|
If you’re not squatting, you’re not really training.
You’re playing. Socializing. Perhaps hoping to add an
inch or two to your arms by doing a bunch of upper-body exercises.
But the fact is you’re not going to make any appreciable
gains unless you incorporate a serious squatting routine into
your overall program.
All muscular development starts with some form of strength
training. Without establishing a solid strength base, your
muscles will not grow to any significant degree, and thus
will not have appreciable definition or shape. A prevalent
training misconception is that you can grow by teasing a variety
of muscles with a wide range of exercises without bothering
to use any heavy weights. Teasing the muscles can be effective
for older men, as well as for younger ones who aren’t
really trying to add size to their physiques, but it’s
a big mistake for individuals who are trying to pile on muscle
to their upper body, back and legs.
Likewise, all strength development begins in the center of
the body: the hips and legs. You’ll never be any stronger
than this area of your body. Period. This means you must squat.
Leg presses are certainly beneficial, as are various machines,
but no other exercise even compares to the squat for building
power in the hips and legs.
This is nothing new in bodybuilding. All the greats of the
sport emphasized the full squat, and some of them handled
remarkable poundages. I recently visited with John Grimek,
and he related that only six years ago, while in London, he
used more than 600 pounds in the squat. There was a time when
bodybuilders put competitive weightlifters to shame at the
squat rack. Many would come to the York Barbell Club in the
1960s and destroy the Olympic lifters. Bill St. John could
perform 10 reps with 500 pounds almost effortlessly. Val Vasilef,
Vein Weaver and Dennis Tinerino were equally strong.
Part of the reason for their prowess in the full squat was
that they also competed in Olympic weightlifting meets. But
once the athletic points were eliminated from bodybuilding
shows, many began avoiding the squat rack in favor of more
timid leg movements.
The current trend in bodybuilding light weights for high reps
and partial squats in place of the full-range movement, seems
to be in direct contrast to those super strongmen. Why is
this? It’s certainly not because the lighter weights
or partial movements are more productive; they aren’t.
It’s because it’s easier to do a quarter squat
than a full one, and it’s much easier not to have to
strain under a loaded barbell.
But there is a cardinal rule in strength training: Whenever
you do any exercise in an easier manner, that exercise becomes
less effective. I’m not talking about technique; I’m
talking about effort. In order for squats to be productive,
they have to be worked hard and with heavy weights. If the
final few reps of the final set on a heavy day don’t
make you see the White Buffalo, you didn’t use enough
weight. This may not sound like much fun, and it’s not,
especially at first. But what is fun is to see your poundages
climb and your body grow.
I’m well aware of the arguments against the full squat.
They make your glutes too big. They’re bad for your
knees. Nonsense. Full squats certainly involve the glutes,
but in no way do they work those muscles to a greater extent
than the others. They are worked proportionately, which is
desirable. Why would anyone want large quads and tiny glutes?
Muscular glutes do not detract from a physique; on the contrary,
they improve it. Mr. Olympia Sergio Oliva came from an Olympic
weightlifting background, so he always did lots of deep squats,
and his lower body was fantastic and perfectly proportioned.
As to the potential for damaging your knees by doing full
squats, it’s been proved over and over that full squats
are actually less damaging to the knee joints than partial
movements. The National Strength Coaches Association, which
deals with athletes who engage in contact sports, has gone
on record in favor of full squats. The reason is fairly simple:
Whenever a person stops anywhere above the parallel position,
the responsibility of stopping the resistance falls directly
on the knees. But once the thighs go below parallel, even
slightly, the stress transfers from the knees to the hips,
adductors and leg biceps.
In many instances, individuals perform partial squats rather
than full squats because their instructors don’t know
how to teach the full movement correctly. So to hide their
ignorance, they use one or more of the standard arguments
against full squats. In truth, they are doing their students
a disservice.
When taught correctly, full squats are one of the safest strength-training
exercises. There are 10 times more injuries to the shoulders
from doing bench presses than there are to the quads and back
from doing squats. Squatting is also one of the easiest exercises
for a beginner to learn, because it is a natural movement.
Just watch small children: They squat perfectly. True, the
movement might be a bit more difficult to perform correctly
as a person grows older, but this is because of a loss of
flexibility.
THE FULL SQUAT
Positioning the bar properly on your back is quite important:
The pressure of the barbell on the upper back causes more
discomfort for beginners than any other aspect of the exercise.
The problem is that the lifter, feeling the pain, tries to
pull away from the bar, which places even more pressure on
his spine. The trick is to shrug your traps upward to create
a ledge on which to cushion the bar.
Your hand spacing should be fairly narrow. A closer hand spacing
will help you stabilize the bar on your upper back. It’s
critical to lock the bar tightly in place, because any movement
will result in discomfort.
Proper foot positioning depends on your height. In the basic
stance, your feet should be spaced slightly wider than your
shoulders, while your toes should be turned slightly outward.
Taller people usually find that a wider stance works well
for them, although a bit of experimentation will help you
find the stance that best suits you. Just make sure you’re
able to go below parallel without your heels coming off the
floor. If keeping them on the floor presents a major problem,
try placing a small plate or block under your heels at the
beginning. But don’t use this aid for an extended period
of time, because elevating your heels places your knees in
a more vulnerable position. The tendency of your heels to
come off the floor merely reflects a lack of flexibility in
the rear portion of your lower legs, and performing squats
will actually improve this flexibility.
