Everyone has hopefully been drilled left-right-and-center about the importance of the basic compound lifts. As I've mentioned before I'm a big proponent of keeping things simple, and getting proficient (and hopefully destructively strong) on such lifts as the squat, deadlifts, pushes, and pulls, and the olympic lifts.
I'm going to keep this as short as possible (yea right!) and just focus on some new ideas (at least to me) I've learned from some of the best in the Strength and Conditioning field. These are not my ideas. I've just eaten them up and am about to regurgitate these tasty morsels for all of you hungry chickadees...wtf is wrong with me.
So anyways. Like any strength coach, I've evolved over time. I've realized that there have been ideas I strongly believed in without so much as a question. Sure enough, over time I have been made to question these ideas and realize that maybe I was wrong. Such an example is the old debate about unilateral or bilateral leg training. Lots of people have jumped on the Mike Boyle band wagon and cursed all bilateral training like your mutated brother you leave in the basement (hi guuuys! (Sloth Voice).
pimp pimping his pirate threads boy!
While I never went that far, I did spend a decent amount of time on unilateral training as an accessory lift. I still believe that unilateral exercises like Bulgarian split squats, lunges, and step-ups have a place in order to provide some secondary hypertrophy, flexibility (in hip flexors), and some muscular balancing in the adductors, glutes, and VMO. Although, I argued for years (along with many other strength coaches) that in nearly every sport, most of the game is played on a single leg at any given time...so why wouldn't you train as such. I even got into heated debates with more "traditional" minded powerlifters about this matter...sorry Tom Horlitz I think you might have been right (one hell of a beast by the way if you get a chance to ever meet him).
See the problem is people are trying to make exercises "specific" by mimicking exercise to sport. Sure you spend most of your time on one leg in nearly every sport...so "If it looks like a sport action...then it's probably good for the athlete". To the naked eye maybe...but biomechanically this couldn't be further from the truth.
Look at this photo
A cutting motion in sport is a universal move and arguably one of the most important not to mention most physically demanding move you can do. You need to completely change your momentum and direction which was originally going in one direction and cut explosively to another. In such a movement you are generating forces on the ground equalling 2-3x your bodyweight. If you aren't explosive, have no eccentric strength, and simply aren't strong enough...your cutting ability will be compromised. Sure this movement is done on one leg, but look at the angle of the leg and foot position. Foot is slightly turned out. The foot isn't directly under the body as in a lunge or step up, it's to the side...good luck performing this one with weight at the gym on one leg. But wait a minute! that position looks an awfully lot like something I've seen before!
There it is!
Foot slightly turned out...check. Foot off to the side of the body...check. Centre of gravity between feet...check. Loads 2-3x your bodyweight....CHECK! (if you aren't a weak bastard!)
This was a big eureka moment for me after watching a phenomenal presentation by Loren Chiu, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta. Not only does this guy do amazing research, have a PhD, has his CSCS, but he is a mean weightlifter and has competed as a heavy weight. If you get a chance to see him talk don't miss it!
So what does his research show? Does the unilateral exercises mimic the forces in the cutting motion biomechanically? Not at all! Does the bilateral squat mimic it? Nearly perfectly through the ankle, knee, and hip joint!
What type of squat where they using for the research? A full olympic style squat (both front and back). Not only are you getting significant activation of all leg musculature, you are also strengthening the muscles and joints through a full range of motion. Not everyone is ready for a full squat, probably due to issues with flexibility and no not everyone can squat 2-3 times their body weight. Although, you can become a better athlete by focusing on your flexibility and eventually working your way up to being able to squat like a beast.
Put simply...if you don't have the flexibility to perform full squats, focus on that first. Don't skip it and pull a high school numb nuts muscle head move and just add weight on the bar while your squat height gets worse and worse. Swallow your ego and get it done. If you don't skip steps, somewhere on the path to strength, power, and flexibility you will become a better athlete. If you do skip steps you will become injured and cut your career short.
How often should an athlete be squatting? well according to two of the best strength coaches I've ever met Derek Hansen (strength coach for SFU's athletes), and Al Vermeil (the only strength coach to have won championships in both the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, and NFL with the San Francisco 49ers) 2-3 times per week depending on what part of the season you're in.
You can perform back squats on two of those days and a front squat on one. You can reverse the order depending on your needs. Or probably the simplest and smartest idea (Thanks Al Vermeil!) perform front squats until the weight is too much and switch to back squats and continue. Neurologically the front squats will prime you to stay more upright and allow you to get lower when you switch to the back squats. Give it a try! It really works!
So the take home message. Sometimes strength coaches and regular folk get caught up on things that seem to mimic a sport without really looking at the biomechanics of that activity. Choose exercises that are more closely biomechanically equivalent...not the one that looks pretty and seems to look like the exercise.
