Why You Should Squat

I could write an entire book for all of the excuses people give for not performing the squat exercise. It would be easy for me to join in with them, I have 7 pieces of titanium located in my spinal column. Yet I still continue to squat every week, not as heavy admittedly but because I know that when selecting my choice from all leg exercises, squats are the king. Therefore, I intend to provide plenty of information on why you should squat and why squatting may be one of the most important exercises you can do.

The squat and also the deadlift are 2 of the most functional exercises used every day. Just think about how many times a day you squat down in a chair, or on the toilet, when you get a saucepan out of the bottom cupboard or pick something up off the floor, like a bag of groceries.

Squatting works on the largest muscles in your body - the quadriceps (front of thigh), adductors (inside of thigh), gluteals (buttocks), hamstrings (back of thigh), gastrocnemius and soleus complex (calf), and erector spinae (back). Squats can also help you develop flexibility around your hips and calves, when you follow proper form and gradually increase your Range of Motion (ROM).

Squats have the added benefit of being a free-weight and weight-bearing exercise. Free weights have many advantages over machines and free-weight squats specifically have been shown to improve bone density because of the ‘mechanical loading’ on our skeletal system.

If you are an athlete involved in a sport or if you want to be more athletic, squats offer exceptional preparation. The muscles used during squatting are the same muscles used for jumping, sprinting, and running. Squats provide the perfect transfer to the biomechanically similar motions of most ground-based sports. Newton’s 3rd laws state that ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’. Therefore the more force you can push through your legs, the more force you get back from the floor. If you squat 300kg on a bar, the floor pushes back with this amount (plus your bodyweight) So if you are interested in running faster, lunging for that out-of-reach tennis ball, or jumping up for a ball in a lineout, squats should be an essential component of your training program.

For those of you who are not training for a sport, squats burn a large amount of calories and stimulate the cardiovascular system. With the additional muscle that has hypertrophied onto your legs and back etc, your resting metabolic rate will increase even more and allow you to burn some calories by just lounging on the couch. Therefore, you will not only burn lots of calories during the squat, but you will also likely burn calories in the 24 hours after your squat workout, because of the intensity and heavy nature of the exercise.

Squatting has an extra bonus especially for women who are more prone to osteoporosis. It has the potential to increase the bone density of the spine, hips, and legs, which may help prevent osteoporosis. Squats mechanically load the axial skeleton (the head, spine and pelvic girdle) and the spine has to hold the weight upright. It then distributes the weight to the rest of the body that includes the appendicular skeleton (arms and particularly the legs). Strong, dense bone matrices can handle more stress and are less likely to fracture. Because the barbell loads weight on your shoulders and spine and your leg muscles work as they never have before, squatting may be the one answer osteoporosis prevention as well.

Aren’t squats bad for my knees?

A popular belief is that squatting hurts your knees and puts too much pressure on your back. Actually, it is the lack of squatting and using your leg muscles as they were meant to be used that can harm you. It is more dangerous not to squat than it is to squat, provided that you know the proper mechanics and maintain good form.

Squatting is an everyday occurrence in life so why not make these activities easier on us and on our joints by training our muscles to perform these movements? When the legs are weak and cannot do a sufficient job, the next stress point up the body is the low back. Weak quads and hams can also contribute to injury because of their inability to stabilize and decelerate joints during high-level activities. For example, when you are running to hit a tennis shot and stop short, if your muscles cannot absorb that force, they might tear. Squats are also the best choice for a leg exercise that minimizes joint compression force.

Compared to the leg extension machine, squatting allows the patellofemoral forces to be more evenly distributed and dissipated. There is no evidence that squats can cause injuries in women because their bone structure is different than men. Of course, you can hurt yourself if you aren't careful. If you drop down into your squat too quickly and bounce out of the bottom position, the knee cartilage (menisci) can be squeezed and twisted, resulting in wear and tear and eventual breakdown.

Any exercise has the potential to hurt you if you do it improperly. With good form and a gradual increase in intensity, squats can be one of the safest and most functional exercises you'll ever perform.

How to Squat

If you've never squatted before, stand in front of a mirror, start with just your body weight and a stick for the bar, and practice proper form diligently. You may want to have your form evaluated by a qualified person. Even a friend who has read this information can give you good feedback. Start with feet approximately shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward. Work on keeping your whole foot firmly on the ground while sinking your hips low and in between your heels.

Go as low as you can while still maintaining a slight arch in your low back-hat is, the back should be slightly arched rather than flat, neutral, or rounded, keeping your upper back as upright as possible, and keeping your head up. Make sure your ascent is straight up and devoid of the twists and turns that can place additional stress on the body.

If you do not have a partner available, squat facing a mirror until you master the technique. That way you can check to see of your knees stay in line or if your heels are coming off the floor, which you do not want. I would also recommend squatting in a closed ‘rack’ with the safety bars set at a height that will prevent you being crushed should you fail on any lift. That statement is not meant to frighten you or put you off, rather it’s meant to instil good habits and practice into your lifting.

Questions you may be thinking now are, how low should I go or is a wider stance better? There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to squatting. When determining how deep to squat, consider that research has shown that quadriceps activity is the greatest when the knee is near full flexion-that means squatting as low as possible. Deep squats are not harmful to the knee-as the knee flexes, although joint compression force increases, the load is more evenly distributed.

From a neuromuscular and functionality point of view, full range-of-motion exercises are always the most beneficial because they recruit the most muscles and nerves. The real dangers of going low are failing to practice depth with lighter loads before you attempt the big ones and twisting or bouncing to get up from the bottom position. Think about when you bend down to pick something up. If you can’t squat down to a point where your thighs are parallel to the floor then you shouldn’t be squatting past that angle with a weight on your back in a ‘loaded position’. Rather you should be staying within your comfortable ROM and addressing your flexibility issues instead of increasing the risk of injury through poor technique.

Some believe that altering foot position for a squat works different muscles. Many research studies have shown that a foot position wider than shoulder-width might make the buttocks and adductors work a little more, but changes in stance width do not isolate different quadriceps muscles, as all 4 heads of the quads are activated.

If you are interested in lifting more weight, like a powerlifter, a wider stance is better as the wider stance increases your base of support and balance. Also using this method, you will have shortened the length you have to go to reach parallel, similar to using a wide grip on the bench press. Ultimately you should position your feet where you are comfortable and stable and can most easily squat as we are all anatomically different.

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