Squats with short legs

[jsunderland]

This isn't so much a question as a bit of a vent. But augh, man. I have ridiculously short legs, it's almost cartoonish how small they are compared to the rest of me. Which makes doing squats (proper ones anyways) so, SO difficult! I have a hard time not going all the way down the to floor. Any advice on this? Does anyone else suffer the perils of short little legs like I do?

[161803398874989]

It's harder to get down to the floor if you have long femurs, so when you have longer legs, actually. Your issue is most likely one of flexibility. Just squat as far as you can.

[Waldo]

Which makes doing squats (proper ones anyways) so, SO difficult! I have a hard time not going all the way down the to floor. Any advice on this?

? If I am reading this right, are you sure you are doing squats right? You should be going as low as possible, not stopping part way down.

Short legs are a major advantage when it comes to stacking plates on the bar. The shorter lever arms put a lot less resistance on the muscles at a given weight. Same thing with t-rex arms and the bench. Short armed people can lift way more weight at a given strength than long armed people.

You can see this in action at the NFL scouting combine. Every year all the freaky long armed elite LT prospects get their butts kicked on the bench by the stubby armed G prospects. The long armed guys are doing good with 20-25 reps of 225, the stubbies max out at 35+, sometimes even in the 40's.

[jsunderland]

? If I am reading this right, are you sure you are doing squats right? You should be going as low as possible, not stopping part way down.

Short legs are a major advantage when it comes to stacking plates on the bar. The shorter lever arms put a lot less resistance on the muscles at a given weight. Same thing with t-rex arms and the bench. Short armed people can lift way more weight at a given strength than long armed people.

You can see this in action at the NFL scouting combine. Every year all the freaky long armed elite LT prospects get their butts kicked on the bench by the stubby armed G prospects. The long armed guys are doing good with 20-25 reps of 225, the stubbies max out at 35+, sometimes even in the 40's.

You're supposed to go til your thighs are parallel to the floor, right? That's what I drew from everything I've watched/read. My issue is that I have a hard time staying put at parallel, and not accidentally dropping all the way down til I smack my heels into my butt (or fall on my ass, haha).

Definitely good to hear about the arms though, cause they're short too!

[notanartmajor]

That is a problem unrelated to the length of your legs I believe. It sounds like you're just dropping down rather than controlling the weight as you should. Try some sets with lower or no weight and pay close attention to what you're doing and how it feels. You should feel in control of the motion at all times.

[jsunderland]

That is a problem unrelated to the length of your legs I believe. It sounds like you're just dropping down rather than controlling the weight as you should. Try some sets with lower or no weight and pay close attention to what you're doing and how it feels. You should feel in control of the motion at all times.

Aah, that sounds like it may be it. I'm just starting out on the beginner body weight circuit, and squats have been the most difficult thing for me so far. I'll bear this in mind for the future, I'm sure that level of control will come to me more easily in time.

[Crizomaticus]

Agreed with the guy that's not an art major. I won't go into range of motion (some think you should drop all the way, some think to parallel) but regardless you should be able to control it. No shame in dropping the weight.

Even body weight only is fine, what kinda weight/reps are you doing?

[Waldo]

Squats should be all the way down. Any respected source on properly performing the exercise will tell you so. My built in strain guages (knee tendonitis) confirm that parallel squats are worse on the knees than all the way down. All the way down though are harder at a given weight; they aren't brosquats.

[jsunderland]

Agreed with the guy that's not an art major. I won't go into range of motion (some think you should drop all the way, some think to parallel) but regardless you should be able to control it. No shame in dropping the weight.

Even body weight only is fine, what kinda weight/reps are you doing?

I'm a complete newbie at it (Just started a week ago!) so I'm building my way up to a single circuit with the body weight workout. Today I did 6 squats, doing my best to add one more each workout day. No weights so far, just straight up body weight. Eventually I'll work my way up to the full three circuits, 20 squats each time.

[chairohkey]

If you low-bar, squats shoud be below parallel, hip crease below knee. No need to go ass to ankles.

[Crizomaticus]

Agree with everyone saying to go below parallel. Just stick with it at body weight. Try slow controlled down, and explode up driving with your heels. It'll get easier. Doing one more each time is perfect.

[eco2pia]

Please pardon the hijack...if you low-bar is it that the center of gravity is closer to your own that makes going deeper better? Why does where the bar is held affect the depth of the squat?

And I will attest, my whiny knees approve of lower squats, but my thighs PROTEST! Climbing out of that hole is still really hard with any weight worth mentioning. Patience, Grasshopper.

I will now return you to your regular programming....

[ebm1224]

thread hijack part 2! i've never gone lower than parallel...and i don't know if i could (esp now that i've started working with the barbell). does anyone have a video of themselves (or someone) doing this? i'm having a really hard time picturing myself doing that...and i can't seem to find any good youtube videos.

[jsunderland]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm definitely gonna try out the lower squats on friday

[Crizomaticus]

thread hijack part 2! i've never gone lower than parallel...and i don't know if i could (esp now that i've started working with the barbell). does anyone have a video of themselves (or someone) doing this? i'm having a really hard time picturing myself doing that...and i can't seem to find any good youtube videos.

People will critique squats all day long, but that's pretty much what you'd look to do.

Here's Mark Rippetoe talking about the squat: http://youtu.be/kawBY5p29fQ (this man knows what he's talking about, don't let his appearance fool you)

[chairohkey]

Here's a good primer on the different squats.

http://vimeo.com/4772650

[notanartmajor]

A tip for controlling your descent: Pretend you're sitting back into a chair you can't see.

[thatgirljj]

Squats should be all the way down. Any respected source on properly performing the exercise will tell you so. My built in strain guages (knee tendonitis) confirm that parallel squats are worse on the knees than all the way down. All the way down though are harder at a given weight; they aren't brosquats.

Oh good! So I'm not the only one who's knees HATE stopping at parallel.

Agreed though, JSunderland if you're new to this you should be lowering with control rather than just dropping down.

-jj

[wildross]

Another tip I got from Riptoe is to start thinking about going up before you hit bottom. Down and up with control. I did them way to fast when I started.