“You’ve got to squat”, “Everybody should squat”, “Without squats, your overall results will suck.” There’s nothing like these statements to put the wind up someone who really struggles with squatting, eh?
Simply put – there is more than one type of squat, and I’m going to cover several in this article. But, the type of ‘squat’ most people are referring to when they say you need to squat is the regular barbell-across-the-back squat.
It’s the best exercise there is for building the thighs. Some peoples thighs.
The problem is, some people just aren’t built right to get maximum benefit from this exercise – and they are constantly being hammered into doing it, even though an exercise of far less traditional value to the thighs – such as lunges – would be more beneficial to them.
Without doubt, the best, easiest squatters are those who have long torsos and short legs. They can squat keeping their torso almost bolt upright. Great for them – they tend to have no trouble squatting, and the benefits for their thighs are maximum.
On the other end of the spectrum you’ve the guys and girls who have short torso’s and long legs, and, in order to retain balance they need to lean so far forward their thighs are taken out of the squat a fair deal, and much more pressure is placed on the glutes and the lower back – which isn’t what you want.
For those who struggle to squat in the traditional way, there are squatting exercises you can do such as machine hack squats, free weight hack squats, and hack squats using a smith machine – maybe with you feet slightly forward to hit the quads more.
Heck, you may even be able to do front barbell squats – but if regular barbell squats aren’t doing you justice and you really struggle to keep good form, or you do squat with good form but it’s still not working out for you – drop it and do another kind of squat. It’ll be the best thing you do.