Squat Depth: A Deeper Look

Written by Mok “The lifter must bend the knees and lower the body until the top surface of the legs at the hip joint is lower than the top of the knees.”

The wording for squat depth is the same for the majority of powerlifting federation’s rulebooks in the UK, so why is the “standard” so controversial and applied so variedly across federations and different equipment (raw, wraps, single‑ply and multi‑ply)? Everyone has been at powerlifting meets and heard “the standard is strict today” or “loads of high squats being given”. But in the rulebook there isn’t really any room for interpretation — it’s pretty straightforward. So are the rules enforced, or not?

I’d argue there is no room for interpretation of the rule itself. The real discussion is whether refs are trained to enforce the rule consistently. There is definitely room for argument on video of poor angles or what the ref saw in the moment which is the main challenge for judging, but the actual rule and what is being enforced should be clear.

Although you cannot control the ref’s decision on the day and you may be able to choose what federations you compete in, you can take control back into your own hands as a lifter by how you train and your tactics on comp day. It should be as simple as just squat lower and sometimes it is but when it isn’t…

Common Pitfalls: Why You Think You Hit Depth (But Didn’t)

The wording in the rules is clear, but the biggest challenge for referees is observing different body types, squat styles and descent speeds back‑to‑back, then making a split‑second call. One main issue lifters often face is attaching squat depth to their own understanding of depth to cues or sensations that have no real bearing on whether the referee sees “top surface of the legs at the hip joint is lower than the top of the knees.”

If your perception of depth is tied to a cue that doesn’t actually matter to the ref, you’re setting yourself up for shock and frustration when you’re effectively training to a different rulebook.

“I hit parallel!”

This usually means the top of the knee is in line with the top surface of the leg at the hip joint. But the rules state it must be lower. That line needs to be broken — even if only slightly — and it must be seen by the referee, even if only for a brief moment. Different body types and leg sizes can dictate whether the top surface of the leg drops below the knee or not at parallel. This makes the notion of “parallel shins/thighs” an incredibly poor standard if the hip still appears high relative to the knee.

Descent speed plays a role here. Too slow, and the failure to hit depth can be obvious but too fast and the ref may not have enough visual information to be convinced you broke that line. You must find a way to clearly break that parallel line, even by a millimetre. So, using parallel leg to the floor as a standard is a slippery slope. Whenever fatigue rises from a hard training block or the final push of intensity before tapering, hips can get tight and that parallel standard is going to quickly look high. You might taper fatigue off well, but let’s say you’ve spent the past 3 weeks with the prep’s heaviest weights building proprioception of where “depth” is. But what if that point was 2 inches above where it needed to be? That’s a shocker waiting to happen comp day. It’s not always the case as sometimes the stripping back of stress and fatigue allows the hips to sink and comp day runs smoothly. This is where your experience as a lifter or coach has to come into play.

“My hamstrings touched my calves!”

The sensation of completely bottoming out calves to hamstrings is a good indication of deep knee flexion (ya knees are bent a lot) but doesn’t mean the hip has dropped below the top surface of the knee. Sometimes pushing forward into the knees at the bottom and shifting the bar path past midfoot can completely negate depth as the hip stops travelling lower as you shift forward instead of down (think getting out of the lift on level 1 instead continuing to the ground floor) sometimes a slight opening of the hips or change in stance width can assist with this, but any changes have to be backed up by accessory work or targeted training. Simply getting stronger in the bottom position in the hips / adductors is arguably a more effective way of approaching this.With the recent trend of super stiff sleeves, raw lifters are getting a taste of the ability to push into the knees more and feel the benefit of kit helping where the quads may not usually be as reliable, this is true for wrapped lifters feeling this sensation too.  I believe this has led to a lot of people “forgetting” to squat with the hips too and instead just focussing on the knees, especially in tight sleeves.

My huge tip for tight sleeve enjoyers is forget about your knees, just squat and let the legs do their thing instead of hyper focusing on flexion.

“I’m sitting back loads — folded in half / Nips to Knees !”

