The Squat Isn't For Everyone

Nov 17

Takeaway Points:

Squats are generally seen as the must-do exercise for lower body development, and fitness professionals often overlook that some people do not enjoy or cannot perform them.
Spine, hip, knee, and calve conditions/injuries commonly effect someone’s ability to squat. There are plenty of other exercises that develop the lower body that work better for these situations.
Workout programs need to be built on exercises the individual wants to do and is safely capable of doing, even if it means that a popular or effective exercise like the squat isn’t included.

A while back, I got a ton of flack for my post about leg development, in which I suggested that the squat alone isn’t a magic bullet for leg development - instead, you need a variety of exercises which should include, for example, squats, lunges, deadlifts, leg presses, leg extensions, and leg curls in order to maximize your leg development. I was pretty surprised by how aggressive the feedback was - after all, this is pretty basic stuff in the fitness industry, and the science is pretty clear.

So why not take it a step further and point out the even harsher truth - that squats may not be for everyone?

I know this is practically a sin to say out loud. “Just squat” is such a common piece of advice, and squatting is taken as the gold standard for lower body development. Yet after fifteen years of lifting personally, I can finally admit something: I just don’t like squatting.

My Experience

I have some scoliosis of my upper back, which means that exercises like the squat and overhead press are difficult for me - I find it harder to stabilize against the compressive forces generated by these lifts, and get a crap ton of added soreness (and sometimes even a bit of back pain) as a result of stressing out this area. I have to do a lot of stretching and foam rolling in order to manage this issue.

As a result, I’ve always been the mythical person who finds deadlifting way easier and more enjoyable than squatting. I wrote my Deadlift Every Day manual in part because that was a training system that I used in order to set personal records. I can deadlift hard and feel just fine the next day, but I can squat hard and my knees and back will feel bad for a week.

I’ve generally needed to seek out other ways to maximize my leg development in my training, including a heavier reliance on the leg press and leg extension machines, lunges, belt squats, and so on - all of which help by reducing the amount of loading placed on my upper spine.

Plenty Of Other Problems

Squatting isn’t for everybody, by any definition.

Some folks will have hip limitations which prevent them from squatting very deep. A shallow hip joint can quite literally make it impossible for a person to get into a deep squat - their bones just don’t work that way. Attempting to squat deeper would just mean bone grinding on bone to no practical purpose.

Other people may struggle with a history of injuries. The squat requires a great deal of range of movement in the knees, and those with knee or hip issues may find that deep squats exacerbate these issues. In these cases, a shallower squat, or again the use of other leg exercises, may work better for them. After a serious knee injury caused by a job I worked at, I had to take half a year off of squatting entirely to enable my knee to heal up, though I could still tolerate some other exercises.

People with very tight calves will find it hard to get deep into a squat. Luckily in this case, the problem is more easily fixable - via elevating the heels and stretching and strengthening the calves. However, if these methods are still not effective enough, squats may still not be an ideal option.

In short, there are many reasons that the squat may NOT be an ideal training method for the individual.

The Final Word

At the end of the day, the workout program has to be adapted to suit the needs of the individual, and attempting to do things the other way around is only going to cause problems.

The traditional squat is a wonderful exercise that does a great deal of work for a great many people - but that doesn’t mean that it’s for everybody, or that you can’t get similar effects elsewhere. The body responds to load and stimulus by adapting and improving - and this can be done with all kinds of exercises, so long as they’re actually targeting the desired muscles and then progressing the stimulus intelligently over time in order to continue driving further adaptation.

Despite what you may have heard, the squat is NOT uniquely and completely superior to other leg-based exercises, all of which present their own unique positives and negatives.

Lunges
- Require a great deal of stability and range of movement through the knee - however, since you’re using one leg at a time, you can use less weight to get a similar effect, and this may place less stress on the joints.
Deadlift
- More emphasis on the hamstrings, glutes, and back, as well as the grip strength. It’s also considered generally more fatiguing than the squat - however, it also requires less flexion of the knees, and can therefore be more knee friendly.
Leg Press
- Can be loaded up heavily and stress the quads pretty effectively, without loading up the back or hips so heavily.
- I generally find that some leg press machines feel really good and some feel really bad, so it’s a bit more dependent on the equipment available at your gym and how it feels.
Leg Extension
- Places a great deal of stress on the knees, and thus may not be for everyone. However, so long as the knees can tolerate the stress, this exercise does a great job of isolating the quads.
Leg Curl
- Excellent for isolating the hamstrings, and generally easier on the knees than other leg exercises.
- Hamstrings exercises are surprisingly good at preventing lower body injuries in field sports, especially if done with a slowed eccentric movement. Read more here.
Belt Squat
- A belt squat employs the use of specialized equipment to load a squat via a belt placed around the hips. This enables you to squat with a slightly different motor pattern, as well as much less stress placed on the spine.
- However, you may find it harder to stabilize, and thus require something to hold onto nearby.
Numerous other variations
- Goblet squats, front squats, safety bar squats, trap bar deadlifts, hip thrusts, romanian deadlifts, good mornings - there are numerous other ways to train your legs that aren’t a traditional squat - and may be a lot easier depending on your situation.

Ultimately, designing a program is about looking through the whole toolkit and finding the right tools for the job, based on the circumstances at hand. Trying to make everybody fit into the same mold is simply going to cause injury, frustration, and lack of progress. Instead, find the exercises that work for you, and focus on the long term process of settling down, sticking with a movement, progressing your load and challenge over time, and coming to fully master that movement.

About Adam Fisher

Adam is an experienced fitness coach and blogger who's been blogging and coaching since 2012, and lifting since 2006. He's written for numerous major health publications, including Personal Trainer Development Center, T-Nation, Bodybuilding.com, Fitocracy, and Juggernaut Training Systems.

During that time he has coached hundreds of individuals of all levels of fitness, including competitive powerlifters and older exercisers regaining the strength to walk up a flight of stairs. His own training revolves around bodybuilding and powerlifting, in which he’s competed.

Adam writes about fitness, health, science, philosophy, personal finance, self-improvement, productivity, the good life, and everything else that interests him. When he's not writing or lifting, he's usually hanging out with his cats or feeding his video game addiction.

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