Getting Fit With Squats

By: Mick Hart

Squatters On Squats And Squatting

If someone down the gym tells you that their favourite exercise is squats, well they would be either genetically gifted, they may be a masochist or just a bullshiter. While squatting is as a natural position as resting or having a pee, it is in fact as unnatural as my x wife's tits when having a heavy weight crushing into your neck and straightening up from a curved spine position. Although it is an unnatural movement it doesn't mean it isn't a quality exercise, but the normal reaction would be that you get it over and done with asap.

One of the all time great squatters would have been the late Paul Anderson who was unofficially crowned the "Worlds Strongest Man". He once said that he must have done thousands of squats while training but that he had detested every single one of them and went on to say that he could no way understand anyone he said the contrary. It is a sad fact that squats hurt but that they are an essential part of any body-building routine.

Doing knee bends with a barbell across the back of the neck, aching chest and gasping for breath, may actually be pleasurable for those most suited being the mesomorph and endomorph mixes. If you as a normal guy would like to cut back on a bit of pain then try rolling up towels around the bar and perhaps don't dip quite so low and keep the bar parallel. This is a much more comfortable approach to the exercise and is a lot more suitable for those of you who are more likely to be doing this exercise...the skinny guys.

Going back to genetics again, those who are naturally muscular will probably never enter a gym in their lives, but so what if you are naturally gifted. So back to the skinny guys again who really do have the desire to see both muscle and strength gains and who will really keep at it. I don't expect you knew that George Eiferman could carry out 150 consecutive squat reps? - and on one leg!

Now if we are going to take strength training seriously then our schedule must include squats or some form of knee bends. You may come across coaches that are against this form of exercise saying it could lead to hip/knee joint injuries and then there are some of the old boys who claim that their joint problems are a result of heavy squats, such as Grimik who still did squats in his 70's but subsequently required a hip replacement.

You can actually go over the top when it comes to protecting your joints with wraps as development results can be affected. Although the idea is for wraps to prevent injury, if you do over do it, well it can cause the joints and connective tissues to weaken. n the other hand a competing weightlifter would benefit through being able to lift more as well as protecting himself from serious injury.

Body-builders are more concerned about development though so it is probably best not to use them and if you've got quite short leg bones then you can get better leverage and really get right down and be able to squat onto your backside. We have already seen that squatting is as natural as sitting, but lifting twice our body weight in that position will only lead to putting stress on our spinal column and knee joints.

It would be quite true to say that those who can actually get right down on squats or squat snatches and continue to straighten up without causing themselves a nasty injury are certainly not in the majority. This obviously applies to heavy squats and I would like to carry on with this exercise in part 2.

  Top of Page