Arnold Knows What Works

There has been an uproar the past few days in the strength and conditioning industry about squatting. Reason being one of the biggest, most successful names in the industry, BU Hockey’s strength coach Michael Boyle, released a new DVD that dismisses the squat from his arsenal. For anyone interested here is the video Death of Squatting

Now single leg strength is in my opinion, one of the most overlooked aspects in training. Every sport except for rowing is preformed unilaterally. And for the people out there whom have never tried to do a one legged squat in any fashion (to a box or in a split stance as in the video) will realize that the stability aspect of a one legged squat is extremely humbling.

Boyle makes the point that the back is the weakest link when squatting, which I 100% agree on. That being said, the back will most likely be the first thing to give when performing squats, often leading to injury.

Now what do we do that the biggest name in our industry says don’t do it? Well with hopes that this will not black ball me from the industry, I believe we do both.

But why?! The goal in athletics is to produce as much force as possible in the shortest amount of time (see power). If a shot putter wants to improve in his event he will often squat because he must be able to transfer force from his feet to his upper body to increase the distance of the throw. And if his “core” musculature (lower back and abdominals) are the weakest link I believe he should train that weakest quality with the highest importance, don’t you think that may be what is holding him back?

As one coach questioned me recently, “Why have our players squat when they could just do a leg press and then planks if those exercises will work all the same muscles?”. The body was designed to work in unison and from a time standpoint why would you not want to get the most bang for you buck?

I am by no means a coach whom believes everyone should squat. Bad back, no way. Poor flexibility and mobility, no way. The risks are way to high to bother with an exercise that if preformed incorrectly can cause serious injury rather easily. In these circumstances I take advantage of the lower load options of single leg squats.

So there you have it, single leg squats are an amazing tool, but are not the end all be all in my book.