Do you NEED to Squat?

Want glutes? Don’t do this :p Seriously hit the gym & train hard.

Squats are now the big fitness fad, it’s become so absurd that uneducated personal trainers and fitness enthusiast think that squats cure everything….apparently now a days to get strong you have to squat, to get a butt you have to squat, to be anything you NEED to squat. It’s become such a fitness fad that everyone is trying to squat, even if they aren’t prepared to do so or look like this:

The Abuse of Squats

The other day I had a discussion with a fitness enthusiast who wanted to squat but every time they squatted they had back pain. Naturally I asked, “why are you squatting then?” Common sense right??? But the beast that is fitness fads, put in his that you have to squat…it makes you MANLY!!! ……

Then you have uneducated personal trainers touting how you have to squat, “squats are the best thing”, “gotta go ass-to-grass”…blah blah blah. Yet they don’t take into consideration the preparation of the client and their injury history. To top that, most of the squats I’ve seen are just ATROCIOUS! I’ll see 1/4 squats, rounded back, heels coming up, etc… Then the uneducated personal trainer will say “great job that looked beautiful”????!!!… Finally because squats are the “in” thing now, I’ll see personal trainers take the damn squat rack to lift a training bar (15lbs)…

The Truth

Here’s the truth, NOT everyone is built to squat and that is OKAY! There is nothing wrong with not squatting, the point of exercising is to not only look good but feel good. If squatting f’s up your back, why the hell are you squatting then??? You can find other modalities to strengthen your legs and work the glutes out, if thats your goal. Some great examples are:

Bulgarian Split Squats
Reverse Lunges
Step Ups
Deadlifts

Take age into consideration and now you really have to be careful. As a personal trainer in NYC, my focus is to get my clients to their goals through the path of least resistance. If a 60 year old with a past back history wants to get his legs stronger, do I focus on exercises that are least impactful on the lower back and joint or do I through the client in the squat rack? For this situation, squats and deadlifts may not be the best approach to take. Don’t get me wrong, if the person is prepared and can handle squats, GREAT! But MANY personal trainers and fitness enthusiast just squat because it’s the “cool” thing to do. So if you’re feeling joint pain after your squat workouts, maybe you need to take into consideration other exercise modalities such as split squats or reverse lunges. And if you’re very adamant about squatting, you may need to reassess your weak points and go through a strong GPP phase.

Why Do You Squat Then?

After reading the above comments, you may think that I’m being a hypocrite since I do positively talk about squats. While I am a big fan of squatting, I know that some people just can’t handle, and that’s completely fine. To be honest, my body can barely handle it, yet I still squat…with that said, the ONLY reason I squat is because it’s part of my sport (Olympic weightlifting), otherwise I wouldn’t be squatting. My back just can’t take it, it’s a constant UPHILL battle for me to train in the lifts (snatch and clean) and focus on squatting on a weekly basis, training x5-6 times a week. Because of my past history I even have to limit the frequency and total volume of my squats based on how I react to the total intensity of the snatch and clean. If I wasn’t trying to prepare to compete again, I’d give up squats all together and focus on my overall health and fitness level instead of following the fitness trend of “squatting” and not taking into consideration any contraindications.

And trust me fitness ladies, if you want to get a booty, you don’t need squat. In fact most of the people I see squatting, first don’t place any emphasis on the intensity and volume therefore not getting the full benefit of squatting, second they look like crap when they squat = injury = no gym time = no booty… Do other exercises such as pull throughs, reverse lunges, Romanian deadlifts (RDL), leg curls, back extension etc… But be sure to challenge with weight and volume.