“The squat is a functional exercise.” Is it though? The answer is, it depends.
I’ve been a personal trainer for almost 10 years now, and seen the squat evolve in modern fitness and athletics. If you are still using the traditional barbell squat as your only squatting movement, it’s time to evolve or get left behind (with your behind). Is this going to be a condemnation of the back squat?
No! The barbell back squat, just like any squat, can be beneficial for building strength and mass. And as I’ll talk about below, some athletes center much of their training around it. But I want to address the topic of functional squats because I believe there is undue focus placed on traditional squats while there exists an entire world of fun, engaging, multi-planar squats that are safer for recreational athletes. I’ll explain why most people, especially those just beginning to exercise with resistance, are better off using other squat variations and other exercises altogether.
Squats aren’t
like snuggies
First of all, there isn’t much that’s truly functional about the squat, unless it’s a squat that’s functional for you. Let’s look at what functional means. One definition defines it as “designed to be practical and useful”. In the world of fitness, this goes a little further and denotes exercise that is practical and complementary to the activities of one’s life. So, functional exercise should help to prepare for and meet the demands placed upon a person regularly. If you are a professional football player your day-to-day activities might include sprints, fast pivoting maneuvers, and tackling people to the ground like hungry lions. For an average aging adult, basic functions like loading up groceries, chasing children around the house, and mowing the lawn might be important daily functions. Besides the day to day functions, there are also one’s future goals and desires to consider. For example, the functional needs of someone that wants to hike the Pacific Crest Trail will be much different than those of someone wanting to become proficient at surfing, or someone that simply wants to put on a lot of lean muscle mass.
So, before you start clicking on YouTube and Instagram videos of squat workouts promising bouncy bottoms or shredded legs, ask “which squats are functional for ME?” Chances are, you don’t have a whole lot of stationary, back loaded, linear squatting movements in your daily routine, right? “Well, I am doing them simply to build the muscles,” you say. The truth is, most people do not have the range of motion (external shoulder rotation, or calf flexibility for ankle flexion, for example), core stability (to resist over-extending the spine and balance load), and technical self awareness to perform the traditional loaded back squat safely and properly.
So your squats might not even be functionally improving your squats. Imagine that. There has been much debate over the years regarding foot stance and squat depth. But even on these subjects, it’s not black and white. A neutral stance with toes facing forward, and a squat with the thighs landing at or above parallel has been shown in some studies to have the least amount of risk. However, some will argue that toes angled out and increased depth are better since they will activate more muscles and produce more force.
Again, it depends. It depends on the present flexibility and mobility of the joints that are taking the stress. Assessment is golden. The kinetic chain (the interrelated muscles, joints, and bones of the body that are all connected through movement) is similar to other systems in the body such as the digestive system in that it may take a qualified professional to assess and determine where dysfunction lies. In this chain, dysfunction somewhere always causes dysfunction somewhere else.
A corrective exercise specialist can assess movement quality and joint range of motion. When a professional assesses your movement for possible imbalances, they will notice patterns and limitations that can be corrected with the right exercises and/or soft tissue work. If a client presents indicators that certain muscles may be overactive and others under active, I am not going to put them in a squat position that exacerbates their imbalances. If you just started going to the gym, it’s important that you know where your joints are at, and where your body is at. Most facilities offer free assessments from a professional, so take advantage! Do not look around and copy what you see others doing. Squats aren’t like snuggies, they aren’t one size fits all!
Try squat heavy?
An exception to this lies in the case of someone specifically competing in powerlifting or Olympic lifting, in which the back squat is either a competitive event or essential to training. It appears that heavier loads can typically be lifted with the back squat compared to the front squat, so in a competition where lifting the most weight wins, such as powerlifting, one would need to learn to perform exceptional back squats.
You won’t really see professionals doing only back squats all the time though. At that competitive level, most of them know that to strengthen their knees for the heavy compressive forces on them, and produce the necessary mobility in the ankles for back squats, they need to vary it up! In this case, while traditional squats would be a big part of the training program, a balanced approach will always include other variations to address imbalances and correct faulty movement patterns in a functional way.
In fact, most professional Olympic lifting coaches would spend weeks, maybe months, just establishing mobility, stability, and flexibility with a client before even attempting a barbell back squat! My clients who wish to perform them will do enormous amounts of single leg mobility drills and single leg strengthening in multiple planes of motion before they touch a barbell, or squat with any weight on their back for that matter. An athlete who is specifically training for Olympic lifting will spend a lot of time on the foam roller, and a lot of time on drills. Even with a lot of attention to detail, there is risk. But that’s just it. They are sports. With any competitive sport there are risks that the athlete must accept and hopefully mitigate as much as possible. The question now is, what category do you fall into?
Without assessing, it’s guessing
If you are set on performing barbell back squats, I suggest you undergo a professional assessment and begin preparing your joints for what that demands. If your goals are not competitive, however, lose the barbell back squat and introduce squats that are fun and functional for you, and specifically cater to your needs and aspirations.
Single leg squats, lunges, hinges, and bridges all strengthen the muscles and prep the joints for heavier lifting later.
I suggest allowing a pro to build a progressive systematic program for you, but you can also get ideas for squat variations and lower body exercises from reliable sources like nasm.org and acefitness.org (which actually has a free exercise library). These are both organizations that certify personal trainers and I personally prefer them over fitness magazines and blogs.
Either way, I hope this sparked an internal dialogue. Make safety and functionality priority over heavy weight when it comes to squats, your body will thank you!
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Cynthia Fowler is a certified personal trainer (NASM), corrective exercise specialist (NASM), registered vinyasa yoga teacher (RYT 200), certified Enhance fitness teacher, group exercise instructor (TRX, Indoor cycling, HIIT, SMR, etc), owner of FoundationUp Fitness, blogger, and health coach. She can be contacted through her website at foundationupfitness.com or directly at Cynthia@fullyfreely.com.
