Im Done With Back Squats. Heres Why. Ah, back squats. The King of All Exercises, according to some. Not me. In fact, I just posted on my Facebook page that I would be giving up back squats for good. The reaction was predictable Now in fairness to Innis, hes obviously being facetious and poking fun at the expected response. A lot of people seem to think that you need squats. Well, need is a strong word. And you dont need squatsbut Im not writing an anti squat rant. Hack Squat. The back squat, often performed on a machine, is another leg pressing movement to add hypertrophy to the quadriceps and even glutes. Do you want to learn how to squat, or learn how to squat better If so, this guide will teach you everything you need to know. You dont need squatsbut Im not writing an antisquat rant. Im just going to tell you why Im done with back squats. Post by Gym Geek visit our blog to read the full blog post guide. Barbell Hack Squat Or Front Squat Vs Back' title='Barbell Hack Squat Or Front Squat Vs Back' />Squat vs. Leg Press for Big Legs is a QA addressing the leg press versus squatting argument in terms of gaining lower body size. The barbell front squat is a resistance exercise that works several major muscle groups. Its a compound exercise that can enhance your core strength. Im not even really going to make a compelling case for an alternative. Im just going to tell you why I personally am not going to back squat any more. But first, some history. How I First Started Squatting. I squatted for the first time in my lift at age 1. It was my first year on the high school wrestling team, and my coachPete Kopecky, who, I believe is still the coach therewas all about squats. The first time he put me under the bar, I did 1. He gave me some tips, and by the end of our first team workout, I did 1. I was good at squatting. With a low center of gravity, short ROM and generally high concentration of fast twitch muscle fibers, it was an exercise I excelled at. Resultantly, I liked it. For an understanding of why, check out this post. I continued squatting, and quickly became enthralled with adding more weight to the bar. In just three weeks, I got to two plates. During my sophomore year, I hit three platesmore than anyone on the team. Some time around the end of my senior year, I weighed in at a chubby 1. Felt good. Eventually I got lean and found bodybuilding I learned how to squat ass to ankles instead of just going to parallel, as I had been previously. I had to drop my numbers back a bit, but I worked on both full squats and parallel squats for a few years. By the time I was 2. I had built up a lot of strength andbetween squats and various training programsa decent physique. At my strongest, I was able to squat 5. The Injury, Layoff, and Re Entry. That year 2. 00. I suffered my first knee injury  I tore the medial meniscus in my left leg during, of all things, a game of paintball. Obviously, I had to back off off the leg training for a while. Sadly, it wasnt long enough I came back in just 6 months, and somehow wound up tearing both the medial and lateral menisci in my right leg. Im not even sure how it happenedafter about two weeks of pain and being unable to train or, in fact, get in or out of my car without extreme effort I went to the doc. Now two surgeries in, I spent a year taking it easy on the ol knees. Although I worked back squats in after a long break, they always made me very nervous. Was Ist Das Die Philosophie Heidegger Pdf. Perhaps it was because I could actually feel the instability, perhaps it was because I was always using pretty heavy weight. Whatever it was, I just felt nervous. Not wanting to re injure my knees, I started trying to train around my injuriesfor longer than I needed to. So, I mostly avoided back squats, using them primarily in complexes and the like, but never as part of a muscle building program. After about 4 5 years of successfully building size and strength without squats, I added them back in. I found that I didnt really care for them. At first, I thought maybe I didnt like them because I wasnt good at themmy long lack of practice had taken its toll, and 3. I reasoned that things would change as I got better. However, it was the opposite the more I did squats, the less I liked them. Although I was lifting heavier weight and making progress with my strength, I didnt experience the surge of awesomeness that I had always fantasized would occur when I was finally able to squat heavy again. I began to dread my squat workouts. This has continued until now. Although Ive been able to squat heavy for the more than a year, I really dont care for it. Recently, I did my Century Sets experiment with back squats, which really sealed it. After 4. 00 reps over a period of 8 weeks, Id pretty much settled it I hated squats. Eventually, that hatred led me to my decision Ill probably never do them again. For me, its not really risk vs reward I dont feel nervous about getting injured, at all. Rather, lets say that the juice isnt worth the squeezethe benefit simply doesnt measure up to the misery. All of which Im removing squats from my programming, because I make it a policy not to do things I dont like. And Why They Dont Apply to MeNow, were just talking about me here, and my experience. But, I do want to make this post useful to you. I want you to think critically about squats, and any other exercise you might be on the fence about consider whether you actually enjoy it, and what youre getting out of it. Try to be objective about why you feel you need to do certain exercises. To help, Ive compiled a list of the Top 5 Reasons you should consider putting squats or any other exercise into your programming. Here ya go, slick You use it to help improve your performance in your sport. You use it for physique enhancementbig quads and general muscularity. You need to be good at it for some specific reason, like competing in power lifting. You want to be good at it. This encompasses the enjoyment derived by having a big squat number. You enjoy it. All of those are great reasons to squat. Actually, theyre great reasons to do anything, really. But, since none of them apply to me, Im not going to do it any more. In the interest of giving you a complete picture, Ill just go down the list. Athletics. First and foremost, I just want to get the Mike Boyle bullshit out of the way. Without question the fact that I said I am not back squatting any more is going to cause a bunch of people to say shit like this In the interest of context, for those who dont know, Mike Boyle came out a few years ago and said we dont need to back squat. He happens to be right, but that has nothing to do with my decision. This stirred up a big internet controversy, as you might imagine. I paid attention peripherally, but neither side had any arguments that changed my opinions drastically. Controversy notwithstanding, Boyle went so far as to say that with regard to squatting, because you can get the benefits from other exercises, you shouldnt do back squats. Instead, he favored unilateral exercises like the Bulgarian split squatwhich, for some reason beyond human comprehension, he labeled rear foot elevated split squats. I suspect its because he hates Bulgaria. EDIT Mike was cool enough to reply, and has a good sense of humor. Heres what he said Anyway, heres a video, if youd like to watchBased on what he said in that clip, it seems he meant ALL bilateral squat movements he mentioned front squats but may also have been including things like goblet squats, Zercher squats, etc. He may also have amended some of his statements or reached new conclusions in the past few years. Im not certain about either and cant be bothered to do any further Googling it because as it turns out I dont give a fuck. So, theres that. Anyway, as mentioned above, my reason for abandoning has nothing to do with that Boyle or his arguments, for a few reasons. Firstly, I dont compete in sports, so I dont really take high level performance into account when I design my programs. Secondly, I happen to disagree with the half of Boyles point. Athletes dont need to back squat, but that doesnt mean they should avoid it. Can they have comparable results with single leg exercisesVery possibly.