If you are beyond 50 years, it’s likely you’ve been taught to perform squats incorrectly. The standard was to never go deeper than legs parallel to the ground. Anything deeper than that was said to “ruin your knees.”

Stopping knee flexion at that pressure point creates unnecessary stress for the knees, lower back, and other joints. Thankfully, more people are discovering that full flexion of all joints is healthy.

During compression, such as squatting, synovial fluid is squeezed out of the cartilage. During decompression, such as standing up from a squat, the fluid is drawn back into the cartilage, bringing with it oxygen, nutrients, and lubrication.

Just about any movement that activates the knees, ankles and hips is going to activate this process. However, the ATG split squat takes this to new levels.

Here is a photo of an Olympic lifter supporting significant weight while set in a deep, single leg split squat. Source: medium.com

And here is a lightly supported ATG split squat. In both examples, the calf is covered by the thigh. This is the measure of a well executed split squat.

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