Even though deep squats move your legs through a bigger range, they don’t make your muscles bigger than shallow squats—if you’re doing the same number of reps and weights.

Whether young tennis players do deep or shallow squats, their leg muscles grow just as big—as long as they do the same number of reps and weights.

Deep squats don’t make leg muscles bigger than shallow squats if you do the same number of reps and same weight—muscle growth is about total work, not how deep you go.

For young tennis players, doing deep squats instead of shallow ones for 8 weeks makes them faster and stronger when pushing off the ground, and helps them lose body fat—without making their leg muscles bigger than shallow squats do.

Deep squats help young tennis players lose more body fat than shallow squats—even when they do the same number of reps and weights—possibly because they work harder and burn more energy.

Deep squats make young tennis players explode off the ground faster than shallow squats—after 8 weeks, they get about 20% faster at pushing heavy weights quickly, while shallow squats only help by 10%.