Who Should Do?
Athletes And Individuals Interested In Performance
The barbell squat is the best way to improve lower body strength and explosive leg extension.
The squat can produce competitive advantages for those involved in athletics. The speed, agility, and stability gains can significantly improve an athlete’s ability.
Squatting can also be helpful for injury prevention and rehab due to the functional strength it serves to the hip, knee, and ankle joints.
Rehab Participants
People who have suffered any type of incident that causes loss of movement function can benefit greatly from having the barbell squat as part of their training routine.
This would likely be well into the rehab program since they have rehabilitated the muscle but now need to integrate it back into the movement chain the body needs it for.
Squatting is used in everyday movements such as sitting down on a toilet or getting up from a low chair.
Older Individuals
Two common complications that can arise with age are sarcopenia and osteopenia. Respectively, these are described as gradual loss of muscle and bone mineral density, and they can be either separate issues or related as bone density is influenced by muscle force.
The barbell squat can be effective in fighting these due to strong weight-bearing and muscle-force characteristics. Older individuals monitoring their muscle and bone health, or those who are concerned with functional strength as they age should consider the barbell squat.
Who Should Not Do?
People With Joint Pain
Pain during any type of movement is serious so the barbell squat is certainly ill-advised when pain is present.
Strength is not largely required to squat but the full body functional nature of the exercise requires that it be meant for the generally healthy individual.
The presence of pain should be addressed with a corrective exercise solution to minimize the dysfunction. Be sure to see a trained professional to determine the best plan for you.
Individuals With Poor Mobility
The barbell squat involves simultaneous movement through three of the body’s seven major joints. Lack of movement in just one area can significantly hamper the performance of the other joints.
Movement challenges across the hips, knees, or ankles not only inhibit the exercise’s effectiveness but can create injury potential.
If you can’t coordinate full movement across these lower body joints you may be at risk of injury due to the excessive pressure placed on the knees or lower back.
Those With Low Core Strength
The foundation behind the strength and mobility that produces the squat movement is undoubtedly the stability that must come from your core strength.
If you are not strong enough in your core, you will not be able to stabilize the weight on the barbell to allow the legs and hips to move the way they need to.
Furthermore, your injury risk is at its highest since your torso and all structures near it cannot afford to be mobile. They need to be strong and stable.
Benefits Of The Barbell Squat
Strengthens Lower Body Muscles
The greatest benefits of the barbell squat are the strength improvements it provides to the muscles of the legs and injury prevention.
The quads, glutes, and hamstrings are the primary movers during the upward motion of the squat. The calves are a secondary mover that creates plantar flexion of the ankle upon return to standing.
Improves Athleticism
When you think about athleticism, you imagine quick, fast, coordinated, and powerful movements. These elements are what constitute the agility, change of direction, explosiveness, and deceleration seen in athletic activity.
Squatting is always one of the most useful tools for being more athletic. This is due to the large muscles in the lower body that allow for directional changes necessary for agility and power.
Improves Joint Health And Bone Density
The strength and physical performance benefits of the squat are by far the most apparent and easiest to realize. Internally, there is also great value to be enjoyed by consistently performing the barbell squat.
The applied pressure placed onto the bones and joints of the body is a natural stimulus required to keep your joints strong.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a beginner, you should begin by squatting an amount of weight that you can perform up to ten times with a moderate level of struggle.
Barbell squats are worth doing as almost no other exercise strengthens and conditions the entire body the way they do.
It is more efficient to think of this as a question of squats per workout. With that said, and depending on goals, 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 15 reps would cover all objectives. For strengthening, complete less than 20 reps. Endurance requires closer to 45 and up per session.
This is a very unique exercise because of its full body requirement and high strength potential.
Yes, you should. The barbell squat is useful for calorie burn, core strength, sports performance, and rehab.
This is because the requirement to stabilize the bar on your upper back and move through a sitting and standing range involves many muscles from shoulders to ankles for proper control of the movement.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
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