Greg Doucette: ATG Squats are dangerous.

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

I always thought "the deeper, the better".

That's what she said

Doing any weight lifting exercise incorrect can be dangerous.

If you have the hip and ankle mobility to do ATG squats while maintaining your torso and not having a pelvic tilt or "butt wink" then sure....MAYBE ATG is fine.

But more often than not the lifter will "butt wink" somewhere around parallel to just below.

But then you have to ask yourself....what is the purpose of the lift I am doing? If you are an Olympic lifter then squatting ATG has benefits as that is going to be close to your catch position. If you are a Powerlifter then you want hip crease below top of the knee. If you want something more directly transferable to sport then a 1/4 squat will also work (take a video of yourself trying to jump as high as you can and notice your drop into a semi-squat). If you're trying to develop strength in a healthy range of motion then perform a squat in whatever range of motion your mobility allows.

Alan