Barbell Squat: Worst Exercise in Existence

Bah.

I find that with the pins set up properly squats are a lot safer than most leg press machine out there. You just need to have a strong lower back, no major postural problem and everything is fine.

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
If I wanted to look like him I might listen. Have fun being small flabby and weak. I mean, I know so many casual trainers that go and squat twice their body weight and then mis-step and set off a chain reaction that destroys the earth.

Lines like “the chance of injury squatting is 100%, given a long enough time frame” are golden. You can say that for every physical activity ever. The chance of serious injury showering is 100% given a long enough time frame. Or swimming, or biking, or walking, or driving a car, or taking a dump. I’m going to assume he doesn’t do any of those things either. Which would explain why he’s so full of shit.[/quote]

I thought that was entirely rediculous as well. If you sit on your couch long enough, you will be stabbed. Maybe it take ten thousand years, but yea it will happen. That doesn’t prove anything.

I would love to see a real debate between this guy and Mark Rippetoe, since he brought him up.

His entire argument is based on an incorrect assumption, that the spine is weak. It is not. The spine is meant to deal with compressive forces (like it does in the squat) and deals with them very effectively. He mentions the fact that the vertebrae interlock, that is so they can handle more compression. The spine is definitely not the “weakest joint in the body” as he says. It is one of the strongest, if not the strongest (maybe the hips are stronger).

The spine handles compressive forces all day as you walk around, it is supporting your body. Any healthy male can put a hundred pounds on his back and his spine will support it just fine, because it is built to do so, and it will adapt to supporting heavier loads over time, since that is it’s function.

That’s like saying your ankles won’t adapt to support a heavier body weight as you grow, it’s asinine. BTW, your ankles are much smaller and weaker than your spine, and they support a couple hundred pounds all day your whole life with no problem, not to mention they support the additional weight when you squat with no problem. Why would someone think that the ankles can support a weight but the spine couldn’t? That’s rediculous.

Also, his argument that the squat is the worst and most innefective way to strengthen the legs is also asinine. What is his choice as the most effective leg exercise? Why doesn’t he pick one and challenge Chuck Vogelpohl to beat him at it? Give Vogelpohl a week to learn the exercise, and I would bet everything I own that he would blow this guy out of the water.

I hate it when uneducated people try to sound like an authority in this field. It’s a shame that he is associated with the people that study this discipline (Physical therapists, exercise science guys, etc)

[quote]buckeye girl wrote:
If you’re putting a bar on your neck to squat, you’re doing it wrong. I had to stop there. Too much dumb.[/quote]

Same. I tend to put the bar on my traps which is PROPER FORM, which he has none, so its all neck and spine.

I hate that guy.

watching this has made me want to go and squat, unfortunatley i already squatted today

next video is the one about how dead lifting will put you in the hospital. FAIL.