Squats, Dead-lifts and the Bench Press

In many training circles these three exercises are a mainstay. Particularly for bodybuilders of the past (not so sure about the bloated machine training bodybuilders of today) and for power-lifters.

It makes sense for power-lifters to barbell back squat, dead-lift and bench. All three of these lifts are contested in competition.

Many trainees are taught that they absolutely need to do theses lifts if they want to get stronger and bigger.

So do you need to do these exercises?

Well, yes and no. It depends.

Certainly if you are a power-lifter you need to do these lifts.

But for the general man or woman trying to get tougher, develop great work capacity and speed and agility, these lifts are not a necessity.

Also, for some, these lifts may cause more problems than they are worth.

Have I performed these three lifts? Yes, in the past I did. But I have not bench pressed in over 15 years. I do not miss it for a second.

I haven’t done a back squat with a barbell in years.

Dead-lifts? Well, I do them occasionally. Out of the three lifts mentioned here, the dead-lift is the best. But, again, not all should do them. There are other options.

Now I am sure some will not agree with this, but hey, that’s OK.

 I will outline why I don’t bench or do full back squats with a barbell. I’m even beginning to look at the dead-lift differently now.

So, to begin, we will take a look at the barbell back squat.

I use to do them religiously. I worked up to 315 pounds for 20 deep reps as outlined in the book: “Super Squats” by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. I put on some muscle and my legs started really growing. I was squatting 425 for reps and my legs got bigger around than my wife’s waist. I’m talking about one leg being bigger than her waist.

But I noticed something. This did not make me run faster. It did not make me jump higher. My legs got to the point where they would rub together at the inner thigh as I walked, and in the summer it was uncomfortable. Also, I noticed my lower back was sore a lot.

At this point I started learning the Olympic lifts. So I learned to do overhead squats in the snatch position and front squats. These two forms of squatting actually helped my back feel much better, even though I couldn’t lift as much weight in them. And a nice benefit was I did notice my running and jumping ability improve. I felt more athletic.

Then at one point I injured my back moving a 600 lb. air compressor. Took months before I could squat again pain free. After that I was acutely aware of how each exercise I performed impacted my back. And the barbell back squat was not good. I had perfect form as I had several qualified trainers and a competing Olympic lifter  critique my form. So I knew it wasn’t bad form that was creating the back stress, it was the very nature of doing back squats, especially on top of an old injury.

With a back squat with a barbell, as you go deeper into the lift, your upper body will lean forward. All the stress of carrying the weight on your shoulders pushes your upper body down. You resist that primarily with your lower back, bracing your abs tight to help provide support.

But a lot of that stress is directly on the lumbar region and it is not a dynamic move for the lower back. It is basically locked in an isometric contraction for many seconds as you perform a heavy back squat. Try that for several repetitions and you can see the recipe for disaster. Even with a lighter weights, couple that with poor form or the occassional laspe in focus and BOING! there goes your lower back.

Prediction for the immediate future?—— Lot’sa pain.

So for me, and many others, it is not the best exercise for the legs or back. The risk/benefit ratio falls heavily on the side of risk, of hurting your lower back. So I stopped doing barbell back squats.

There are many other ways to train the legs that offer great benefits without the high risk of lower back injuries or aggravating existing lower back injuries.

If a person has access to proper training to learn how to do Olympic style overhead squats, these can actually build better posture in the back. Even when done with just a bar they can have great benefits. Front squats as practiced by Olympic lifters is another great form of squatting, yet many do not want to do them as they are hard on the wrists during the learning curve.

 But once again you don’t need to learn to do these exercises. So what do you do?

For most trainees (especially those in their mid 30′s and up, and anyone with a prior back injury) I would suggest the following forms of squatting:

Goblet squats, front squats with one or two kettlebells, hack squats with a kettlebell, split squats with the rear leg elevated, tactical lunges, step ups with weights, body-weight squats, dragon walks, twisting dragons, one arm overhead KB squats, etc. to build powerful springy legs that are strong but can also move the body rapidly.

 A mixture of these various leg exercises will give you way more benefit than just doing back squats, if you are interested in getting tough, agile and fast. These exercises will help you become much more athletic.

However, if you absolutely feel you must do barbell back squats, I would do a few cycles of 1/4 squats with heavy weights several times per year and the rest of the time focus on these other leg exercises that I mentioned. I would follow some of the ideas for singles training or partial movement training as outlined in Steve Justa’s book “Rock Iron Steel”, which by the way is a great read.

The 1/4 squats with a heavy weight will give you the ability to support heavy loads with your body. Since you are not going real deep it is less stressful on the lower back even though the weight is way heavier. You remain much more upright. You just need to remember to stay real tight through-out the short movement and build the weights up gradually so your body can adjust to the heavier weights. It is possible to work up to over a thousand pounds this way.

But you really don’t even need to do this if you don’t want to.

I would say for most, start learning to do body-weight squats and goblet squats with good form. For those who may scoff at goblet squats I offer the following challenge:

If you think goblet squats are easy, try grabbing a 150 pound dumbbell or a 106 pound kettlebell and knocking off 5 sets of 5-10 reps. You can call me in a week and tell me how well you are walking. Most people who do back squats, other than Olympic lifters, never go very deep in their squat. Including power lifters, who do not squat that deep. A set or two of goblet squats done properly will have their legs screaming for mercy. They will find the true meaning of deep squats.

Once you can do a triple digit goblet squat I would start doing front squats with Kb’s. After you have the front squat nailed down with good form I would use these two forms of squatting on different days.

And for the front squats with a kettlebell, you can work your body asymmetrically with one KB in one hand. After a set switch hands. Do the same amount of sets and reps for each side. This is a killer for the core with a heavy KB. Work up to 70-100+ lb. KB to really experience what this move does.

 Or you can load up a KB in each hand. These are double Kb front squats. Using the KB is much easier on the wrists than using a barbell for front squats. If you think this is easy, work up to a 106lb. KB in each hand and knock off 5 sets of 5 reps. You will be squatting 212 pounds in this front squat. I doubt you could walk into most gyms in this country and find someone who can do this.  Get to this level and you will have legs strong enough for any task you wish, except competing in power lifting.

So, if you are worried about injuring or re-injuring your back, ditch the barbell back squat. Learn to do goblet squats with a kettlebell. Work up to doing triple digit (100+ lbs.) goblet squats and you will save your back from a lot of wear and tear. And you will get the leg power you are after.

Then jump into the front squats with kettlebells. Your back will greatly appreciate it. Find someone who knows how to teach these lifts. Preferably someone who has their RKC certification and is actually using that cert to train people.

Goblet squats and front squats with a KB take a great deal of the stress off the lower lumbar region. There are better ways to build that part of your body. As the weight gets heavier you will feel it in your torso, but the body positioning makes it much easier for most people to tighten up there entire body and control the movement.

Next time around we’ll discuss the dead lift…and I have some new thinking even on this lift.

Walter