Squatter’s rights: what all athletes should know!

Andrew Hamilton looks at the science of squats for athletes, and provides detailed instructions for their safe and effective execution

Many athletes regard heavy weight training with trepidation at best. And when it comes to squats, the reaction is often one of horror! But that’s a huge shame as a large and growing body of solid research suggests that by performing some lower body strength training, many aspects of sports performance can be significantly enhanced. And one of the very best lower body strength exercises of the lot is the squat.

Squat basics

Squats are normally performed using free weights. In the standing position, a weighted barbell is balanced on the rear of the shoulders and steadied by gripping with the hands. The squatter then lowers his or her upper body by bending at the knees, while keeping the back straight until a ‘squat’ position is reached. The movement is then reversed by contracting the muscles of the legs and buttocks and pushing back up to the standing position. There are other versions of squats such as the , but in this article, we will focus on the common barbell squat.

Squats are just about the single most effective strength exercise there is, because they target the largest muscles in the body, including the buttocks, front and rear of the thigh and to a lesser extent, the muscles of the lower back. The powerful electrical stimulation generated by high-intensity squatting is very effective at helping to develop power and strength in the leg and buttock muscles, which explains their popularity with sprint and power athletes. However, it turns out that the same type of muscle stimulation can produce significant performance gains for endurance athletes such as runners, cyclists, triathletes, rowers etc too.

The case for squats

Over the last five years, evidence has steadily accumulated that performing heavy weight lower body exercises such as squats can benefit both power and endurance performance. For example, a study on cyclists looked at cycling economy (how efficiently the muscles use oxygen to produce power – good cycling economy is a characteristic of all top cyclists) and time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic power⁽¹⁾.

The cyclists were divided into two groups: half simply continued their normal endurance training for 8 weeks while the other half performed 4 sets of 4 repetitions of half-squats 3 times per week for 8 weeks, in addition to their normal endurance work. After the 8-week intervention, the strength group increased their cycling economy by 4.8% and their time to exhaustion at maximal by no less than 17.2%. The endurance-only group meanwhile made no gains.

Another study on cyclist published just a few months ago looked at the effects of heavy strength training in the form of half squats in young elite cyclists⁽²⁾. Compared to cyclists who continued endurance-only training for the same period, the cyclists who added squat training to their training program experienced a number of gains:

• Increase in peak power during an incremental test to exhaustion
• More power produced at lactate threshold (4mmol/L)
• Increased average power produced during a 40-minute all-out time trial
• A better spread of force (torque) applied to the cranks

Similar endurance benefits for squats have been found in studies on runners too. One study used the same protocol as above – ie 4 sets of 4 repetitions of half-squats 3 times per week for 8 weeks, - in a group of runners who continued their normal endurance work⁽³⁾. A matched group of runners meanwhile simply carried on with their running training. Like the cyclists, the squat-trained runners boosted their running economy (this time by 5.0%) and time to exhaustion on the treadmill at maximum oxygen uptake by a whopping 21.3%. And like the cyclists, the endurance-only runners made no such gains. Similar benefits for squats have been found in cross-country runners⁽⁴⁾ and in rowers⁽⁵⁾.

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Figure 1: The squat

Left: start position; right: mid position with thighs parallel to the floor.

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Why is the squat exercise so popular for developing leg strength and why might it be superior to (supposedly safer) machine exercises such as leg extensions and leg presses? It turns out that the evidence for using squats is actually quite compelling. For example, US research identified that squatting is not only relatively safe for the knees but also can be superior to open-chain exercise for increasing knee stability and strength⁽⁶⁾. In this study researchers found that overall, the squat generated approximately twice as much hamstring activity as leg presses (where the seated position removes the need for hamstring activation) and knee extensions.

Meanwhile, UK research found that squatting ability is far better than machine leg extension ability in terms of relevance for sports-specific strength and performance⁽⁷⁾. In this study, 20 active female subjects performed strength tests during leg extension training and during squat training. After this, actual performance in the vertical and standing long jump were assessed using an optoelectric motion analysis system.

