there is a time and place for both.
This is why, when programming, I specifically ensure that my clients have both a conservative but technically correct 1 rep max to depth, and a heavier 1 rep max to parallel. This way they are not losing out on either strength nor mobility.
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