That’s just how it is: there is no perfect exercise. When some exercise has been praised for years (even decades), sooner or later researchers come forward with experimental results claiming that this long-respected and supposedly safe exercise is in fact harmful to the skeleton in some way and not recommended. Be that as it may, today I intend to write about the squat again, and in more depth.
True, a lot has been written about this exercise, and probably even more has been said. Here on fitness.ee, too, a three-part article on the squat that I translated was published a couple of years ago. It is thorough, so thorough that you could ask what else there is left to know about this exercise. Of course, there is nothing fundamentally new to add, but in the meantime a number of insights and experiences have accumulated that help to unpack the nature of the squat as an exercise even more thoroughly. I will also look at the different ways of squatting and the risks of practicing each of them.
What prompted me to write this article is that quite a few lifters probably still don’t know that squatting is not just squatting. There are many ways to squat, and the squat can load our body, different muscles and joints, quite differently. I believe every educated gym-goer should know what is being worked, or what is being loaded, when I squat one way, and where the emphasis of the training load falls when I squat a little differently.
The reason I titled the piece the way you may have read it is that, truly, there is no perfect exercise, and how we squat is a matter of choice. Perfect in the sense that every exercise loads some joints more and others less. The effect is even more pronounced when we train with heavy weights. The same goes for the squat, and that is what I want to reflect on.
It is clear that nobody should doubt the importance of the squat any longer. I certainly don’t: it is the king of all exercises. I do have a leg extension machine, a leg press and a Hack machine, but 2/3 of my leg development I can credit to the squat and only the squat… that is a plain fact. That’s why leaving the squat out of training programs altogether shouldn’t even be considered. That is how it is for me, but surely many other lifters feel the same.
It has long been known that you can squat in many ways, and there are plenty of squat variations. But sticking with the traditional squat (bar on the upper back), we can talk about two different ways of squatting… the powerlifters’ squat and the classical lifters’ squat (you could probably say the bodybuilders’ squat as well). Many people (especially those just starting to train) may not know that in these two squat variants the emphasis of the training load falls on different muscles, and on different joints too.
In the powerlifters’ squat the bar sits more on the back, not so much on the “neck”. The stance is wider than shoulder width, and the weight is squatted up mainly with the hip extensors (the glutes and the hamstrings, plus the spinal erectors). If you compare the actual work done when squatting in a wide powerlifting style with squatting in a more upright position, in the powerlifting style the weight has to travel down considerably less than in the upright squat (to achieve a squat that meets the rules).
The more upright you squat while also letting your knees travel past your toes, the more the quadriceps are loaded during the squat. For the squat to meet the definition of a squat, with a high bar position and an upright torso you have to do considerably more work and squat down further. At first glance this second variant might seem especially good for bodybuilders, but here lies the real dilemma, because not everything can always be judged so straightforwardly… first, which muscles you want to prioritize training with the squat, and second, injuries and how much training load you let the squat place on which joints.
Much has been said about proper squat technique. The most common description of safe squat technique, in very brief form, goes like this: the bar sits on the middle of the trapezius, feet shoulder-width apart and parallel or with the toes turned slightly outward, eyes forward. To start the squat, first push your hips (butt) back; the back must be straight or arched, and the knees move parallel or slightly outward, the knees should not go noticeably past the toes. At the bottom you must not bounce, and coming up out of the squat we should push mainly through the heels.
For quite a few years I shared this view and believed it was the only right one. And it is right, after all. True, as a coach I still recommend similar technique to young lifters. The technique described above is a relatively good option and safe for the joints (especially the knee joints). But as an active competitor, a bodybuilder who loves squatting and keeps experimenting with it diligently, I have come to understand that I can’t squat based on that technique description alone, and that in the interest of complete development you always have to pay a price somewhere.
When in 2007, after a competition in Latvia, I decided to train with somewhat heavier weights, I also learned the squat variant described above. True, I have never been a wide-stance squatter, but I did get the hang of pushing the hips back and not letting the knees pass the toes. That was good… it was good, because before that I had squatted too, but had always let my knees travel quite a bit past my toes, and the emphasis during the squat was clearly on the knees. As a result I suffered quite a lot from knee injuries and pain as well. Since I stopped letting my knees go past my toes, I haven’t felt knee pain again. But that is only one side of the matter; the training load has to go somewhere. And it does… when you squat in the powerlifting style, pushing the butt back (squatting from the hips) does take a large part of the training load off the knees, but it falls instead on the hip joints (1). This, by the way, has been established repeatedly in scientific experiments. Likewise, if we squat so that the knees don’t go far past the toes, then our upper body has to lean forward all the more as we descend (to keep our balance and avoid falling over), but a greater forward lean of the torso in turn increases the negative shear forces on the vertebrae of the spine (1). So you see, we are facing a dilemma… which joint (or joints) should we load more? Clearly, squatting from the hips with heavy weight for years isn’t healthy either. After squatting seriously heavy for only a couple of years, I experienced it myself: my hips started to crack with a terrible noise, and now and then to hurt.
