Squat Or Die – Group Think Exposed
I recently was recruited to write an article for Spotmebro.com on the three best exercises to build an attractive physique. And as you can imagine, squats and deadlifts didn’t make the cut.
The exercises I selected were Incline Bench, Weighted Pull ups and Bulgarian Split Squats. BSS’s are a much better exercise at developing a proportionate lowerbody, compared to squats.
This is because this exercise hits the VMO harder, the tear drop shaped muscle just above the inside of the knee. Building muscle with the BSS exercise will build legs that look much more aesthetic than the turnip shaped effect that the squat and deadlift physique promote.
The turnip shaped effect (TSE) is where your legs are top heavy and skinny near the knee. What’s more, Bulgarian split squats are much easier to learn, are safer and they promote balance and knee stability without all the spinal compression.
Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t squat and deadlift. But if you were going to rely on three movements to promote the best looking physique; incline bench, weighted pull ups* and bulgarian split squats are the way to go, hands down!
*Make sure you’re using a high-quality weight belt that makes weighted pull-ups easy.
What Did My Recommendations Do To The Site?
I probably don’t have to tell you, but selecting three exercises other than squats, bench and deadlifts created quite an outpour. And the spotmebro.com site went down. I had crashed it by going against the grain.
Guys were furious that I didn’t pick squats and deadlifts. They were in essence blinded by group think. Almost every major fitness writer has stressed the importance of squats and deadlifts as the king of exercises.
And when I didn’t allow myself to be swindled into group think, when I stuck to my guns and told it how it was, I brought out a ton of anger and resentment. All of the sudden, I was a ‘moron’ that is weak as shit and has no idea what he’s talking about.
What’s funny is that there is nothing inherently magical about squats and deadlifts, nor is there anything inherently bad about them. They’re just two exercises that people have labelled as the king of all exercises.
This Is Where The True Problem Lies
To which I say, the king at what? And that’s where the problem lies. People have lost sight with why they’re training. In many cases, people have become goal hijacked by group think itself.
Guys that initially wanted to build a natural and great looking body like Brad Pitt in Troy or Daniel Craig in Skyfall are now just obsessed with squatting and deadlifting and packing on as much size as possible.
To what purpose? So you don’t feel like a pussy? Because after all, if you don’t squat and deadlift, you’re a pussy, right? Wrong. If you don’t squat and deadlift, you don’t squat and deadlift. That’s it.
What if you had injured your back and you’re no longer able to handle the spinal compression of squats and deadlifts? Does that mean you’re doomed?
That you’re going to turn into a 12 year old girl? Of course not. But this is the fear mongering that most fitness writers today are going for.
They want you to believe that your only chance at becoming strong and muscular and masculine is to bow down and pay homage to the squat gods. Squat or Die!
This Is The Difference Between Being Dogmatic And Being Objective
Naturally these squat enforcers will try to project their values onto you with outlandish claims and harsh insults if you don’t validate their ways. Hell, I love the incline press. It has done wonders to my physique. But I’m not going to call everyone that doesn’t do the incline press a pussy.
Nor am I going to masquerade and pretend as if by some form of bro magic, incline presses will turn you into a man, grow hair on your chest and add inches to your dong.
Nor will I disillusion people into believing that if they don’t incline press, that their chances at building a great physique can be all but forgotten.
This is what people have been doing with squats. Squat, squat, squat! Funny enough, squats are relatively easy to get good at. Sure they’re tough, but getting strong on squats is nothing to feel special about.
What’s far more impressive than squatting is being proficient at jumping. Which, essentially, is the ability to be extremely strong proportionate to your bodyweight and also be able to display that strength quickly. This is a much more useful test of your power and athleticism.
How To Turn The Tables
In fact, if I wanted to promote the most athletic physique possible. I would encourage someone to get really strong at power cleans, weighted chin ups and overhead presses. Power cleans build incredible lower body power. Most olympic lifters are notorious for possessing world class sprinting and jumping abilities.
Chin ups are the ultimate test of relative strength and pulling power. Just look at most street workout artists. They have become masters at pull ups and chin ups and it has turned them into physical bad asses, both aesthetically and physically.
Finally, standing overhead presses require tremendous pressing power, while maintaining postural integrity and serious core stability. The ability to express tremendous upperbody strength while maintaining a rock solid core and whole body stability is something you don’t want to mess with.
