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Autor: markyoung
~ 30/07/09
Every so often I hear someone say something that really forces me to think seriously about why I train people the way I do. Last week was one of those times and Mike Boyle was one of those people.
If you know anything about Mike Boyle at all you’re probably aware that he’s pretty big on single leg training. Split squats, single leg split squats, and step ups are a huge part of his programming. But last week when I was listening to his audio interview at RobertsonTraining Systems.com he said something that kicked my brain into gear.
He said that a lot of people can’t squat properly. I definitely agree with that since a great number of people I’ve worked with don’t have the hip mobility to squat properly at first. However, he also said (I’m paraphrasing here so don’t crucify me) that when a lot of people do a bilateral squat that their core gives out before their legs so their leg workout suffers as a result. I also have to agree here to some degree.
The question running through my head though was why on earth can’t mobility be increased, form be instructed, and the core be strengthened to allow someone to perform a bilateral back squat???
Then it struck me. I haven’t done a back squat in over 2 years. In fact, I have some clients with back injuries involving compression that have done just as well for fat loss without any bilateral lower body movements at all. And, their legs are just as developed (aesthetically) as those of the people doing front or back squats.
We still work on hip mobility and strengthen the core. We also hit their glutes, hams, and quads hard to bring about hypertrophy, but they just don’t squat.
I guess the point I’m making here is that you can build a great set of wheels without bilateral movements no matter what HyoogeArms21 is telling you on the forums. As Mike Boyle says, “don’t get married to a movement”. Just use what works in your specific situation.
If you’re a powerlifter, you HAVE to squat. If you like squatting, go ahead and squat. But if you’re training purely for aesthetics and you hate squatting or have an injury that prevents it, don’t worry about it. All too often I see people trying to squat who shouldn’t be just because someone told them they can’t get jacked without them.
In the end there are plenty of other options for single leg training that you can use and as long as you bust your ass (Mike Boyle has guys doing single leg split squats with over 200 pounds) you’ll still get great results!
Have your own thoughts about the importance of squatting? Feel free to disagree. Post them in the comments below!
There is no “perfect” exercise for everyone. The key is to customize it to each athlete’s biomechanical, biochemical and emotional/cognitive processes based on biofeedback. I think I just lost everyone.
While I agree that the squat for certain people may not be best, I think coaches should teach athletes how to squat properly and perhaps they need better cues or their athlete needs a better movement map in their head (so joint mobility, visual and vestibular work) or maybe they even need self cranial work (neuro connection between the saggittal suture and abdominal strength). Anyone with a head injury seems to have more of an abdominal strength issue from a messed up saggittal suture in my experience.
I think I geeked out a bit much on this post.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com
Comment by Mike T Nelson — July 30, 2009 @ 3:57 PM
I’m in the same boat.
This year I may have done 4 weeks of training that included squats in them at best, maybe 6. I mostly deadlift and do single leg movements.
Reasons being that I’m currently “in season” and heavy squats cause soreness for me (obviously with my lack of squatting) where deadlifts don’t, no matter how heavy I go.
I also can’t have some lumbar flexion about 3/4′s down which can flare up the lower back too.
Client wise we test the squat but I don;t train it much either for the reasons listed above. Plenty of lunge variations and step up variations though and hip dominant movements.
Great info, keep it coming.
Comment by Troy — July 30, 2009 @ 6:27 PM
I agree a little but not by much. Squats is one of those movements that people do in their everyday life. It is a great exercise that can make peoples life easier. I agree with that a lot of people are bad at squating. But for me that is a reason why they should train harder on doing it better. For me it is a sin to take the easy way out.
I work as a PT in Sweden, I have notised just how easy it is to prepare all kinds of people for the squats. One-legged exercise are great but they can not replace a squat as a functional exercise.
Comment by Patrik — July 31, 2009 @ 1:59 AM
First time I read about that single leg training has some adventages I started adding some lunges here and there but not realy much. But over the time my training changed more and more into the direction of single leg training and now I do a lot more single leg exercises than I do bilateral exercises.
Comment by Matthias — July 31, 2009 @ 6:33 AM
Patrik,
I agree that the squat is a great functional movement pattern and that it should be maintained for activities of daily living and injury prevention. This can be done with mobility work, flexibility, and core stability in most cases. However, for many people, a LOADED back squat position is not really “functional” as they’ll never really use this movement in real life. Most people may squat down to reach into a cupboard (hence the reason to maintain the pattern), but rarely will they place a set of 400 pound bowls and dishes on their back and squat repeatedly.
Of course, I don’t want to be seen as saying that squats aren’t a great lower body exercise for some (which they obviously are). I’m just saying that heavy back squats are contraindicated in some cases and that alternatives exist if the main goal is purely aesthetic.
Comment by markyoung — July 31, 2009 @ 11:09 AM
I see your point. But as you know a squat do not have to be backloaded. A squat can be made in a lot of ways.
My biggest dissagreement is that it sounds like you belive that you can replace a squat, a squat can never be replaced compleatly. You can choose not to have it in the program and attac the body in another way. I have don that a couple of times, but I still do not belive that it can be replaced. Exercises like squat and deadlift are such basic moves for the body that it just can’t be overlooked.
I have never had any problem with getting people to do good squats, some people need to build a better foundation before and some just need better teaching.
I have to admit that I do spend some freetime every week by the barbells to help and study members at the gym to make proper squats and deadlifts. So it is exercises that is close to my heart.
I’m very thankful for your willingness to debate. It shows you are a great trainer.
Comment by Patrik — July 31, 2009 @ 3:21 PM
Thanks for the compliment!
First I want to be clear that I didn’t say anything about removing deadlifts. Although, as you might have guessed, there are obviously times when I feel that heavy deadlifts should be removed too.
I think it is critical to retain the squatting pattern and the deadlifting pattern (basically a hip hinge), but for some people the risk to the spine is just too great to load these movements heavily. In fact, I just had a conversation on the phone with Dr Stuart McGill about that on the phone this morning.
So the movement patterns are kept and practiced in some form or another (usually unilaterally – which consequently taxes the core to a greater degree to prevent rotation), but I concretely believe that you can’t (and shouldn’t) teach everyone to squat and/or deadlift with weight. There are a lot of alternatives that can benefit the body without injury risk to the spine (especially when the spine has already been injured).
I guess the big picture, as I see it, is not being fixed on making everyone fit into a specific set of unchanging standards. I do have certain foundational principles, but I’m not set on banging square pegs into round holes.
I can certainly appreciate your desire to make people squat properly. In fact, I don’t disagree that you can’t teach most people to do so. The problem comes when someone who knows how to squat properly gets fatigued which causes degeneration of technique resulting in injury. Or it can happen even with good form on someone with a preexisting injury if the flexion forces become too high.
Thanks for the great debate!
Comment by markyoung — August 3, 2009 @ 9:47 AM
Just to finish of this. I just read Mike Boyls article on TN, and I must say that I stand back on this. This really got me thinking and my mind is starting to change on the subject.
Comment by Patrik — August 4, 2009 @ 3:44 PM
Good stuff!
Comment by markyoung — August 4, 2009 @ 8:58 PM