squat and lat questions

[Jawbone]

When I squat, I go down all the way until I cannot go further. I was told this is "going in the hole"; however, another guy said that it was too deep and should be called "going in the grave". My question is: Is it possible that going too deep is bad?? Do you use more muscle going just till the thighs are level with the floor? After doing both it seems like it would be better going deep. But I have to admit that stopping the weight at mid lift is somewhat hard too.

I have also been doing some squats(deep) on a Smith machine with my feet slightly out in front of me to make sure my back is out of the lift and focus on the thighs. Any opinions about this. I want to make sure that the time and pain of doing legs is best used.

Finally, what exercises hit the lower lats well? Everything I do seems to get the mid and upper portions but not were it ties into the waist.

Thanks

 

[DDP189]

i have heard two differing schools of thought on going real deep on squats... one is that going deeper than 90 degrees puts alot of strain on your knees, and since i dont have the greatest knees, i only go to 90, maybe i tiny bit more. if your a$$ is hittin' your heels, the risk is outweighing the benefit in my opinion, but thats me.
peace bro
DDP

 

[SkedMedz]

During a squat of any type, your knee ligaments are most vulnerable to injury at the point between the concentric and eccentric portion of the lift. This is the point where there is little muscle support involved and all the weight is on the ligaments itself as a result. That was one of the areas that was covered on the NSCA-CPT exam that I recently took. It seems that no matter how low you go, the knee is vulnerable at that point. Point is to be carefull. Personally, I feel a TON of knee stress when I go below parallell if I am going heavy. I still go low on hack squats, but I also go WAY WAY light. I also make sure that I don't pause or lock out at the top. That makes for a decent pump, given the lack of weight and the need to go with more reps as a direct result of that. It also takes away any knee stress I would have. I suppose the question is(and this is what separates a knee injury from no knee injury) is how much weight/stress can a specific persons ligaments take, during the transfer from negative to positive.

 

[A-rod]

I feel no greater strain on my knees when i go past paralel , i use a wider stance because it`s more confortable to squat deeper ........

 

[DEVILtrainer666]

ive never gotten hurt from squats . of course you must warm up/pyramid the heavy days for sure !