What was fascinating was that the squatting-strength scores were very highly correlated with vertical jump performances and also standing- long-jump performances. Meanwhile, the leg-extension strength levels demonstrated very little correlation with vertical jump and standing long jump performance. In plain English, if you want to be able to jump high or leap long in your sporting activity, you should focus heavily on squat training rather than machine alternatives such as leg extensions, since squat strength correlates extremely well with both attributes.

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Why is this the case? Well, even though leg-extension exercises strongly activates the quadriceps of the frontal thighs, the strength gained is apparently specific to the ‘open-chain’ nature (where the working limb is not anchored to the ground) of the activity and carries over very poorly to the closed-chain actions associated with real sporting activities - eg jumping in a basketball or volley-ball game or leaping to head or kick the ball during a soccer match.

Squats and injury

A common reason for ‘squat reluctance’ among some strength trainers and their coaches is the perception that the loading produced by squatting may aggravate an existing or old knee injury problem. But is that actually true? In fact, there is good research indicating that this is far from the case and that squatting could actually be easier on the knees than many of the often-recommended, so-called 'safe' squat substitutes.

For example, British scientists looked at the forces acting on two key knee ligaments - the anterior (frontal) cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior (rear) cruciate ligament - during typical rehabilitation exercises⁽⁸⁾. The anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments are frequent sites of injury in a variety of different sporting activities, and thus excessive loading is undesirable, especially during a period of injury rehab.

The key finding in this study was that squatting was a safe and effective exercise to promote the recapture of muscular strength following ligamentous injury to the knee. In particular, the most commonly injured ACL actually showed much lighter loading than during equivalent leg extension exercise. Meanwhile the posterior cruciate ligament also experienced light loading, although this did increase markedly at kneed bend angles in excess of 50 degrees, which led the researchers to recommend that deep squats are avoided by those with posterior cruciate problems. Overall however, the conclusion was that performed with correct technique (see below), squatting actually often puts less strain on internal knee ligaments compared with conventional and popular isometric and isokinetic knee-flexion and knee-extension exercises.

Finally, consider that some research has suggested that the ability to perform squat exercises may actually help reduce the risk of knee injury⁽⁹⁾. A study on 36 collegiate distance runners found that those who performed poorly in the squat exercise displayed poorer running biomechanics of the type associated with the development of knee injuries!

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Box 1: Safety and squats for beginners

The squat is potentially a great exercise. However, if performed incorrectly, or by those with a history of back or knee injury, squats can cause problems. Those new to the squat should bear in mind the following:

• The squat is an exercise requiring mental application. Think about your form during every single rep. Do not perform squats when you are tired or your concentration is poor.
• Even when performed correctly, squats are a very demanding exercise, requiring knee, hip and lower back integrity. If you have a chronic history of injury in any of these areas, you should seek advice from a physiotherapist before embarking on a squat program.
• When you first attempt squats, always start very light and make sure there’s someone experienced with you who can check your form and correct it along the way if necessary.
• When working at higher intensities, always make sure you’ve got someone behind you to spot you and help out should you become exhausted.
• Always warm up thoroughly before performing weighted squats. A good way is to do plenty of squats without any weight on the bar – this way you can practise your technique too.
• Never be tempted to sacrifice form in order to ‘go heavy’ on squats. You’ll not gain any training benefits and make yourself very vulnerable to injury.

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Squat execution

Although squats can offer great benefits, the quality of the movement and maintaining strict form are absolutely essential to success. The following points (shown here for barbell squats) will ensure technically good squats, but if you’re new to this exercise, it’s a good idea to have an instructor, coach or someone experienced to watch and advise you for the first few sets.

