The Root Cause
As you noticed in part 1 of this series I pointed out that I loved back squatting. It’s a statement that has commonly come out of the mouths of my athletes and my colleagues that share in my love for back squatting. But I never took the time to get to the root of the issue, but after reflecting on my love for back squatting the light bulb finally came on and I was able to discover some interesting issues.
Training is one of my coping methods when it comes to dealing with the “growing pains” of life. If I ever feel stress or need to clear my head I train. Training has evolved to the same level of importance as both meditation and prayer in my life. Why is this important you ask? I believe that training is a constructive outlet that will eventually allow me to evolve and grow into a better and stronger person physically, mentally, and emotionally.
In the past, whenever I felt discouraged, lacked confidence or felt insecure I’d train and one of the exercises that I looked to for “encouragement and security” was the back squat. Placing that bar on my shoulders and lowering the challenging load to the ground not only forced me to display physical strength, but it was a way for me to reassure myself that I was strong mentally and emotionally as well.
Now at first thought you may believe that this is very admirable but I beg to differ. What I now realize is that my unaddressed insecurities were being covered by an exercise that should have only served as a tool in my training box, and not as the source of driving my ego while making me feel secure in my own skin. Back squatting had transformed into a huge bandage that covered the still bleeding wound of past life pain and insecurity. The more I “bled” mentally and emotionally, the more weight I’d add to the bar and try to physically move it.
Back squatting had become a major source of dysfunction in my life. Not only was it a cover up for the strength, mobility and stability imbalances and asymmetries in my body, but also in my mind when it came to my mental and emotional health. I made the mistake of identifying an exercise tool with my source of life and strength. And when Michael Boyle had the nerve to say back squatting was bad he was unconsciously attacking my primary source for holistic strength while suggesting that I needed to disidentify myself with an exercise that I identified all of my strength with. Making the change to not squatting not only challenged me professionally but also personally.
Unconscious Fear
I had an unconscious fear of losing my identity both professionally and personally. Who would I be and how could I call myself a strength or performance coach without back squatting? And Mike’s mere suggestion of abandoning the back squat created a strong resistance to any disidentification with this exercise taking me into an unknown place challenging me to disidentify with the familiarity I had grown comfortable with and derived holistic strength.
How else could I train? How would I cope and get by? How could I clear my head and reassure myself that I was strong whenever I felt insecure? Not to mention the more Gray Cook talked about imbalances and asymmetries between mobility and stability the more I was reminded of the lack of mobility and stability in my marriage, my relationship with friends and family and the insecurities I struggled with on a daily basis.
Making the choice to discontinue back squatting caused me to seek more “functional” solutions that would not only benefit my physical strength and well being, but also my mental and emotional strength and well being.
To make things even more interesting, after having some private yet candid conversations with some of my athletes, they too were struggling with the same issues I had been experiencing and looked to me not only as their performance coach but were now asking me to be there life coach. This forced me to find alternative tools and methods that would correct any dysfunctions present within not only my body and mind, but my athletes and clients were also in dire need of solutions as well.
Does the idea of abandoning the back squat stir up strong resistance within you? If so, we may have a lot in common and there are “healthier” solutions out there. But we must not fear going against tradition when we can find solutions that will make us holistically efficient.
I no longer look to the back squat for holistic strength. I have found ways to develop physical strength without relying on the back squat and I no longer look outwardly for mental and emotional strength but I have started to take a deeper look within.
Before you jump to any conclusions or become defensive…let that sink in for a moment and ask yourself this question…can I or any of my athletes/clients relate to this and are these “dysfunctions” still present within me or them, whether they are still active or just dormant?
Live Your Legacy…“10 Laws Strong!”
-Rob “The Kinetic Guru”
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Rob,
Read your article about back squatting on strengthcoach.com. You make several good points, but I thing, as with this whole “the back squat is dead” movement, the pendulum is swinging way too far to one side. Your viewing your sprinters from behind and witnessing a wide take-off pattern and subsequently moving in to a narrow running stride has nothing to do with the back squat. It is a basic movement function of a strength requirement. The “take-off” is a pure strength move the body is much stronger from a wider base. If they never back squatted in their life, they would have the same pattern. Is the back squat dead? No, it is alive and well and should be part of all strength training programs. The key word is PART. It is not a back exercise it is a leg exercise, hence legs are sore after a squat workout and the back is not. But, it is instrumental in developing core stability along with many other exercises that are strength related and power related. Lets bring the pendulum back where it belongs.
Ever since I started to make squats a priority, I have had a awesome reduction in BF and power. Anybody not doing this staple lift is missing out greatly.
I disagree with you both. I am not saying that back squat won’t develop lower leg strength or play a role in a fat loss program. The point I’m trying to make is that from a movement standpoint its very difficult to squat well when using maximum loads.
The reason why Boyle says its a “low back” exercise is because the lumbar spine is usually the first area to fatigue in a back squat which is one of the reasons why powerlifters wear belts. But when it comes to increasing performance and building durable athletes, there are other ways to do this while improving the overall structural health of the athlete.
I’m finishing up part three of the article where I’ll explain in more detail, but thank you both for stopping by the site.
-Rob