Before you start down with the weight, take a moment to tighten
your entire back. The squat is as much a back exercise as
it is a leg exercise. If you relax your back at all, the bar
will not stay in the correct position throughout the entire
movement. So pull your shoulder blades together and tense
your lower-back muscles.
With the bar fixed tightly to your back in a controlled manner,
squat until your thighs are just below the parallel position.
(A mirror is a most useful training aid for this purpose.)
You need not go to rock bottom, but breaking parallel is extremely
important. Full squats not only protect your knees, but they
are also essential for complete, proportionate muscle development.
Once you break parallel, you involve your adductors and leg
biceps to a much greater extent than you would if you merely
did a partial rep. The advantages of this for a bodybuilder
are obvious, but there is another, often overlooked, benefit.
If you do only partial squats, you can handle heavy weight
relatively quickly. Partial squats do hit the quads, but they
neglect the adductors and leg biceps. The result is disproportionate
development, which inevitably leads to problems down the road.
Performing full squats guarantees balanced development among
all the muscles of the hips and legs.
Once you reach this below-parallel position, drive the weight
back upward, think of exploding into the bar with your back.
The squat is really a strength feat, not a tame exercise.
Certainly you can toy with lighter weights, but when the weight
gets heavy, you have to be prepared to apply your full effort,
and this is best accomplished by practicing it during every
set.
Since everyone is built differently, form will vary from individual
to individual. Some do better with an upright posture and
a relatively wide stance. Others are better served by leaning
forward slightly and adopting a narrower stance.
What about positioning your head while squatting: Should you
look up or down? Neither. Your head should be allowed to “float”
freely on the top of your spine. It’s
all right to orient your head slightly up or down, but the
angle should never be extreme.
Breathing is another important consideration for beginners.
Take a breath before you start down with the bar, then hold
that breath until you’ve passed the sticking point during
the upward portion of the rep. Reset at the top, take one
or two breaths, then descend again for the next rep. You don’t
want to breathe during the exercise itself, this causes the
muscles to relax ever so slightly and is not conducive to
handling maximum poundages.
There are a few things you should never do when squatting.
Never bounce off the bottom position. This is common sense:
If you continually jam into the bottom of the movement, you’re
going to irritate your knees, hips, back or all three.
Also, don’t allow your back to round too much. A little
is okay, but if your heavy squats resemble good mornings,
you’ve got a problem. If you find that your knees turn
inward during squats, you most likely have comparatively weak
adductors. To remedy this, get in some extra work on an adductor
machine or, if your gym doesn’t have that apparatus,
do some squats using an extra wide stance and lighter weight
(a Smith machine works well for these).
THE FRONT SQUAT
Unfortunately, this exercise has all but disappeared from
bodybuilding routines. At one time, however, it formed a primary
part of every program; again, because in those days most bodybuilders
were also competitive weightlifters, and they did front squats
to help them in the clean and jerk. The movement is most useful
because it forces the lifter to go very low, which activates
some new muscle development.
I believe that it’s important for anyone wanting to
do front squats to learn to rack the bar firmly on his front
delts, rather than having it lie across his delts with crossed
arms. The bar must be grasped firmly with both hands, elbows
under the bar. While the crossed-arms method is certainly
easier to use, it will never allow you to handle really heavy
weights. Typically, a person lacks flexibility in the shoulder
girdle when trying front squats for the first time, but all
it takes is some stretching movements to learn how to rack
the bar correctly.
I like front squats because they force the lifter to stay
upright, which makes them particularly useful for individuals
who habitually lean too far forward when doing full squats.
They’re also useful for those who have trouble going
below parallel with full squats. Any attempt to shorten the
range of motion of a front squat only makes it harder to complete.
I recommend performing sets of only three reps for front squats.
No matter how firm the positioning, the bar will still slide
forward a little on each rep, and it’s risky if it shifts
too far forward. Better to perform extra sets of low reps
and maintain perfect form.
Front squats do a nice job of developing the very front portion
of the quads while working the hips, leg biceps and adductors
as well.
THE SMITH ALTERNATIVE
The Smith machine is a useful component of any overall squatting
program. It’s particularly effective as part of a rehab
regimen, because the movement is so controlled. It’s
also useful for hitting some of the smaller muscle groups
that are difficult to isolate with regular squats. What’s
more, the quads can really be attacked by placing your feet
out in front of the bar on the Smith and going extra deep
on the downstroke. It would be impossible to duplicate this
movement using regular squats. But the Smith machine should
be used only as an adjunct to full squats, never as a replacement
for them. Keep in mind that with any type of machine, there
is not nearly as much tendon and ligament involvement as there
is with free-weight movements. These attachments are the true
sources of strength.
So if you haven’t been squatting, it’s time to
start. If you’ve been playing with light weights, start
piling on the plates. Master the squat and everything else
will follow.
Related Articles
Complete Guide to
Squatting
Squats or Leg Presses
The Safe Squat
| Popular Products! |
Nitrix
Nitrix has just tapped into one of the most powerful
muscle building.. |
|
Dymatize
Glutamine
L-Glutamine, the free form amino acid, is the
single most abundant..
|
|
AST
GABA
There have been literally hundreds of clinical
studies on GABA and numerous studies on GABA’s.. |
|
