Second Nature Fitness

   If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, chances are you’ve heard me mention the squat. It is one of the basic foundational movements that I teach every person who comes through the door (barring extreme injury/condition). As I’ve mentioned before, though, the squat gets a bad rap, which doesn’t exactly add up in my mind, as people have been bending and squatting for the whole of human history, and still continue to do so to this day. Why in the last 30-40 years has the squat all-of-the-sudden become dangerous in the west?

   Part of this misconception could be attributed to the fact that strength athletes have begun to move extremely heavy weights in the past several decades - a practice which has trickled down to younger athletes, amateurs and “average” gym-goers, thus increasing injuries not only on the elite level (extreme stress on the body/joints due to extraordinary numbers), but also injuries based on un-preparedness to move heavy weights in the general population. It is not the weights themselves that are to blame, but the impatience of the amateur lifter: high-level athletes spend years training and preparing the joints and ligaments, which take longer to strengthen than muscles. The untrained amateur may rush to lift heavier weights before his body has fully adapted, assuming since his muscles are getting stronger his joints/ligaments are similarly prepared.

   Injuries like this become anecdotal evidence of a movement’s (in this case the squat) “danger” and perpetuate myths that villainize movements outright, with no attention paid to particulars that can transform a movement from potentially damaging to crucially. The root of this “squat fear” (amongst other movement phobias) can be traced to lack of education. It is common practice in Western medicine and personal training to say, “if you can’t already do it correctly, then don’t ever do it.” It’s this avoid-at-all-costs mentality that perpetuates fear in the general population, when it is more laziness on the coaching side than danger in the movement.

   Look at any personal training manual and you’ll see the supposedly ideal form that is expected: back straight, knees and feet pointed straight forward, feet hip-width apart and femurs parallel to the ground at the bottom of the squat. All other biomechanical issues (primarily lack of depth) aside, this is not a realistic squat. Sure, some people can pull it off, but have you ever seen any strength sport athlete squat like this? It’s not an efficient way to move weight. For most people this position will shut down the hips, remove any and all posterior chain (back/glutes/hamstrings) recruitment, possibly cause the knees to buckle (due to adductor weakness and hip angle) and put undue stress on the knees. It is a theoretical way to squat - an academic interpretation of how someone should squat, assuming all things on all people are equal. Funny thing, though: we’re all different. Special and unique snowflakes, all of us.

   To safely and effectively teach someone how to squat, individual differences must be accounted for - body proportions, lever lengths, previous injuries, tension patterns, natural flexibility (we all have it in certain ways). The squat isn’t a movement that you can show someone a stock example of and say, “do this.” It must be adapted to the individual to account for their particulars, and thoroughly taught to ensure safety and biomechanical effectiveness. Some can’t squat, ever - but it’s a much smaller portion of the population than you might imagine. There are many, many people walking/limping around out there claiming they can’t squat, when in reality they can (and should), but just haven’t been taught how to do it correctly.

   Stay tuned for our next post when I’ll delve into the details of this wonderful movement - the squat.