Probably no weight training movement has been more maligned than the back squat. Over the years it has been blamed for ruining knees and backs, causing disk problems and building a big butt. There is absolutely no ground to any of these claims when we are talking about squatting properly. For one, squats do not destroy the knees or spine. Squats that are bounced out of at the bottom are bad for the knees, and loading up on tremendous weight and doing partial squats is a good way to overload the lower lumbar area of the spine. But squats done with a weight that you can do in good form and going past parallel is the best way to ensure that you avoid any issues with knee and back problems. Shallow squatting is one of the worst things you can do, because you tend to keep adding weight and then -- bang -- one day, there will be an attempt that will injure you because you did not train the movement in a full range of motion and develop the stabilizer muscles involved properly. Partial squats can also cause an imbalance where the quadriceps get stronger out of proportion to the strength of the hamstrings, which in turn contributes to pelvic imbalances and low back issues. So, stay away from the nonsense you see in some gyms where the guys is doing heavy “partials” with his “partner” bear-hugging him from behind -- this is useless for athletic conditioning and muscle building.

There are many who feel the deep wide stance squat done by powerlifters is the only way to squat. It is true that one can typically move bigger weights squatting like this, but we are interested in the muscular development of the thighs. I personally feel that the “Olympic” style squat with the bar held high on the traps puts a far greater load on the thighs and less on the low back and hips, and will avoid thickening this area as well. The most important consideration is that the trainer keep the bar so that it is constantly at a 90 degree angle straight above the mid-thigh and also the arches of the feet (see image below to see the line of gravity drawn through the mid thigh). Find the bar height placement that best suits your individual body mechanics and keeps the bar in line over the femur and mid-foot. One advantage too with the Oly style squat is that one can get far greater depth and range of motion from this method. keeping the bar as low as some powerlifters do, on the shoulder blades practically, doesn’t allow for the best balancing of the load between the hips, legs and back. This is why so many of them have to do a fair volume of good mornings to compensate. To see proof of what kind of squats build better thighs, all one has to do is look at the thighs of the average Olympic lifter vs powerlifter. In many cases the former has well balanced thigh development and the latter has thighs that look big at the top and small below mid-thigh -- why? Because all of the powerlifters strength in the squat comes from the posterior chain -- the hips and not the thighs. With low-bar squats one can lift more weight because the leverage is shortened. Add to that, Olympic lifters focus mainly on the front squat, which I would argue is the best overall quad builder. Our focus isn’t on lifting weights but on building bigger, proportionately developed muscles while gaining in athletic ability and overall strength.

 

 

How To Squat Properly

Before removing the bar from the rack, grasp the bar very tightly with both hands and use as narrow a grip as you can, which will make the traps bunch up and avoid any stress on the neck. Also with the hands in tight, you will be able to push the chest out and thus cut down on the tendency to lean forward.

The feet and hips must be directly under the bar before the bar is lifted off the racks and stay like that throughout the movement. Place the feet about shoulder width apart and toes pointed slightly outwards. The head is held in a neutral position, not looking down or up. A big breath should be taken and the chest pushed outward and shoulders back. The final step involves straightening and locking the muscles of the back before pushing upward on the bar.

After lifting the bar off the rack and moving backward in as few steps as possible, the feet, hips and torso should still maintain their position and the whole body must be kept as tight as possible. You should also concentrate on squeezing your glutes as much as possible and keep them tight as well. (this helps in all full body movements: bench, military press, cleans, deadlifts, etc!) The elbows should be behind the bar.

The descent is initiated by “breaking” the hips and moving them backwards and downwards as if you were sitting down on something. Never should the movement be initiated by knee movement. After the hips break downwards and backwards the knees will bend automatically. You should feel the weight balanced over the middle of the foot -- not the balls of the feet or heels. The downward movement should be controlled and you should never allow your body to drop. Stay tight. The knees should travel directly out over the feet. This notion that the knees should always stay behind the toes is rubbish. As long as the hips break backwards first, there will be no exorbitant strain on the patellar tendons when the knees slightly extend over the toes. This is the norm in the Olympic squat.

Once you have gone deep enough -- just below parallel -- its time to reverse the downward motion by driving up by, again, initiating movement from the hips. As in the descent, the ascent of the squat is started with hip movement. The heavy weight causes the hips to move up and back and in turn causes both the knees to move toward one another and the torso to bench forward. To counteract these natural movements, and in order to keep the bar over the proper base of support -- directly over the arches -- the hips must be moved forward under the bar. This is best done slowly by pushing the knees outward once the upward acceleration has been established bu the hip drive. At no point should the torso be relaxed. You should slightly slow the motion just before lockout to act as a brake on the explosive movement.

 

Example of an Olympic style squat in good form (below)

 

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My youngest son, Beau, has a sign in his room which reads Beau knows Squat. I like it! ‘Course, it’s a play off the ol’ Bo Jackson thing, but I don’t care. I know Beau, and I don’t know Bo. And, Bo doesn’t know Squat!

Humor me once more. See, I used to be pretty good at squatting. Eleven hundred pounds ain’t a bad squat, no? You might say that I too — ahem — know squat!

