So my company has a program with the local 24HR Fitness health clubs. We also get monthly newsletters from them, and the December newsletter caught my eye… They had a section on squats…hehe amusing at best. Thoughts?
Squat Time Is It?
Squatting is one of the best exercises to build leg strength and increase size, but they’re not for everyone. Squats, done correctly put stress on the knee and back but if done incorrectly they can be disastrous. They can be harmful for people with previous knee or back injuries and beginners with limited trunk strength.
Special attention should be given to proper form to limit injury and help isolate the muscles of the leg. Going below a 90 degree bend at the knee increases stress to the knee joints and shifts the muscle emphasis from the legs to the glutes.
Here are some tips to maintain good form and isolate your leg muscles with the least amount of stress and risk of injury:
Your body size/design should determine where you stop, going too low requires you to arch your back, stick your butt out or lean too far forward. Don’t worry about how low you go, it’s the quality of the movement not how far you move the weight or how much weight you move.
Keep your feet shoulder width apart and your knees in alignment. Your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should be lined up throughout the exercise.
Maintain neutral spine alignment and don’t arch your back. Lower yourself with your legs, not your torso or back - after all, this is your leg workout not your back workout.
Keep your whole foot flat on the floor throughout the exercise and focus on pushing through your ankle not the balls of your feet or your toes. If your heels are coming off the floor, you’re going too low.
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Squats, done correctly put stress on the knee and back… [/quote]
LMAO!
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Don’t worry about how low you go, it’s the quality of the movement not how far you move the weight or how much weight you move.[/quote]
ROTFLMAO
I am a sorta noobie (lifting for a foo years, stuffed around, and have finally become serious in the past foo months - coincidently discovering this site and becoming a member), and I know this description is poo…!
[quote]Ruggerlife wrote:
I recognize this style of writing, it’s definately written by Dave Tate!!!
This should count as the article of the day…Note to TC - Don’t post anything today, we’ve already been given enough to digest for the week-end.[/quote]
Duh, why would anyone “arch” ones low back when squatting? That might distribute the load more evenly throughout the spine. Can’t have THAT can we? I KNEW Dave Tate was full of
$#!T.
A-holes… How many people do you think this gets distributed to? Downright scary but even MORE scary is that it’s about what you’d expect.
I bet they’d keel over seeing us lift Atlas Stones.
I was in a trainer meeting with a regional fitness director who was giving a presentation on rotator cuff issues. The subject of bench press came up and the recommendation was to have the elbows flared out to the side and not to let the bar come within the same area code as the chest.
I suggested pressing with the elbows closer to the body as an option, specifically to press more weight. (I didn’t have the balls to say elbows flared was atually more stressful to the shoulder joint but I had to say something). The director looked at me like I had the Black Plague and my manager said “then it’s more of a triceps exercise”. I shut up and went back to selling their $95 bottles of Pyruvate to fat women.
…
Keep your feet shoulder width apart and your knees in alignment. Your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should be lined up throughout the exercise.
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So how does that work exactly?
That was my first thought. I’m almost certain I don’t bend that way.
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I know that I can bend in that way while doing a squat. I’m thinking that they are talking about alignment in the sagital plane, not the frontal plane. In other words, don’t let your knees bend inward or outward while doing a squat.
Here are some tips to maintain good form and isolate your leg muscles with the least amount of stress and risk of injury:
Your body size/design should determine where you stop, going too low requires you to arch your back, stick your butt out or lean too far forward. Don’t worry about how low you go, it’s the quality of the movement not how far you move the weight or how much weight you move.
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Technically, if you don’t go to the gym you can avoid injury all together.
“Don’t worry about how low you go, it’s the quality of the movement not how far you move the weight or how much weight you move.”
Notice how they don’t complete the sentence. It’s not clear what high squats with low weight will accomplish, but goshdarnit they want you to do it.
I have an old long-time subscription to the 24hr fatness email newsletter when I used to be a member. I thought of cancelling it, but I find it amusing to see how the tide changes from year to year. I predict the suggestion of GPP, actual use of the word, and Strongman training for something that they found able to sell under their roof.
Other than that reading this squat article didn’t teach me squat. What teaches me squat is squatting onto the toilet.
[quote]Testy1 wrote:
Untrue, how about that nasty couch dismount. Most couch’s are designed much too far from the floor for the general populace.
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Yes, but you don’t sit in them while they’re being designed.