Don't Know Trigonometry

And I Bet you don't know squat... About squats. One of the most discussed, misunderstand, maligned, and abused lifts in the gym. How wide should my stance be? Where should the bar rest? How deep should I go? What is the optimal foot position? Front squats versus back squats. And on and on. In future posts, we'll look at more aspects of the squat, but, today, let's take a look at a couple of areas:




Squat Depth- Yes, the old-school "full squat" ( ass to grass) that I performed while growing up is no longer widely recommended due to the high shear force place on the knees. However, as pictured with the Olympic lifter above, full squats are performed by select athletes. Full squats also gave one of my bodybuilding idols, Tom Platz, his legendary wheels(right-wow!)
For our purposes, a full squat ( full ROM or FROM) is a parallel squat; the femur is at a 90 degree angle to the floor. A partial squat is less than that, typically at a 120 degree angle( partial ROM or PROM.)


Larry Craig, Mr. Wide Stance, aside, stance width does not significantly affect muscle activation. More on this in future posts.



Weight Belts- more than a few fellas at my gym strut around in their tightly-cinched weight belts and knee wraps for entire workouts... And not even just on leg day. I'd love to get ahold of them and test the FMS and other core strength indicators. The truth is, for healthy athletes, wearing a weight belt for sub maximal squats is not necessary. An exception would be if the goal of the workout is to maximize lift velocity. So, as usual, the overall goals of the athlete and the specific workout goal are paramount to determining the specifics of the lift.



Leg Press Vs. Leg Press Vs. Squat In most cases, the squat is far superior to either of these other exercises, especially for athletic populations. As always, these other exercise may have their time and place, but generally not for GPP, ADL, or athletic endeavors. The same goes for use of the Smith Machine. It may have its place, but a recent study confirmed the superiority of the squat. There is a 43% increase in gastroc, VM, and biceps femoris EMG activity in the squat versus the Smith Machine.



Unstable Surface Training- once again, in most cases, stable surface squatting is preferable to unstable surface training. Unstable surfaces impair force and power production. There is again, BOSU proponents, uses for this( such as balance training).Please don't send angry tweets.



Finally, EMG activity shows that there is no significant difference in the Front Squat and back squat. The front squat Is a good alternative for beginners and for those who want to reduce low back shear forces.






"Don't know much about history, don't know much biology..." Sam Cooke, the Immortal