I certainly don’t want to give the impression that “look, the squat is bad.” Absolutely not… the squat is good and you have to squat. As for the various ailments, I’ll simply say that if you’re doing things, things happen… everything that moves wears out.
That’s not all. As bodybuilders, we have one more problem that comes with practicing the powerlifting-style squat, which is safer for the knees. It’s a disproportionately big butt, which I too had the honor of experiencing :). Moving big numbers felt great, and it dulled any sense of proportion. Strictly speaking, that wasn’t the goal back then (2007 – 2008) either, but yes, the growth of the butt was noticeable.
There is one more important point. When I analyze it now, but also back during my heavy squatting period, I sometimes caught myself thinking: “isn’t it odd that after squatting my butt and hamstrings are left insanely sore, but the quads always end up only barely sore somehow, given such effort and such weights?”
Well, the reason is obviously known. When a man squats from the hips, off the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, and also the spinal erectors), the quads are working minimally.
So how should you squat, all in all? If you squat with a wider stance, from the hips, with the bar low on the back, we do move bigger weights, but we put a heavy emphasis of the training load on the hip joints. Also, with a restricted squat (knees not allowed past the toes, shins staying almost vertical), the shifting of the vertebrae relative to each other and the negative loads on the vertebrae increase (because during the squat we are forced to lean the upper body forward more). The butt also grows big.
If, however, we squat letting the knees travel past the toes, we do load the front of the thigh effectively and the glutes do less work, but the training load on the knee joint is very high. Unfortunately, the back doesn’t get off the hook with a more upright squat either. Since the bar position is then usually high as well, the distance between the lower back and the bar increases and the lower back has to cope with heavier loads, especially when balance and technique are already starting to falter even slightly because of the heavy weight. What to do and how to proceed, when everything seems bad one way or another?
This is the “point” where we need to think it through and analyze… what, for whom, how much and how? Powerlifters, of course, squat the way they squat. That technique is fully justified, too. Never mind that the squat depth is shorter: the top of the hip is lowered to the same level as the knees, or slightly below, since the rules don’t demand more. And this is mostly done with a wide stance and an emphasized backward movement of the hips. In powerlifters, the hip joints carry the heavy training load. But when it comes to squat vs. hip joints vs. knee joints, let it be said
that concentrating the emphasis of the training load on the hips through the appropriate technique is all the more justified because the hip joints are able to cope with considerably heavier loads than the knee joints. As for the size of the butt, powerlifters don’t care about it… their goal is simply to squat as much as possible within the rules.
So how should a bodybuilder squat, and also a regular gym-goer who wants to change their body shape?
It’s clear that a bodybuilder, who has to take the proportional development of different body areas into account, cannot always follow the squat technique described above, which is more common in the world of powerlifting. There are two important aspects that a bodybuilder must start from when squatting, in the interest of balanced development: first, the squat should ensure sufficient development of the quadriceps, and second, it’s important to squat in a way that doesn’t overload the glutes.
How can the aspects mentioned above be put into practice when squatting? There are ways, but obviously it’s not possible to squat so that only the front of the thigh works and the glutes are completely out of the picture. The fact is that if we want to put the emphasis of the training load on the front of the thigh, we have to let the knees travel past the toes while squatting and try to rise out of the squat by pressing through the balls of the feet. True, this contradicts many descriptions of squat technique, but that’s how it is. Otherwise we’ll grow ourselves mighty butts, which are neither useful nor aesthetic on a bodybuilding stage. Lately I myself also let my knees go past the toes when squatting, but of course with light weights and longer sets (15 – 30 reps, sometimes even more). I’ve been squatting like this for a year now and my knees haven’t given me any trouble so far. At the same time, it’s quite clear that you really do have to stay moderate with the weight. In addition, I put a 2.5 – 3 cm block under my heels to shift the emphasis to the quads even more. I’ll repeat once more: this squat technique (unrestricted knee travel past the toes) is only an option with light weights; otherwise be prepared for knee injuries.
As for glute involvement in the squat, things are a bit more complicated. Complicated in the sense that it’s not possible to eliminate glute involvement in the squat entirely. Nor is there any need to eliminate it completely, but if we squat twice a week, with heavy weights, very deep and with high volume, the rear end may start to swell excessively. It is, however, possible to regulate glute involvement in the squat to some extent. Glute activation in the squat depends directly on squat depth (2, 3). The deeper you squat, the more actively the glutes work, again confirmed with EMG.
This doesn’t mean that I recommend starting to do quarter squats. These can also be done now and then, but really only now and then, for variety.
To be continued…
Author: Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