Make no mistake, I’m not married to any specific exercise. Exercises are nothing more than tools. And there’s plenty to choose from to get to a goal. Some people have specific limitations that prevent them from performing a specific movement. Perhaps an injury or technical issue.
No problem! It’s not some magical exercise that produces results. But rather consistency, solid effort and sensible programming and workout design.
Do You Need To Avoid The Back Squat?
My intention isn’t to scare you away from squats. But rather to encourage you to think critically. Barbell back squats are just an exercise – that is it. If you want to do them, great. If you don’t want to do them, there’s other exercises to get the job done.
And of course, I decided to share a little fitness compilation video I put together! I’ve built my physique with very little traditional back squatting. I instead focus on weighted pistol squats, calf raises and power hang cleans for most of my lowerbody training.
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Why pull-ups and not a horizontal row? The middle trapezius, posterior deltoids and rhomboids gets hit harder in a row, and EMG studies has shown that there’s no significant difference in the latisimus dorsi activity between a horizontal and vertical pull, in this the lat activity was actually higher in the row (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC449729/).
So the row trains the whole back more, especially the muscles that affect our posture, which is pretty damn important for our shoulder health.
Maybe this is why you yourself have a protracted shoulder girdle? Too little rowing/external rotation and to much pushing/internal rotation is well known to cause this, which you, like most others with it, will pay the price for eventually (impingement and upper back problems).
You can read more about it here http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html.
Hey greg, love the site and your books. I’ve been doing IF for almost a year with great results.
In terms of routine, I’m familiar with what you advocate (more strength for the incline press and weighted chins to get a great physique) on 3 days a week in the gym..
thing is, i love being in the gym 6 days a week, how would you modify a program like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/37ylk5/a_linear_progression_based_ppl_program_for/
ive been doing it, and while I love the program, I feel like id rather have some more strength progression in incline press/weighted chins instead of the rows, deads, flat bench this program puts in. also how would you personally modify leg day if it were you?
I hope you’ll take the time to answer my question, thanks!
Flawless victory. Thank you for saying this.
Hey, so I do bodyweight training. My legs are becoming huge and my teardrop is very visible only on pistol squats and another leg curl type exercise. I guess I have great genetics for it. Although my chest hardly grows, even when I manage to make the exercise hard enough that I can do only 8 reps per set. My back growth is great too, doing pullups and rows although I am not that strong on pullups I still do them in sets of 7-9 reps. What do you recommend I do for leg day with bodyweight that doesn’t increase my leg size much and what do you recommend I do for chest?
reduce set to 1-2 for pistol squats to maintain the leg strength. for chest, you should be lifting heavy with low volume to build strength up. strength is a by product of muscle, muscle is a by product of strength
Hey Greg, the Squat is probably my favourite movement, if I lift within the 1-3 rep range, will I build the strength without the unwanted size? It would really be a shame to give the exercise up since I really enjoy doing it.
Sounds like you can keep doing it Imad. You can go up to 6 reps or so if you want. My recommendation would be to stop 2-3 reps before failure on each set to avoid excess muscle growth. Focus on exploding up fast though.
Thanks! :)
Hey Greg – loving the Greek God Program.
I really appreciate the Multiplying Factors for Good, Great, and Godlike for the different lifts. Could you give us similar factors for Squat and Deadlift? i’m thinking this will let us know that we can shift to more of a maintenance type lifting for the legs?
It really depends on genetic factors. But I would say a good goal to shoot for would be 1.5x bw squat for 5. And double bodyweight deadlift for 3.
What is the most effective exercise for the VMO, considering I’m already doing Weighted Pistols? Bulgarian Split Squats, Front Foot elevated Split Squats, or Leg Extensions (machine)?
Leg extensions with toes pointed out at the top.
[…] ever wrote, too. Greg O’Gallager has been writing some interesting things lately. This piece argues for three key lifts—the incline bench press, weighted chinup and Bulgarian split squat—as the cornerstone […]
I find I don’t get sufficient growth in the glutes doing Pistol Squats and Bulgarian Split Squats. What exercise should I do and how do I fit it into my workout. I’m too shy to do hip thrusts in the gym.
A few options – sumo deadlifts are great for the butt, romanian deadlifts will hit it nicely. My favorite options for glutes though are probably forward lunges (lunge forward and push yourself back) and high box step ups.
What would good strengh goal be on incline dumbell press?
50% of your bodyweight in each hand for 8 reps.
Greg, I love your opinion on training and nutrition. Nearly the same as mine.
I have two questions for you, if you allow.
