Hello, would it be viable to use an elevated squat with squat shoes on plates as a main squat pattern for someone with hypertrophy/bodybuilding goals only. I’m tall at 6’4 and pretty much all legs. I’ve been a mediocre squatter since I’ve started training years ago, although heavy Front Squats have always felt good. I like to use those, leg presses and leg extensions for my bodybuilding exercise selection. Would it be overkill for the knees to squat on top of plates with squat shoes? I’m just wondering in case I want to switch it up for variation. I usually do front squats as my main squat since they feel good and people in the gym come up to me and compliment me on my form while doing them.
While it likely doesn’t matter from an outcome -e.g. hypertrophy- standpoint if you do squats with your heels even more elevated- I am not sure I love the narrative about being “overkill for your knees.” Your knees, like other parts of the body, adapt to what they’re tasked to do -provided it is introduced in a progressively overloaded manner. I also don’t love that you call yourself a mediocre squatter. While I don’t know your squat and training history, most people are average squatters, statistically speaking. What’s more, the bigger component of success is adherence to training.
In any case, since squatting with an elevated heel doesn’t produce more hypertrophy or strength, I’m not sure I’d recommend it because I think it probably isn’t as trainable as another leg exercise.
Thanks for the reply. I use the word mediocre since I probably compare my back squat to a lot of others I see. I think there’s a psychological thing where I haven’t done them due to low back pain I dealth with for awhile, going down the rabbit hole of obsessing over my form and seeing my lower back round a bit in videos I took from the side. I also notice I’m more upright during front squats in videos and concluding that was better for my back, injury prevention and maybe I’m just not well built for them. I always felt my lower back took a beating doing high bar squats before my quads. The other thing is I’ve avoided them simply due to my goal of being lean and jacked, no interest in powerlifting, etc. However strong i get from pursuing that goal is nice. Good to know about the knees, I’ll probably just stick to my usual exercise selection.