Bouncing at the bottom of the squat certainly makes the movement easier. This may be due to stretch reflexes activating motor units, but I feel simple elastic recoil of the muscle is mainly responsible?
Is bouncing definately worth it?
NO!!!
it can be dangerous i believe
I bounce a tiny bit, not deliberately but this happens anyway, unless you lower really slowly and pause at the bottom 
Most olylifters do a controlled small bounce in fullsquats, it’s not possible to not do so unless you stop short of the bottom, ie parallel squats etc or pause. You can lift a tiny bit more weight/more speed, so your exercising greater power output I guess. Utilising the elasticity of the tissues and tendons
Doesn’t bother me either way, just let if flow, squat naturally.
I think David W may have advocated the use of the bounce. David is this true?
Re. injury, I feel that when performing full squats, the bounce will not cause knee injury since the hip extensors seem to mainly take the stretch and recoil, taking the stress off the quads and therefore knees. Squatting higher than full squats seems to stress the knees moreso in the bounce.
You will always have some bounce, unless like I said - lower in 8 secs or so and pause or stop short of the bottom. It’s not possible not to bounce otherwise, human tissue is elastic!
I’m not talking about a deliberate dive bomb and bounce, just a controlled reversal - in fact in probably doesn’t even feel like a bounce, but it’s there
Well all the olylifters on the Ironmind tapes bounce slightly. They make it look so easy with 2.5+ times Bodyweight squats, up and down like piston!
I do actually just bounce slightly.
when you bounce do you release the hip flexors?
Suggy, not sure what you mean. Also, do you mean the hip flexors or extensors?
Im not completely sure, but I think bouncing at the bottom could lead to some serious meniscus damage. I tore mine in both knees by forces being applied in that extreme flex position.
The bounce could lead to meniscus damage if you’re rotating you’re knees, but you would damage them by rotating bounce or no bounce.
I’d be worried most about the posterior rotation of the pelvis causing a reduced lumbar curve and thus placing increased pressure on the lumbar disc and posterior supporting structures such as the ligaments, facias, and small intervetebral musculature. I don’t see that bouncing has any transfer to sport when the most powerful postion for spinal integrity and force application is, in general terms, in the neutral position. In my experience bouncing suggest a few things. 1) Poor technique which could be caused by a number of things such as mucsle imbalances, poor pelvic control, reduced neural drive,tightness somewhere or overloading and 2) an out of control ego where an injury is imminent. Just a brief summary of my thoughts.
Naki I don’t see any of this with the olylifters I’ve seen full squatting, they all bounce and with great form!
CoolColJ, I here what you are saying. I think there is two ways of ‘bouncing’. 1) Getting to the bottom and controlling spinal mechanics (ie little posterior rotation at the bounce) and 2) Getting to the bottom and not controlling spinal mechanics (ie significant posterior rotation at the bounce). It’s the later that that I have witnessed to have caused most problems. OL’s tend to fit in the first catergory due to the amount of pelvic stability they produce under extreme loading, eg during the catch while C&Jing.
I agree with Colin, the only way to remove the SSC would be to pause at the bottom. An injury risk is only present when the lifter releases tension in the extensors in the lower range. In fact pausing at rock bottom in my experience presents a GREATER injury risk since tension is transferred to the connective tissues.
Squatting with and without a pause entails subtle diffences in firing patterns. When a muscle contracts after a pause it does so from a longer, less optimal position on the length:tension curve. Prolonged periods of squatting WITH a pause may actually be detrimental to performance (despite the greater work that is actually done by the contractile component).
Doesn’t Mo Green pause at the bottom of his full squats?
Then again, he stops lifting weights during the competition phase according to Ato Boldon.
a small natural bounce, or rebound as it is called in powerlifting jargon is normal. This is usually delivered by your knee wraps…you do use knee wraps, right? Wraps a essential at weights above 250 lbs in my opinion. An overly agressive bounce at the bottom can cause your knees to lever open against the wraps buched up behind your knee…not good, so avoid using an agressive bounce for assistance.
Also, there is only one way to squat in my opinion, full depth. The knee is most vulnerable and weak laterally when it is at a 90 degree bend…i.e. half-squats.