Why I Have 95% of Clients Do This Type of Squat

Over the past few years it’s been decided as a fitness professional, athlete and reality of watching too many clients during functional movement screens and on the fitness floor that the majority of people just suck at squats. That’s okay because the traditional squat isn’t the only option or the best option.

Early on Energy Fitness purchased a smith machine that is basically a squat and bench press style rack with hooks and a glide rail attached to a bar that stays in a fixed position and just goes up and down with the weight that has been added to the bar. Well, that thing didn’t last long as I donated it to a YMCA. It was too hard to teach people correct form.

Most individuals bodies (pelvis,thoracic, knees, shoulders and ankles) don’t conform to the angles of that fixed rail system. At the time Energy Fitness had the Smith Machine I was age 26 and remember that every time I tried to do a lunge or squat under that machine that it jacked up my back & neck for days. I even tried last year at the local Y to give it another go to see if my memory served me correctly. The same thing of my body hating that machine occurred post workout.  My husband on the other hand, loves it and wishes we had one again. No chance!

Do YOU suck at squats too and you feel like I’m talking to YOU. Maybe I am! I know that the baby boomers and is seems 10 years on each side of the boomers often struggle with balance, mobility and lack of coordination. These are real issues that need to be addressed. Why is this a struggle and why are YOU frustrated? My thoughts are it’s due to poor management, poor body mechanics, bad footwear or being too rough on the body for years without any effort put in for flexibility and mobility for the joints and surrounding areas.

We have ditched traditional squats and for the majority of Energy Fitness clients and maybe you should consider it as well. I know for my own body and as I have aged, switching to doing 1 leg variations over a bench and gently sitting or touching my backside to bench really is effective. It helps me to counter my pelvis desire to be in an anterior tilt and those back extensor muscles. I have been running for 36 years and constantly fighting the anterior tilt. I only run a fraction of the miles of I did years ago. The squat rack and traditional squats are just not worth the back pain.

Check out the video below. New to this type of squat? Hold onto something and don’t try weights yet. You can do this on a bench press and hold the post. You can squat to a chair. You can hold a tall foam roller or a cane (we have a cool cane at the studio from Elmwood Cemetery). Take no shame in holding onto something if it gets you stronger and with correct form. As you progress you can not hold on to something, hold a medicine ball, lift your arms over your head, hold dumbbells, do a 2 leg squat with heavy weight then do body weight plyometrics/jumping to bench). This exercise can be performed with 2 legs or 1 leg staggered.

Give it a go a few times a week and see how much better your back can feel as you get stronger in your glutes and quads. Don’t do 2 days in a row. The staggered leg variation helps with balance. One client I had doing this recently was able to push a wooden box out of the way with one foot which requires balancing on one leg while pushing. She said “I wasn’t able to do this when I first started!” It’s the little things that we lose the ability to do that catches our attention.

Don’t let the little things add up to giving up all together.

Shoot for 2 -3 sets of 10-25 reps. Why such a large range? Depends on your fitness level, existing injuries and the ability of your muscles to go to failure without falling down.

Energy Fitness is a Boutique Fitness Studio by appointment onsite  & online personal training/nutrition coaching via zoom. Onsite, we serve the Greenville/Travelers Rest, South Carolina area. We aren’t a gym.

We work with clients ages 40-70  that are busy executives, biz owners, working parents and retired active individuals. We work around injuries & use your time effectively with our 30 min. Semi-Private Sessions.

Let us keep you accountable with my over 30 years as a fitness professional  getting thousands of individuals feeling and looking great? No excuses as we’ve got onsite and online to keep you accountable to YOUR GOALS.

Check out our ONSITE facility in Greenville, South Carolina (Travelers Rest area) where most of our clients personal train with us twice weekly. Video tour 2000 sf facility. We also have ONLINE Via zoom twice weekly.

Our packages include functional movement screening and other helpful items so we can assess your starting point and see the quality of how your body moves. Our standard packages last anywhere from 4.5 months to 12 months (because honestly you know it’s gonna take more than an intro program to get you to where you want to be!). You can always find out more about all of our options by contacting us for a consult via phone and or/in person.

Invest in yourself!

Get started by CLICKING HERE IF YOU WANT A FREE ONSITE or VIRTUAL FITNESS CONSULT (VALUE $87) or one of our other services listed above. Just give me a call or text at 901-466-6242 and we can chat about your goals and tell you about our programs.

If you haven’t had a functional movement assessment with a professional observe the way you move different joints and movements with your hips, shoulders, wrists and spine then how do you know you are doing the most effective strength training, flexibility or cardio program? Hire someone like me to get you on track with a program to help you reduce current pain, eliminate pain, improve your current program or enhance your athletic performance.