Squats

It seems that almost anyone who is a serious lifter will rank squats as the number one exercise to build strength and power. I didn't start to focus on squats until I was about 21 years-old when I used my older brothers squat rack. At the time, I did full squats with my rear-end touching my calves. I was explosive and the knee issues that I had up until that point seemed to disappear. When I went away to college, I didn't perform one squat for 2 years. When I was 23 years-old, I badly injured my left knee; I woke up one morning and I just couldn't bend it. A few days earlier at my parents' house, I got in my brother's squat rack and, without warming up, tried lifting weights close to the amount that I was using 2 years earlier. I remember my knee feeling funny when I was done, but didn't think anything of it. A couple of days after that, I went to play basketball and my knee felt even funnier after I went up and dunked it a couple of times. Then, as mentioned, I couldn't bend my knee the next morning.

Well, money was tight for my wife and me so I didn't get it checked out. To this day, I still can't jump with max effort off that leg or else it stiffens up on me.

From that point forward, even though there was a nice gym at the college I transferred to, I stayed away from squats because I thought they were the cause of my knee troubles. I performed leg presses and leg extension instead and stayed away from anything that even looked like a squat rack. When I purchased the Science of Jumping program when I was 25 years-old, I added heavy deadlifts to my routine and saw some nice progress in my vertical leap. After I graduated from college and we built our home, I purchased an Olympic weight set and power rack...but I still refused to squat.

My older brother, over this period of time, kept trying to convince me to try squatting again. I finally gave in after I read his copy of Beyond Bodybuilding by Pavel Tsatsouline. I used Pavel's squatting techniques and liked that I could squat, with correct form, without any knee pain. I then incorporated squats into my routines but never saw any real gains until I used Stronglifts by Mehdi. After some time, I finally used the Madocw intermediate program and got my 5 rep squat up to a PR of 370 pounds. That progress was derailed by hernia surgery; had I been able to stay on the program, I'm sure I would've pushed my 5 rep PR up to 400 pounds.

Right now, I am again using Madcow and, based on the program's predictions, could get my 5 rep PR up to 420 pounds with a 1 rep max of 473 pounds. I hope I can stay with it this time.

Here are some personal tips that I follow when I squat:

• I squat to or just below parallel. Anything higher isn't a real squat and anything lower is hard on my knee. I have tried dropping the weight to allow me to squat deeper, but my progress is always hampered by knee pain. I use a sleeping bag to let me know when I am low enough. 
• I wear knee sleeves. These keep my knees warm and pain free. I don't feel like they increase the amount of weight I can lift other than the fact that I can lift without pain. Mark Rippetoe, in his book Starting Strength, suggested that a knee wrap does not significantly increase weight lifted unless it is so tight that it cuts off circulation to your lower leg and needs to be removed inbetween sets. 
• I high-bar squat with the bar resting on top of my scapulae. I've tried low-bar squats, but my shoulders are so tight that it hurts both during the set and for a day after. 
• I keep my chest spread and and my sternum raised like I'm trying to show off my pecs.
• I arch my back naturally and take in a deep breath, bracing my abs like someone is going to punch me. I also wear a belt to protect my back. My abs, over time, have actually become stronger and more solid since I started wearing belt (Rippetoe explains why this happens in his book Starting Strength).
• Before each set, I grab the bar for balance and then lower myself into my lowest position. I move my feet around, make sure my thighs are angled out so that I don't develop hip impingement, my feet out pointed out no more than 30 degrees, and then find my groove. This is the position I will squat down to with each set.
• I explode my hip upward as soon as I hit the bottom position and keep driving upwards so that the weight feels like it may shoot off my shoulders. 

I love squats. I just wish that I hadn't stayed away from them for as long as I did.

C