1: How does your own leg workout looks and how often do you do it in a week?
2: How should I train my legs if there are almost massive but don`t have overall definition? I know, definition comes together with nutrition. But I think I have to structure my leg workouts wisely to get a good shape and not much more size.
Thank you for all your work.
1. Right now my leg workout usually consists of some weighted pistols for low reps, hang cleans or hang snatches (always power style – catch with legs well above parallel), some box jumps and I’ll finish off with rest pause leg extensions with toes pointed out (this is good for the VMO and mine needs work).
I’m gonna try doing calf raises on another day. Because after I finish leg extensions I suck at doing calves.
I just got 4 reps instead of 5 reps for two sessions now on OHP. So, I will to 3 days off. Will this be sufficient to get things back on track, or do I need to switch exercises? Cuz I really want to stay doing OHP.
You can try that. I’d also suggest switching to seated dumbbell shoulder press or standing one arm shoulder press. You need to work on a similar movement for a while to stay fresh.
Thanks, Greg. I will try an acupuncturist. Taking time off and traditional physical therapy haven’t gotten me there.
On reflection, I think I posed an impossible question because just doing a lot of pushing without pulling would lead to imbalances.
You’ll be fine! Train what you can. If you lift with proper form and work on flexibility and mobility, you won’t hamper your postural integrity. You’re better of training what you can than nothing at all. Work hard or rear delts to stay balanced.
Thanks for the encouragement! Also doing some high-rep band work to get some blood in there.
I ALWAYS do your mobility combo: L-sits, twists, back bridges — perfect use of a few minutes.
I maybe throw in some Hindu push-ups and arm reaches from the squatting position.
Nice! Keep it up.
Hey, Greg. Happy Holidays!
Got a bad tendon/ligament issue with my right elbow (injured doing the last muscle-up I will ever do).
Now it hurts like crazy to do any kind of pulling or curling motion like pull-ups/chin-ups, barbell rows, barbell curls and hammer curls.
Much less of a problem doing Sumos, chest or shoulder presses, skull crushers or dip movements.
My doctor says I should avoid doing stuff that hurts for several months to a year.
Frustrated since I have really benefited from your Warrior Shredding Program routines.
Any advice to hack this issue to some degree?
It may not take a year to heal. Just stop everything that aggravates it and it might heal on it’s own in a month. You could see an acupuncturist. That actually helped me a ton.
https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/squat-or-die-group-think-exposed/#comments
Hey Greg, I just switched from standard pyramid training to reverse pyramid but after doing that first working set in 4-5 rep range I feel so sick, weak and fatigued and I can bearly finish my workout. That never happend to me before and do you have any clue what can cause that? It started first time when I did reverse pyramid training….
Hmmm very interesting. It’s neural exhaustion. Frankly you’re not used to using so much of your muscle fibers. It will take you some time to adapt. But this is what you need to keep progressing. I’d suggest stopping a couple reps shy of failure for the first 3 weeks of training.
Thanks a lot. Generally, what is the best way to recover CNS from overtraining? Would 7 days off be enough? Cheers from Bosnia and Herzegovina (if you know where that is) :)
You don’t need to take a full 7 days off. I’d suggest 2-3 full rest days. And then perhaps go higher in reps for a few weeks or change most of your exercises to new variations. Or switch from barbells to dumbbells or dumbbells to cables or machines for some exercises or bodyweight exercises.
Good nutrition and supplementation can help. Rest is important too.
I’m planning to do recomp with -200cal on rest, and +300 on training. You recommend -300/ +400, but will mine work too?
Yes that will work too!
Hey Greg!
I’m thinking of trying this Greek God based Push/ Pull routine. I put moderate reps Squats on Workout A (Push), T-Bar Rows replacing Deadlifts on Workout B (Pull) and Leg Curls for Hamstring work.
Workout A
Incline Bench Press (RPT)
Standing Press (RPT)
Squats (SS)
Rope Extensions (SS)
Lateral Raises (RP)
Workout B
Weighted Pullups (RPT)
T-Bar Row (RPT)
Leg Curls (RP)
Bicep Curls (SS)
Face Pulls (RP)
I need the extra leg work and I figured a rowing movement would be great for overall back development as well. What do you think?
Thanks!
Yeah that can work well! I’d suggest just 2 sets of standing press and squats. Otherwise it might be too draining.
What kind of strenght goals like god, great, goodlike on exercies like incline bench, chin-ups and dips would you recommend someone to reach when following a 2 day split like the strenght and density routine before moving on to a 3 day split?
