No More Squatting Part 4
The Death of Squats clip is probably approaching 100,000 views. When I made those statements in Functional Strength Coach Vol 3.0 I never intended to start a fire storm of controversy. Of course I knew I would get the standard meathead hate mail ( which I have) but to be honest the positive emails have far outnumbered the negatives. The best part about the negative emails that I received was the general level of ignorance of the writers. The people who wrote negative emails did not listen to the clip or read my t-nation article ( Build Bigger Legs One at a Time). The least you could do if you are going to _ _ it on me is to take the time to study the material. It is amazing how people dislike change. One of my members and readers Vince Brunelle sent me a great quote. “You don’t have to believe, just suspend your disbelief”.
I’m more motivated than ever when I get quotes from great strength coaches thanking me for pushing the envelope and encouraging thought and debate. I truly believe that StrengthCoach.com is going to change the world of strength and conditioning. The growth has been off the charts and, I want to thank all those who write and read.
November 30, 2009 at 9:46 am
Being a coach and a psychologist I have to confirm your comments about people hating change. Or should I say,,,, “fearing” change. After all, hate is just a consequence of fear and ignorance. I believe that time will show single leg/lower body balance work is where it is at. Once you try it and see the results,,,, you will NOT go back.
November 28, 2009 at 11:35 am
I have done so many squats in a lifetime. Whether it be back squat, front squat, hang squat, with different mediums. It wasn’t till within few years now that i introduced single leg into my professional fitness training. Due to clients need for balance and functional strength. I started with basic balance…then tried to lower them on one leg…even if a few inches and called it a squat because to them it was…and found they could go lower over time.
Since hearing Mike’s relevance to omitting squats (back). I became a advocate myself and have ordered weighted vests and I’m personally going to start loading myself with the single leg approach. I love it “how would you like to get the same value for 50% off?”
Great Info Mike! I have your 3.0 and watched in a weekend…and I’m watching FSC v2. and have been overloading the info…ha ha
November 15, 2009 at 1:07 pm
It is refreshing to hear/read that there are numerous approaches to achieving athletic performance goals. Many strength coaches have not used the squat for quite some time now and no one could tell a “squat” from a “leg press” trained athlete. Well probably until they asked why an athlete wasn’t playing and got the response, “They were hurt in the weight room doing squats.” HMM! Not all athletes can squat, yet the muscles trained by that exercise still need to be improved if having healthy athletes is a goal in a S&C program. Thanks for pushing the envelope Coach Boyle. I look forward to reading/hearing more on numerous non-traditional topics of training that still go unspoken because of “mainstream” training. I hope strengthcoach.com keeps pushing this industry forward.