Ok, ok! I’ll spare you. Problem is, the doctors don’t care, the coaches don’t think, the athletes don’t have time, the bodybuilders don’t want to know, the sports scientists writing about squatting don’t have the in-the-trenches experience to really know.

And I don’t understand. Why someone just doesn’t TELL them why squatting is the one exercise that EVERYONE (bodybuilders, athletes, kids, your Mamma) ought to do. I tried to do it once back in ‘85 with an article in Sports Fitness, a magazine that I launched for Joe Weider. That magazine metamorphosed into what is now known as Men’s Fitness. In that ten year old article, I wrote about a few myths associated with squatting that seemed persistent back then:

Myth #1: Squats are bad for the knees.
Myth #2: Squats are bad for the spine.
Myth #3: Squats are dangerous to the heart.
Myth #4: Squats slow you down.

Well, these four myths, it seems, are still somewhat alive. However, others have arisen that are even more troublesome. And, you know what? This time, the sources and perpetuators of the myths are from the ranks of several muscle mags!

Well, it’s a tough job, but I’m gonna give it my best shot. I’ll tackle these myths — and the old ones — one by one. You pencilnecks out there who disagree with me (anyone who disagrees with me on the issue of squatting has GOTTA be a pencilneck) on these squat issues, do me a favor. Put up or shut up. Let’s see some science for a change, not just jabberwocky and claptrap.

And, please! Get this once and for all! Marketing fitness to the masses does NOT have to include making it palatable for the newly initiated by saying things like, “Beginners shouldn’t do squats, or any of the other myths listed.”

I know better. More importantly, the 42 ladies who participated in a 12 week research project I conducted all LOVED squats. All were chronically obese, 40-70 years old, and none had ever trained before in their lives. My son, Beau — he’s six — loves to squat. Every athlete I’ve ever coached squatted and loved the outcomes. How come it is that elite weightlifters, powerlifters and shot putters — all of whom squat — vertical jump higher and run a 5 meter dash faster than any other class of athletes in any sport? Including high jumpers and sprinters?

Myth #1: Squats are bad for the knees.
Just as calluses build up on the hands with the application of stress, ligaments, tendons and other connective tissues thicken in response to the stress imposed upon the joints during weight training. Also, strengthening the muscles that move the knee joint improves its stability, and there’s some evidence that even the portion of the bone into which the tendons insert becomes stronger, further improving the joint’s integrity.

Relaxing the muscles while in a rock-bottom position is improper and hazardous. The relaxed muscles allow the knee joint to separate slightly, placing the ligaments and cartilage under stress that may exceed their tensile strength. While proper stress produces adaptation, overly stressful exercise can cause breakdown of bodily tissue.

Myth #2: Squats are bad for the spine.
If performed with a relatively straight back, the weight is borne directly over the spinal column, and torque as well as shearing force is minimized. Weight training is supposed to strengthen the supportive tissues of the body (bones, muscles and connective tissues). So wear a belt when the weight is heavy and reps are low, but stay away from such supportive devices otherwise.

Beginners often find squats uncomfortable for the neck (the cervical spine) because of the pressure of the bar resting there. You’ll get used to it. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to pad the bar with a towel or piece of rubber. Me? I prefer the padded yolk of the Safety Squat Bar. Ok, so I’m a whimp! I don’t like unnecessary discomfort!

Myth #3: Squats are dangerous to the heart.
Many weight-training exercises restrict blood flow because of prolonged muscular contraction. The result is elevated blood pressure. The condition isn’t dangerous and it’s temporary. The heart, like every other muscle in the body, responds to stress by adapting to it. In time, the cardiovascular system is strengthened through weight training.

Squats can sometimes tax the heart to dangerous limits, however. My blood pressure rocketed to 220 over 130 or more during a set of squats. That can be rough on the ol’ ticker if your ticker needs tinkering! People suffering from coronary disease will find heavy squats more taxing than beneficial. In most cases in which a prior condition existed that would have precluded heavy training, a qualified sports physician could, with careful screening, prevent these kinds of accidents. All athletes as well as fitness enthusiasts who want to train with weights should see a good sports physician before embarking on a stressful training program.

Myth #4: Squats slow you down.
It’s well known among exercise physiologists that the stronger the muscle is, the faster it contracts, particularly against resistance. An athlete’s running and jumping ability can only be enhanced through the development of great leg strength.

There. That takes care of the old myths that I wrote about a decade ago. Look back, and you’ll see that very little has changed in my rebuttals to these early myths. Some science is as good today as it was yesterday.

Here are some of the more recent “opinions I read and hear about squats. The really funny thing is that many of them contradict one another! At least ten years ago perpetuators of myths were together in their belief that squats were bad for you. Nowadays, there are so many new “chiefs (self-proclaimed gurus who, in fact, aren’t qualified or well informed enough to hold an opinion on much of anything, let alone squatting!) that one wonders where all the Indians went!