If you over rely on hinge to hit depth, it’s common to see torso angle get extremely horizontal. This can totally be taken advantage of as a means to squat huge weights with a low bar position and sink them! But if you don’t have the lower back and hip extension power to back this up, you may get stuck with nowhere to go without hitting depth. Most lifters don’t choose this style on purpose and are simply forced over by weak quads and poorly applied foot pressure.

Although squats heavily involve the posterior chain, it is usually the final thing to fail. Typically, the quads fail first and the lifter then relies on the hip extensors to finish the rep. If you bias the entire squat towards the posterior chain from the outset, you fatigue the failsafe early rather than using the quads until they can’t contribute any further. So if you’re sitting back, make sure your hips are mobile and your quads still drive to help out the hole.

Greg Nuckols has some excellent articles exploring this idea in more depth for anyone who wants to dive deeper into squat mechanics which I’ve linked at the bottom of this article.

Equipped squats, raw /wraps, “playing the game”

When it comes to squatting in wraps and suits, even though the techniques vary, the concept is the same in that you can alter the squat style to heavily bias the assistance of the equipment. By squatting extremely upright, whether it’s suited wide using adductors, external rotators & that 90-degree knee angle OR close stance, Olympic heel raise and high-ish bar position. Both these methods aim to keep the weight stacked on top of the lifter and avoid forward lean and use the suited hips, wrapped knees or combo of both to lower the hips down to legal competition depth.

It creates fine margins for error if there is tipping forward or loss of position as it’s incredibly difficult to recover the weight’s placement. You generally must approach the depth point slowly too as the demand on strength at hips and knees is highest right as the lifter gets to depth. This is where “playing the game” comes in.Over sinking or dumping down at this point could totally lose or fail the lift BUT depth must be demonstrated to the ref. Finding the minimum required depth is key here along with ensuring you do not fail or make a 1^st or 2^nd attempt massively difficult by losing the line.

Some tactics often employed here is a handler will count in the lifter as proprioception is often incredibly clouded and knowing how close to depth you are, whilst you maintain the tension and pressure of a huge squat, is very hard to nail. The handler will often shout a count of some sort, like “3, 2, 1” and the lifter will aim to squat up when they hear 1 or “UP”

This can backfire if the call is “jumped”.  As not only has the lifter failed to adhere to the handlers call and therefore theoretically cut depth in the eyes of the handler; the handler also now has ZERO concrete evidence that their intended depth call would have in fact been of legal depth in the eyes of the referee.

Another tactic in often used is the lifter will reach a certain point usually parallel and use a sudden fast dropping and rebounding motion just for the final 2 to 3 inches of the lift allowing a mostly controlled slow descent but then taking advantage of a tiny controlled rebound giving a great illusion of extra depth pushed and if done correctly can help consistently nail depth standard. If performed incorrectly, you end up still squatting high by dropping into parallel and still missing on depth.

Equipment Considerations – the tighter the kit, the harder to hit depth?

• Knee wraps can bunch behind the knee and create additional resistance  preventing depth if stance or hip use is improperly applied

• Suits cranked too tight in the wrong places, can often prevent the hips from fully opening or sitting into depth. Although a common fix is “add more weight” this basically counter acts the traditional advice of opening light and finishing heavy as you’ll be unable to demonstrate your understanding of the rules with your opener. Which can mean when you DO get enough weight to hit depth, you don’t have the skill to power out of that lower position as you aren’t conditioned in that movement pattern/range OR you don’t have a sense of what competition depth is and still miss.

Despite a common unwritten belief that equipped depth is judged differently, it is enforced using the same rulebook there is ZERO mention of equipped depth standard in the rulebook of the main federations. Over time, inconsistent judging (particularly in multi‑ply) has created an assumed equipped standard that doesn’t actually exist.

This has led to:

• World records being awarded to high lifts

• Lifters chasing inflated numbers of squats done high

• An erosion of meaningful depth standards

• A “passed down” standard as other lifters join the sport and learn from it

Long term this can only be slowly corrected with better application of the rules from refs and feds over time. But with correct tactics, sensible openers, and good use of equipment, it should be entirely possible to hit the standard equipped, it just may look different but not higher than raw. This doesn’t mean suited squats should be dumped with cheeks to the floor, but it does mean the standard as written in the rulebook can be met consistently.