I think good or great!
There are so many people, like me, who have serious chronic back pain from slipped discs in the lombar region. Wa can’t do any squats or deadlifts AT ALL.
I’ll try the Bulgarian variation, maybe I can do it.
Do you have other basic exercises for people like me?
And what is your “basic” exercise for the core?
Thanks, and by the way, you are so handsome…
Bulgarian split squats are good. One legged pistol squats. Leg curls. You can try light romanian deadlifts to strengthen your posterior chain. Step ups, lunges. Glute ham raises.
For the core I recommend hanging leg raises and abs wheel roll outs.
What would be a good set/ rep scheme for Bulgarian split squats?
Set 1 – 6-8, Set 2 – 8-10
2 sets on these is plenty.
Hey greg, i just got 2 questions:
1. is it possible that my arms better respond on compound exercises (w. Dips, w. Chin ups) than on isolation exercises like curls and so on? Im following your arm phase from superhero program and i dont think that it works for me… Im pretty strong on curls i can do biceps curls with 60kg for reps… [my weight 80kg]
2. whats your opinion about people who work only with their bodyweight?is it good idea to skip lifting weights? I think that people cant look like for example stephen amell if they workout only with their bodyweight, or am i wrong?
Thanks man.
1. Hmmm good question. I doubt it. But it’s possible. Even in the arm phase you’re hitting both compounds and isolation. But you might need to get a lot stronger on the compounds to get your arms to the next level. Try to get weighted chin ups up to 100+ pounds for 5 and dips up to 150+ for 5
2. It’s definitely easier building muscle with weights. It can be done. But I think it’s easier to maintain muscle with bodyweight than to try and add a lot of muscle with bodyweight
Great article! Just wondering, what is the least amount of volume I can get away with to just maintain strength & muscle while cutting? I can’t remember if you said 1/3 or 1/4 of the volume it took me to get there.
Usually you can drop down to half the volume while maintaining muscle.
Would a 2 day split work better on a cut than a 3 day split?
I find 2 day splits are hard for advanced lifters on a cut. Since you’re hitting each lift pretty frequently so you stall fast because it’s not a lot of recovery. But if you’re newbie or intermediate it can work quite well.
Which would you say are better for developing “real” brute strength, like world strongest man strength? Does the BSS have better carry over to the events those guys do?
Bear in mind, that good looking physique is not really a priority at this point
In that case you really can’t beat heavy back squatting. You’ll build more whole body strength and low back strength with heavy squatting.
What are your strength standards for BSS? I mean, what are good weights to shoot for relative to BW?
And how much range of motion do you use on BSS? Do you go all the way down so that your knee touches the ground, or just to 90 degrees?
Anyway, great article!
I go all the way down until the knee touches or is within an inch of the ground. I’d say about 2/3 of your bodyweight for 6-8 reps is excellent. That’s total weight (both dumbbells combined). So 180 lbs lifter would hold do 60 lbs dumbbells for 6-8 reps.
I stopped doing squats after a lower back injury in landscaping. But BSQ’s are the bomb!
Greg, I have all of your programs and I was hoping you could clarify something for me.
In your blogs here you have mentioned you go between 10c-12c per lbs of bodyweight for a cut.
Ive read you’ve used 10.11, and 12 depending on how much food you want to be able to eat.
My question is, is that TARGET /GOAL bodyweight x 10-12? or is it CURRENT bodyweight x 10,11, or 12. You said goal bodyweight in your blogs, but never mentioned it in your programs if its goal bodyweight or not to make your calculations.
Same question for a clean slow bulk.
Right now I’m around 6’2 – 6’2 and 191lbs. 23 yo. No visible abs yet so I think I’d want to cut down to see them before starting your SD program then graduating to SHB after that.
Thanks to your advice here and your programs I have my fittness pal and have been nailing my macros according to your Shredding program requirements. ( love sweet potatoes dude)
I’m curetntly consuming 3,000C on 2 days per week and 2,200 ish the rest of the week.
I started at 189 lbs but over the corse of 10 days am now 191. I dont see any visible changes in leanness.
Am I doing it wrong? do I need to use TARGET bodyweight instead of my current weight for x10 or 11 for a cut? To clarify I’ve never “bulked” or anything. I simply ate as a normal person would throughout the day.
