The King of Exercises. The squat moves more weight through a larger natural range of motion, recruits more muscle, requires more grit and determination, and invokes a more powerful and wide-ranging adaptive response than any other exercise whatsoever. It is the resistance training movement par excellence. One who can perform a barbell squat properly has taken back the keys to their own body. The squat builds mobility, confidence, courage and strength. 

 

In the Starting Strength model, we perform the low bar back squat to below parallel, in a manner that drives the knees out (but not forward) over the toes. The emphasis of the movement is not on the legs. The legs are of course prime movers for the squat, but the squat is most fundamentally an exercise of the hip chassis, training the critical activation of the posterior kinetic chain we call hip drive. Training hip drive brings the calves, quads, glutes, adductors, and spinal musculature along for the ride--a huge mass of muscle tissue gets involved. This, combined with the heavy weights that can be lifted even by relatively new trainees, makes the squat a powerful tool for building total body strength. It is the cornerstone of our program, and is performed at every session.

 

​Contrary to popular mythology, there is absolutely no good evidence anywhere in the peer-reviewed scientific literature that squats are bad for your knees or back, and a great deal of coaching experience indicates that the opposite is true. Moreover, a growing body of data, including a 2013 systematic review of the literature by Hartmann et al, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, indicates that connective tissues in the knee and spine are strengthened by properfly performed squats, and that deep squats (such as that shown here) produce balanced forces around the knee joint and ligamentous "locking" that promotes stability at the bottom. Properly performed squats strengthen the knees and back. 

 

The fundamentals of a safe, effective squat can be learned in a quarter-hour. Perfecting and strengthening the squat is a lifelong project. We invite you to take part of that journey with us.