1. Place the bar on the squat rack at a height that is 3-5 inches lower than your shoulders.
2. Stand under the bar and position yourself so that it rests on the upper part of your shoulder blades (or traps). The bar should NOT be resting on the vertebrae of the neck area.
3. Place your hands on the bar, palms facing forward, at a distance that is comfortably wider than shoulder width.
4. Drawing your shoulders back and keeping the back straight, stand fully erect and step forward, lifting the bar clear of the supports.
5. Space the feet around or slightly wider than shoulder-width apart with the toes angled slightly outward. Beginners or those with inflexible ankle muscles might find it helpful to rest the heels by an inch or so on blocks or small weight plates for extra balance.
6. Draw the shoulder blades backwards, squeeze and tighten your lower back muscles in order to ‘lock’ you spine into a straight position. You are now ready to commence the lowering phase.
7. Keeping the back straight, start the descent by leading with the hips rather than the knees. In practice, this means drawing the hips backwards before the lowering begins. Bending the knees before shifting the hips backwards tends to throw the knees forward and makes it harder for the powerful buttock muscles to contract. Ideally the shins should be as close to perpendicular to the floor, as possible, which minimises stress on the knees
8. Ensure that the first few inches of the lowering movement are slow and controlled. Don’t allow the barbell to build up its own momentum.
9. Continue to lower smoothly until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Do NOT let your thighs drop below parallel, as it unduly increases pressure on the knees and lower back and provides little extra benefit. Check that your torso is not angled too far forward – an angle of 30-45 degrees from the vertical is acceptable. As you reach the bottom of the movement, the angles at the hip and knee joints should be roughly equal. Check too that your heels remain flat on the ground during the entire lowering phase. Raising the heels away from the floor increases the risk of injury to the knees by shifting the centre of gravity forward, in turn placing extra stress on the lower back. Although the lower back muscles are activated, their role is to stabilize the spine, not lift the weight. This should be done by the buttocks and thighs. If the heels naturally seem to come away from the floor, use heel supports (see #5).
10. When the thighs are parallel with the floor, contract the thighs, buttocks and lower back, then begin the lift. Keep the upward movement smooth, but try and develop some ‘drive’ through the movement remembering to follow the same path that you descended. The torso and back should remain erect and the hips remain under the bar throughout the ascent.
11. Breathing – whatever you do, don’t hold your breath! A favoured technique is to inhale fully when starting the descent, then to expel the breath when the "sticking point" is reached in the ascent, which is typically around thirty degrees of extension. This pattern of breathing helps keep the torso erect by forcing the chest out in front of the bar.
12. At the conclusion of your set, stand upright and carefully step backwards to replace the bar onto the rack. Watch you don’t trap your hands or fingers, especially if you’re tired!

Squatting routine for endurance athletes

The studies demonstrating benefits of lower-body strength training for endurance athletes have typically used relatively heavy weights and few reps (around 4-8) per set⁽¹⁰⁾. This doesn’t mean you should pile on the weight, especially to begin with. If you’re new to squats, start with a weight that allows you to achieve 10-12 reps per set before fatigue prevents you from continuing with good form. You should only progress to heavier weights and fewer reps once you’ve properly mastered the movement. Even then, good form is absolutely vital; a squat using lighter weight but performed strictly will be more effective (and safer) than using sloppy form with a heavier weight.

As for sets and reps, 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps to fatigue is a good starting point. As you get stronger, you can move to 3 sets of 8-10 reps at a heavier weight then onto 3-4 sets of 4-8 reps at relatively heavy loadings. The evidence suggests that 2-3 squat sessions per week is effective, but even one session per week can produce benefits. However, because squats are demanding, you should always:

• Perform them when the legs are fresh.
• Perform them at the beginning of any more general strength workout.
• Reduce your endurance work accordingly, especially if you’re doing 2-3 squat sessions per week. If you simply add them to your existing endurance training, you risk becoming overly fatigued. For this reason, a good approach is to strength train 2-3 times a week in the off-season, limit it to once a week in the ‘on’-season, and eliminate squats (and other lower body strength training) completely in the 3-4 weeks run up to a race.

References

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7. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, Vol. 27-6 (June), pp. 430-435, 1998
8. Clinical Biomechanics, Volume 15-3 (March), pp.176-187, 2000
9. J Athl Train. 2020 Dec 1;55(12):1262-1269
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