Misinformation

Almost everytime I walk into the gym, I hear somebody spewing ignorance as if it were their job. This isn't one of the billion "that guy" stories, more a general overview. I strkes me how wrong some people can be about something as simple as lifting weights. I particularly dislike hearing things like "squat too low and you'll hurt your knees" or "Deadlifts are too dangerous to outweigh their benefits". The real clincher for me is when someone comes into the gym telling anyone and everyone that they should train isolation movements to become strong.

For starters, you should never stop a squat above and close to parallel. When you stop above parallel, your forcing the musculature of the knee joint to stop the weight moving down. As you can imagine, your knees don't like that. Joints are put together to transfer force, not absorb it. If you go to parallel or below, parallel being where the hip crease is below the top of the knee, the forces are transferred from the knee joints to the hamstrings and glutes. The hams and glutes are muscles and as such are capable of absorbing force. I like to go super low. I'm talking about Ivan Chakarov low.
Not everyone can do that. Some guy's legs are just too bulky to allow their body to move like that. It's a flexibility issue for most. Your hip flexors, calves and achilles tendons aren't long enough. Try this right now, stand up with your feet a tad wider than shoulder width apart. Now drop down as low as you can go with your heels on the floor. Good. Now touch your ass to your calves. If you can't do both at the same time, you can't do a full squat. You are fully capable of stretching those muscles and tendons out enough for a full squat to be possible and I'd highly suggest it. Full squats aren't necessary for powerlifters and for the most part Strongmen, but any athlete would benefit more from a switch to full squats. Football, soccer, rugby, basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, volleyball, whatever your sport, you will benefit more from a full squat than you will from a power squat. There are a few reasons for this,

#1. Full squats promote flexibility of the hips and legs
#2. Thanks to the emphasis on flexibility, full squats help to keep your hamstrings longer and give them strength through a greater range of motion. That means less chance of injury and more powerful squats, jumps, strides, etc.
#3. You will be building your leg strength and size proportionatly because your hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads will be activated through a greater range of motion.

In short, the saying "You should be squatting" should be changed to "You should be squatting low".