New Myth #1: Only powerlifters need to do squats.
There are many forms of squatting, each having unique benefits and applications. The powerlifting style of squatting is the best way to lift limit tonnage. It’s also the most dangerous because of the immense shearing forces placed on the lumbar spine. For your information, though, it’s only dangerous for those powerlifters who never learned how to periodize their training. The ONLY time I ever did powerlifting style squats was right before a competition (6-8 weeks out). Otherwise, I did several of the other varieties of squats, depending upon where I was in my cycle and what my training objectives were at the time.

Here are the noteworthy variations to the squat movement that have been employed over the years:

• Powerlifting Squats (wide, intermediate or narrow stance)
• Olympic Squats (also called “High Bar Squats” or “Bodybuilding Squats”)
• Safety Squats
• Twisting Squats
• Lunge Squats
• Side Lunge Squats
• Partial Squats
• Box Squats
• Jefferson Squats
• Hack Squats (with barbell or machine)
• Leg Presses (angle of weight ascent ranging from 0 degrees to 90 degrees)
• Overhead Squats (also called snatch grip squats)
• Magic Circle Squats (also called Raider squats)
• Sissy Squats
• Front Squats
• Platform Squats
• Zane Squats
• Platz Squats (Olympic squats done with a bent bar)
• Bear Squats
• Front Harness Squats
• True Squats

All are good, all have their unique benefits, and at least one or two should ALWAYS be incorporated into all mesocycles of your leg training regimen, regardless of whether you’re just an average Mrs. Jones looking for fitness or Quadzilla. It just depends upon what your objectives are.

New Myth #2: Since no athlete in any sport moves vertically up and down with a load on their shoulders, there’s no reason for athletes ever to do squats. They’re just not sport-specific.

Good observation, although not entirely logical. Any good strength coach knows that there is a general movement away from general movements to more specific movements as the competition season gets nearer and nearer. Straight up-and-down squats are done in the off-season. They give way to lunge squats, side lunge squats, Bear squats and finally the ultimate form of squatting for most athletes — twisting squats.

Didn’t know that? It doesn’t surprise me. You don’t know squat!

New Myth #3: Bodybuilders will get bigger, more cut quads with leg extensions, and they’ll get bigger, more cut hams with leg curls. So they don’t need squats.

I recognize the need for other leg exercises in a bodybuilders routine. Leg curls and leg extensions are great, but don’t get the idea that they are how bodybuilders get cuts! DIET provides the cuts. As for squatting, well, let me give you words of wisdom from Jeff MADDOG Madden, the ISSA-certified strength coach for the University of North Carolina.

Down the road, in a gym far away
A young man was heard to say,
“No matter what I do, my legs won’t grow!”
He tried leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses too.
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he’d do!
From the corner of the gym where the big guys train,
Through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain,
Where the big iron rides high, and threaten lives,
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives,
A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees,
A very big man with legs like trees,
Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack,
Chalked his hands and monstrous back,
Said, “Boy, stop lying and don’t say you’ve forgotten!”
Trouble with you is you ain’t been SQUATTIN’!
‘Nuff said.

New Myth #4: The ONLY way to get big legs is to squat.

Squatting provides the greatest amount of adaptive stress to the greatest number of major muscles in the upper leg. That simply means more bang for the buck. More effect for the effort. But don’t get the idea that squatting is all you have to do to get big legs!

There’s many other exercises (listed already), that are necessary, but they’re to be regarded as auxiliary to squatting! Why? Read Maddog’s poem again!

New Myth #5: Narrow stance for the vastus lateralis sweep.
While the inner and outer quads are activated via separate neural input, they function as a single unit for most intents because 1) the origin points of 3 of the quads are so close together, 2) they share a common insertion and 3) the quads span such a long bone. There may be a bit of differentiation possible through foot placement, but not so much that overall size takes a back seat to whatever meager shape changes you can effect.

Get big, and hope that the good Lord, in his infinite wisdom, gave you the genes necessary to have that pleasing “sweep” bodybuilders favor.

New Myth #6: Squats will give you a broad butt.
First, re-read my response to New Myth #5. Add to that bit of wisdom the fact that gluteal development is more often a genetic thing. Look at Tom Platz! No hammer there! Lots of guys and gals squat without getting big butts. Wide, intermediate or narrow, it doesn’t really make that much difference.

On the other hand, no advantage is ever gained by going real wide (beyond, say, 24-36 inches wide) for anyone other than powerlifters. So keep your stance somewhere inside 24 inches or so, and you’ll do great.

New Myth #7: Hack squat machines, Smith machines, leg press machines and the amazing plethora of other leg machines the past 30 years have witnessed are all safer than squats, and just as effective. So why even bother with the old fashioned squat?

Folks, squint your eyes and watch as someone does hack squats. Likewise for leg presses. Tell me what you see! Visualize that person standing on the floor and doing the precise same movement with the precise same body position. What do you see?

An unbelievably funky lookin’ squat that isn’t much good for much of anything.

Now, that’s not to say that while in the machine (instead of standing on the floor doing the same movement) it’s a worthless exercise! Hack squats have value. So do sissy squats. So do leg presses. Most you us who live in the trench know them all. But don’t tell me that they can take the place of squats! They are to be considered auxiliary to squats. Only during injury are they ever to be considered replacements for squats.
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