The truth about bodyweight squats

Hi,
can anyone tell me the truth about bodyweight squats??
Some people say that it injures the knees after a while!?
Matt furey in one of his e-books that I foubd said the following:

I have heard from other sources that many of the great hindu wrestlers

develpoed knee problems later in life.Use caution with overdoing these. In a

recent interview with ken shamrok (maybe frank, not sure) he said 250 was the
most you should do to get the conditioning benefits, but without knee problems.

so what do you think?
any opinions are welcome
thank you

 

OK, from what I've heard the issue isn't with all bodyweight squats, it's with hindu squats specifically. Personally, I only do normal air squats because I believe they are a better exercise, but anyway:
I've heard the issue that some people have with hindu squats is that the knee goes in front of the toes when you do them, as opposed to regular squats where they are supposed to be kept behind. In theory. In practice, I find it difficult to keep the knee behind the toes when you're doing regular squats all the way down in any case.
Personally, I haven't heard anything that convinces me that doing bodyweight squats will give you knee problems.

 

Everyday millions of people across the world do a full range body weight squat to go to the toilet, to eat food, to prepare food, to tend fires, to make tools and artifacts.
Their knees are fine.

However if you are overweight and start into doing full range squats after 30 years of living in the western world, sitting on chairs and rarely taking your knees past 90 degrees of bend then I'd say you might get problems.

I feel that many of the bad knees in martial arts from the old days were more down to repeated hard kicking in the air (striking arts) and the twisting while under load when throwing (Judo) rather than bunny hops, full range squats etc.

To each their own I think. Take them steady away, build gradually and I'd say they would make you knees better not worse.

 

if you are having problems keeping the knees behind the toes try doing some kneeing squats.....the gets you used to the way you are supposted to move. cause knee cant get in front of toes (or move forward for that matter)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8-XJjai5Hq0&feature=related

 

thanks everyone
any more opinions are more than welcome

 

mai tai, you beat me to it

If you're doing proper Ass-to-Grass squats your knees should not go in front of your toes. If they do, your form is bad and you will develop knee pain.

I've personally not heard anything about BW squats causing knee pains, again, form is important and consider the other activities/exercises you are doing that could also be causing knee pain.

 

And bare feet or flat shoes or even negative heel shoes will help you get that proper form to start with.

 

Since ive started trying to do single leg squats my knee and back pain has gone. I try to keep neutral spine though.

 

I had not thought about the half squat good idea.

I do have a bad knee it was hurt as in reversed. I do full rang squats mainly because it helps the knee, not have so much pain by keeping the muscle strong.

 

Ah right, cheers.

 

ok, so how do you manage not to fall on your ass on an ATG squat?

 

well, if you're having difficulty you can practice by doing ATG squats holding onto the back of a chair, then gradually wean yourself off.

 

cool, thanks, but my problem is more like i CAN do the squats, but my range of motion does not allow me to maintain good balance while doing them properly(I.E, my shins end up vertical and i fall on my ass). is that normal or should i work on my ankle flexibility?

 

I dunno. I think it's normal- just to clarify, we're talking about trying to squat 'back' rather than 'down' at the bottom of the motion?

 

what do you mean?

 

I mean, are you trying to hold your shins vertically, or..?

 

Anyway, if you're doing what I think you're doing, The trick is to squat as low as you can and hold the position for a length of time to build up the muscles used in that position, and then over time squat lower and lower.

 

nonono, not at all, i try to squat down, but i can't seem to bring my knees forward, and i fall backwards, even if i manage to do the full squat; as soon as i stop lowering my self i fall on my ass.

 

Hmmmm. Probably a flexibility thing. Somebody more knowledgable than me will be along in a minute.

 

The site below is a great resource for exercise physiology.
I've linked to an article about squats. Although they are referring to weight squats, the same would apply to bodyweight squats.
http://exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html