Stop at the bottom, kill the bounce, build raw squat strength.
Stay tight in the pause. Don't relax at the bottom or you lose the rebound and risk rounding.
The pause squat parks you at the bottom of a full squat for a dead two-count, wiping out the stretch reflex that normally springs you back up, so your quads have to generate everything from a standstill with your glutes driving the hips through. That makes it one of the best builders of raw strength out of the hole. Powerlifters lean on it to fix slow bottom-end squats, and everyone else gets bulletproof positions from it.
Never. Stay fully braced and tight through the count, the pause kills the bounce, not your tension, and relaxing down there is how positions collapse.
Noticeably lighter, since you lose the rebound out of the bottom. Pick a load you can hold rock still for a genuine two-count on every rep of the set.
Two seconds of true stillness is the sweet spot. Count it honestly, a rushed half-second dip is just a normal squat with extra steps.
