Navigating The Squat Progression
View this post on Instagram
Navigating The Squat Progression
In my experience traveling and teaching I find that there’s often a lot of confusion about how we utilize the squat at @bodybyboyle.
Do we hate squatting?
Is it outlawed?
The answer is NO. But we need to focus on squatting intelligently. Too many coaches force square pegs in round holes.
This means understanding that the squat is a tool that can be utilized to serve a purpose and it needs to be applied appropriately.
I included a lecture slide from my @certifiedfsc presentation that outlines how we utilize all of the different squat progressions in our program. In the accompanying video demonstrate the basic progressions shown on the slide.
Everyone who trains with us will Goblet Squat. Following mastery of the Goblet Squat is when you need to navigate a fork in the road depending on who you are working with.
– Athlete: We teach the front squat as a means to develop the hang clean. We only will train the front squat in conjunction with the hang clean and do not program it independently.
– General Population: With our adult clients we may very well just continue training the Goblet Squat forever. If we we want to pursue a great challenge we will often choose to vary the implement or the tempo rather than increasing load. This might mean using an offset squat, sandbag squat or eccentric focused squat.
– Strength Athlete/College Athlete Testing: For a strength athlete or a college athlete who needs to return to preseason testing we will train the back squat to prepare them. However, we want to make sure they can execute the double bell squat and front squat before progressing them to a spinal loaded squat.