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If you do the squat to parallel or do the eccentric part of the squat too fast then less muscle is activated and the stress of the movement is concentrated in and around the knee. The quads, cartilage and ligaments all bear the brunt of the weight whereas the glutes and hamstrings bear little.

The deep squat is beneficial because below parallel the glutes and hamstrings are fully activated in the concentric and eccentric phases.

Forming the biggest muscles in the body the glutes and hamstrings play a crucial role in protecting the knees by absorbing shock/stresses that would otherwise cause wear and tear of the knee.

There are two camps out there one that says deep squatting is good for you and one that says it is not. In both camps there are medical professionals with a lorry load of qualifications. I don’t have a medical qualification to back up my understanding of the benefits of the deep squat so I reserve the right to be completely and utterly wrong. LOL!

I’ve been doing squats for a long time. I have no pain issues with them. My concern is causing unrepairable damage to the cartilage in my knee.

Developing muscle around the knee joint definitely helps reduce wear and tear on cartilage. The head physio I referenced supports that. However, she made it clear that when you squat below parallel, there is nothing that your muscle can do to absorb the shock–you are grinding your knee joint into your cartilage.

This is a concern regardless of strength, stance, or hip mobility.

There are a couple of factors one needs to consider in what seems on the face of it a natural move. Things such as limb length, hip mobility, foot positioning and the amount of weight used.

Take my house mate and I we are the same height but he has a longer body whereas I have longer legs. His deep squat looks different to mine, e.g. his feet don’t point out as much. If I try to squat like him and vice versa it feels awkward especially in the knee department. So one can’t look at how another person squats and straight copy it or just deep squat without picking the move apart you have got to experiment. The onus is on the squatter to keep adjusting their position until they find the right stance that’ll enable them to squat deep and pain free.

Cartilage and ligament will wear over time but having strong muscles will slow down the process by acting as shock absorbers. And the deep squat done right and tailor made will build strong leg muscles like no other exercise.

If you have problems with cartillages and ligaments stay away from squats and do leg strengthening pilates exercises until you feel strong enough to squat. Or if you are just exercising for general fitness and or fun and your ligaments and cartillages are still weak after a long dose of pilates just don’t bother doing deep squats at all! As Chip says “we’re de-evolving from that ability” so it won’t put you at any major real world disadvantage by not doing them and it’s better to be safe than sorry!