I do strictly low weight....body weight, weighted vest, thrusters w/ 95 lbs...and I go down as far as my body mechanics allow me to go naturally (without having to "pull" my ass down further, if that makes sense). It's pretty well below parallel.

Ass to grass (edit: of course that doesn't mean sacrifice form. As low as possible)

Unless you have someone checking each rep it's hard to tell parallel when you get fatigued. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all"

Full range of motion and strength throughout that movement is what I want. And you don't risk looking like the bro doing 1/4 reps.

I go super deep on my squats. It's just easier mentally for me to go as deep as I can with good form and not be worrying if I hit parallel or if I went deep enough. Deep squatting allows me to know I had a good rep every time and I don't have to worry about depth when I'm lifting heavy. Honestly, it's easier to get back up for me rather than trying to determine when to stop and start heading back up.

I go as deep as I can comfortably go. Beginning of my leg day it's at about parallel, as I warm up and get looser I increase the weight and start going deeper. By the end it's pretty much ATG. It feels more natural to me than stopping before. But I've also been doing it like this for years when I thought the only way to squat was ATG.

I also think deeper squats help keep your hamstrings loose.

After my knee surgery, the surgeon said never squat below parallel.

I only squat once a week now and through videoing myself/mirrors have mastered going right above parallel. Have never had knee pain since my surgery six years ago so that personally works for me. But everyone is different.

I alternate weeks with front/back squat as well as occasional thrusters/goblet squats in my after workout burner.

what kind of knee surgery? I've had a couple knee surgeries too, not related to weight lifting.

Woods Ag said:

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what kind of knee surgery? I've had a couple knee surgeries too, not related to weight lifting.

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Meniscus with stem cells. Nothing major. Prior to the surgery I couldn't run more then one mile without intense knee pain and after have been pain free.

I am not a doctor and you should do what you feel most comfortable doing.

I would think that your knee would be perfectly fine going below parallel. I tore 80% of one of my meniscus' that healed over time. I've also had complete MCL tears, scopes, and an ACL reconstruction all on the same knee. Good rehab and you should be as close to 100% as anyone could tell from the outside. I would think a full squat that you worked up to would be beneficial to break up any scar tissue because of the surgery and it would feel better over time.

Do what makes you feel comfortable, but some doctors give broad recommendations rather than individualized. Like he should have probably told a 75 year old man with the same injury not to go below parallel anymore, but a healthy man in his prime is going to be fine. And there is nothing wrong with going just to parallel, I just dont think there should be a restriction.

My apologies if this was unsolicited.

Woods Ag said:

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I am not a doctor and you should do what you feel most comfortable doing.

I would think that your knee would be perfectly fine going below parallel. I tore 80% of one of my meniscus' that healed over time. I've also had complete MCL tears, scopes, and an ACL reconstruction all on the same knee. Good rehab and you should be as close to 100% as anyone could tell from the outside. I would think a full squat that you worked up to would be beneficial to break up any scar tissue because of the surgery and it would feel better over time.

Do what makes you feel comfortable, but some doctors give broad recommendations rather than individualized. Like he should have probably told a 75 year old man with the same injury not to go below parallel anymore, but a healthy man in his prime is going to be fine. And there is nothing wrong with going just to parallel, I just dont think there should be a restriction.

My apologies if this was unsolicited.

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All advice is good advice and many thanks.

I def have a gun shy attitude after my knee surgery and tearing my pec at work which was a much worse surgery. I quit crossfit after that one (even though crossfit wasn't to blame for my injury)

My pec surgery was three years ago and am just now starting to do some aggressive WOD type workouts after lifting on my own. Lots of thrusters and box jumps so really attacking my knee. I def go pretty low with thrusters although I stick with 40-45 lb dumbbells so not that heavy.

With my low bar squat I couldn't do ATG without getting pretty severe butt wink. I aim to just break parallel.

ass to grass is good to imagine but pretty poor form. once you get too low you are taking pressure off your legs and putting it on your lower back and hips. plus i found for me that stopping at parallel or slightly lower is more difficult than going all the way down

Aggie_Boomin 21 said:

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With my low bar squat I couldn't do ATG without getting pretty severe butt wink. I aim to just break parallel.

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This. Low bar good form = parallel, High bar = ATG.

I find that people that picked up lifting later in life most often high bar squat. I recently changed from low to high and it is much easier to go ATG.