Based on your blogs I’m around 13-16% BF.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I’m working really hard on this end to follow your protocol to the T. I even do the intermittent fasting and black coffee. :)
Hey Austin! Generally that’s current bodyweight. Especially if you only have 5-20 lbs to cut. If you have like 30+ pounds to lose, I recommend setting cals closer to goal weight or at-least 30 lbs below your current weight. That will speed up the process, plus with more fat to lose, you can hanlde bigger deficits.
In your case, I would just do one refeed day per week. And eat around 2200 calories on the other 6 days. One useful strategy I have found is to cut out the small meal on the warrior shreddign program and add 2 apples for when you want a snack between or after meals.
You’re the man, Greg.
I’m very happy to see that you have stuck to your roots, in the sense that Group Think has not affected you. I’ve seen too many people fall for the squatting and deadlifting trap (aka the quest for achieving a larger “total”) and so many lose sight of what their heart is actually telling them.
Did these same people wake up one morning and say “Oh, one day I’m going to have HUGE TURNIP LEGS WITH A BIG SQUAT AND DEADLIFT, THICK WAIST, AND ZERO UPPER BODY!” or was their original goal far form this? I know mine was.
Anyway, you got my eternal respect for bringing out the truth, and I wish you the best of successes in the years to come.
-Alex
Thanks so much Alex!
Hey Greg
I completely agree with you I’d rather look like Stephen Amell than deadlift 500lbs. I was wondering when are you going to have him on your road to ripped podcast? That is going to be an amazing show. Also what kind of kinobody physique do you think he has as Oliver Queen in Arrow?
He seems like a mix of the greek god / warrior physique. His shoulders could use a little more development. If he was 100% greek god, he’d look a little bigger in a t shirt or suit.
Great article! Not surprised you crashed their site:) I like how you mentioned that you are not married to a specific exercise. And therefore don’t judge others for their exercise selection. I remember in earlier articles you mentioned that you do sumo dead lifts. Is there any reason you prefer to sumo as opposed to the standard dead lifts? Does sumo hit the posterior chain differently? I feel more comfortable doing the standard dead lifts for some reason.
I find sumo deads build greater leg strength than conventional, and they are safer on the back.
This says it all, Greg –
“It’s not some magical exercise that produces results. But rather consistency, solid effort and sensible programming and workout design.”
Glad to see you stirring it up!
Amazing article Greg! Hard to go against the grain when everybody thinks “this is how it must be done” but you have brought up some amazing points here.
For a guy like myself with fairly skinny legs (currently can squat 185 for 5 reps at a weight of ~153 lbs) can I still get decent leg size just sticking with bulgarian split squats for developement? I frankly find them HARDER to do; single leg, kills your glutes, and another thing people miss is that BSS can put your conditioning to the test as well.
Yah you can definitely build great legs without barbell squats. Frankly if I had to start back from scratch. I would have focused on a mix of bulgarian split squats (and eventually weighted pistols), sumo deads, leg extensions (for more VMO) and plenty of calf raises. If I needed more hamstring work I’d do leg curls, but my hamstrings tend to grow very easily and I struggle moer with VMO and calves.
I just don’t like the heavy spinal loading of barbell squats. Plus they need plenty of coaching to do them properly. But yeah your legs will be pretty solid when you get up to like 250 for 5 or so.
Awesome, thanks! One more thing, on the Greek God sales page with a pic of you at top, is that type of chest developement doable with just incline presses? I aspire to have that type of look and with the developement of the lower chest there I’m assuming one would be best off running the GG chest specializiation routine.
Well it requires mostly incline and some flat bench. I’ll usually alternate a routine around incline and flat and incline and overhead press. This keeps it balanced.
Most innovators are labeled fools when they challenge the status quo. The only people who become angry at new ideas are those who define themselves with the ideas of old.
Well said Donald! Great outlook.
Amazing article Greg !!!
I totally agree with you on the idea that no one exercise is a must do/irreplaceable most guys these days are completely blinded and think that if you don’t back squat you will forever be weak and have chicken legs which is utterly ridiculous. I’m 6ft1 and had an old knee problem and therefore felt back squats annoying even with perfect form since to keep my lower back in the correct position my knees were very much in a stressed position, when I looked online for subsitutes most people were saying its irreplaceable and you should do it regardless! Which is insane, I’ve recently switched to front squats and hack squats coupled with sumo and RDLs and not only are my knees healthier and stronger my legs are also a lot more aestethic since I’ve found these exercises help develop and the vmo and generally build a more aestethic and even more powerful ( I’m faster and can jump higher than ever ) leg.