The Issue With Squatting High in Training

The obvious problem is that if you squat high in training, you’ll likely squat high on the platform. But the bigger issue is the strength gap that forms as depth decreases.

By progressively loading higher squats, you create a “dead zone” in strength that sits an inch or two below your usual depth. When heavy singles or high‑percentage work pushes you into this untrained range, you’re suddenly exposed to:

• Missing the lift with no ability to grind

• Hip shifts & twists from going to an untrained position

• Knee cave as hips look for a way to extend whilst quads fail

• Increased injury risk (none of these things alone increase injury risk, but failing under max loads whilst form breakdowns, does)

Maintaining a strict depth standard builds a stronger base in the hips and adductors, helping you survive those moments where max weights push you deeper than planned.

Practical Ways to Fix Depth in Training

Technique and Feedback

• Film from directly side‑on at knee height (treat the camera like the side ref)

• Use low box squats to develop bottom‑position awareness don’t just tap the box try dead stop on the box below parallel

• Use front‑loaded squats (goblets, front squats) to encourage sitting deeper and build a sense of depth
  

Positional Awareness

• Pause in the bottom with light loads

• Try fully relaxing into the hole as a drill with light load or empty bar to know how it feels

• Identify where restrictions actually occur on your body during these drills and pauses. What’s tight, what gets tired from LONG pauses and what’s sore the most after squats. Thinking about the adductors, quads, back, hips etc
  

Foot Pressure

• Deliberately shift between toes and heels with the bar on your back and feel where optimal is

• Do this at the top of the squat AND the bottom to find midfoot even just with an empty bar

• Start to then learn how to sit into that point where foot pressure feels best and is consistent

• Learn to drive up by just pushing through the feet, the simpler the squat feels, the better the technique will be
  

Accessories That Actually Improve Quad Strength (driving out the hole)

• Hack squats

• Sissy squats

• Split squats

• Front squats

These build confidence and strength with the knees staying forward for longer.

Adductors: The Cheat Code / hip stabiliser and extender

Adductors are often the biggest difference‑maker out of the hole. When the quads are near their limit, strong adductors can be the workhorse that gets you stood back up.

Effective options include:

• Sumo block pulls (3x5 / 3x8 done for rep method / accessory work not RPE8 single)

• Cossack squats (just the ability to do these shows good adductor length)

• Split squats (lol soz)

• Static weighted horse‑stance holds (google it)

• Copenhagen planks static holds and reps / hip hikes

  
  

Mobility (Yes, It Still Matters)

Stretching is suddenly shit and has fallen right out of fashion. But some mobility work can go a long way to maintain tension of the hips for those who sit or stand a lot in their day job. Prolonged postures can often be the devil for those who wish to squat!  Also when initially trying to learn a new depth standard, stretching can just teach your body it’s ok to sit in a position you are usually too stiff to achieve. The goal is to not need to stretch often but at first it might require a lot before you can just use the bar alone to warm up.

One or two short sessions per week can help stubborn hips. Useful drills include:

• Half‑kneeling windmills for external rotation and a degree of thoracic rotation

• Internal rotation biased single leg RDLs (google it, honestly)
  

Improved INTERNAL hip rotation can allow a smoother transition from above parallel to below while maintaining the power to drive back up. It's not always as simple as stretch X to fix X but now and then it can just give you a window of opportunity to learn how to move correctly.

Final thoughts – have a tactic on comp day

Depth isn’t subjective — but your interpretation of it often is. Control depth in training and give yourself the best chance of controlling it on the platform.

Open light enough to demonstrate your understanding of depth to the refs or risk posting about it on Instagram later.

Respect the referee’s judgement and just have a quick chat with them about what it is they need to see/how much further you need to squat in order to receive a white light from them. No referee actively wants to red light you and every good referee will be more than happy to explain to you how much further you need to go or what it is you can do to “convince them unequivocally” that you deserve a white light.

If you enjoyed any of this article and want some help with your lifts, please get in touch! Conversely if you hated this article and wish to give me shit, also get in touch!

Greg Knuckols articles that explain squats in a brilliant way and offer some great advice and considerations:

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squat-mechanics-the-red-pill/

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squats-adductors/

Coach Mok

Power-breed Performance Ltd

@mok_powerbreed