Regarding Form and Range of Motion.

So many people have misconceptions about form and ROM with weightlifting. In particular, which forms are for what purposes, and which form/ROM(range of motion) create a risk of injury.

There are several lifts (in particular, squat, DB Shoulder Press, and DB Bench Press) I have messed up for the past few months that I feel I could have benefited more from had I done proper form. When one is doing the wrong form or ROM, it does not only mean you are not going low or deep enough like most people think, the converse is true as well. Most people only call people out on ROM that is too short making the lift easier, less beneficial and invalid. This is a reasonable gripe, however, I want to take a different angle and explain why ROM that is too deep can be a bad move. 

Squatting ATG (all the way down, ass to grass)

The balls deep ATG squat is a useful ROM (range of motion) for an olympic lifter, but not as much for a powerlifter or bodybuilder imo. Why? Because in powerlifting competitions, parallel is acceptable. If someone really wants to get a high number squat, you would certainly not go rock bottom, that's no good--you will certainly lift less weight. From a bodybuilding standpoint, squatting ATG you will be focusing on getting a stronger posterior chain (more glute and hamstring activation) and less quad. In my humble opinion, if you are trying to get bigger legs (especially quads), or plan  on training for strength/numbers, you are best off training mostly below or at parallel. Squatting parallel and above despite common belief puts a lot of strain on the knees, not the other way around.

Parallel squat:

Olympic squat:






Dumbbell benching and DB Shoulder Pressing.  For bodybuilding purposes I would advise not going deep on this as it increases risk of injury of the shoulders and is not conducive to building better chest/shoulders. You will get a better chest/shoulder workout stopping when your arms are about parallel or slightly below.  Whether you're overhead pressing or dumbbell pressing, you should not go past your arms being slightly below parallel. The exception to this is perhaps if you  are training for powerlifting and you want to train for strength at the bottom of your movements. I myself, however,  train at slightly below parallel when I use dumbbells for my assistance exercises for my Military Press and Bench Press main lifts. You can do whatever you like of course, but I think it would be the best option to not go balls deep on DB Chest/Shoulder press. Stop slightly below parallel. Just my opinion. Here's a video of good form with heavy weight on DB chest press:

One final word, I also strongly advise not going past slightly below parallel on dips. That is a real strain on the shoulders as well.