That’s said I would like to get your opinion on the afore mentioned front and hack squats since i find them safer and better at developing an aestethic pair of legs when coupled with RDLs or sumo deads. So I was hoping to see what you think about these two exercises since you rarely talk about them.
Thanks for the amazing content Greg !
Front squats and hack squats are great at developing the legs. They’ll hit the quads better without building as much ‘thigh chafe’ compared to traditional back squats. Keep them going. I definitely like RDL’s and sumo deads for posterior development.
That said, I prefer single leg movements like Bulgarian split squats and pistol squats over front squats and hack squats for my purposes. And I like leg extensions with toes pointed out strictly for building the VMO
Thanks for the reply Greg !
Ya I also like single leg movements since I do martial arts and they greatly benifit martial artists. In fact the world champion came to out dojo once and I talked to him and he said one of his favorite movements for performance and strength is the pistol squats are his favorite leg exercise so between you and him the proof is in the pudding. That’s said I’ll probably stick with the front and hack squats till I build me desired leg size first.
Also, I hope you don’t mind but I have another somewhat strange question do you remember your measurments for the super hero physique at 8% and shrink wrap videos ?
I’m trying to figure out proportion wise what is a good leg measurment and I think your leg development in the superhero vid was ideal compared to your upper body even though currently my goal is something closer to the shrink wrap video in terms of upper body.
I don’t have my lowerbody measurements then, but I can take them now and see. Yeah pistols are awesome.
I’m going to share this on my newsletter, Greg. I agree, by the way, with your concept here. We often miss the idea that our exercises and our equipment are tools…how you pick and choose is based on the job at hand.
Those are three great choices. In my youth, I saved money for a year to buy an Incline Bench. When I went off to college, my cousin took it and he went on to play high level rugby. When he became a police officer, he gave it to another cousin who played in the NFL and earned Defensive Player of the Year. So, the Incline is a jewel we often miss.
My best to you as always.
Hey Dan John! First, it’s a huge honour for you to stop in and thanks for sharing this :).
The incline bench is an amazing exercise and I always found the pressing angle to be more consistent with real world events – pushing a car, throwing a punch… The arms usually travel slightly upward.
That is a crazy story, there must have been more to your incline bench than that haha :)
I’m skinny fat? What video is good for me?
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/IMG_20141215_204937_zps660c5872.jpg
You’re actually not skinny fat at all! You have a decent amount of muscle and you’re quite lean. Very nice work. I’d do skinny fat and wanting to cut weight/fat. Get really shredded first, then start building muscle.
Even before I purchased three of your programs I was already trying your workouts from what I’ve seen on your YT videos and from your articles you’ve shared. All I can say is your program is what works for me. I feel motivated to workout because of its simplicity and the results that I’ve seen. Granted I’m not where I want to be yet but eventually I will get there. Right now I’m just enjoying my workouts and the journey to the ultimate goal…Greek god body! Thanks Greg:)
Awesome, thanks for sharing Rob :)
I love a bit of controversy that bro-scientists can only answer by hurling obscenities.
I’d die to see the fallout an article like this would have on BB.com :)
Stick to your guns!
Thanks Andy haha!
I stopped doing squats several months ago due to pain around my left knee that turned out to be a torn meniscus. I had been led to believe that squats would be good to stimulate blood flow around the knee area and help with joint health but I now believe that they did more harm than good. My knee is feeling a lot better since I stopped squats. Maybe BSS would be better for me? Wondering what I could do for legs. My torn meniscus is a degenerative type tear, surgery is not a very good option for me. Any suggestions?
Well first avoid anything that aggravates it. And start very light and build up slowly. Maybe start with reverse lunges or step ups before going to BSS’s
I’d rather look like Stephen Amell than Arnold Schwarzenegger hands down. I’m sure every woman you ask would too! And maybe it’s just me on this but BSS are hard! My legs burn way worse after them than on traditional back or front squats because it hits them much more directly.
Exactly! Hahha yah they’re brutal.
Once again, a great article!
just curious, why do you recommend the bulgarian splits over the pistol squat? im a big fan of pistols, its an amazing lower body exercise for several reasons, YOU pointed out in earlier articles!
so have you changed you mind and switched to bulgarian, or is it just that almost everyone can do bulgarians, where a lot of people struggle with the pistols?
You hit the nail on the head at the end. Most people can’t do pistols. I think pistols are phenomenal and my go to. That said, bulgarians are great too.