Why I dont squat any of my clients

Let me say something that will upset a lot of people.

I don't squat my clients.

Not at the start. Not in the first few months. And if I'm being completely honest - for most of the men I work with, not ever. Not because they can't eventually get there. But because once you understand the alternative, the case for putting a bar on a 48-year-old's spine with three old injuries just doesn't hold up.

Before you close this - a bit of context.

I am not against squatting. I squatted my whole life. Twenty years of professional rugby. I've probably done more squats than most coaches have programmed. But my clients are different. They're 40 to 60 years old. Most of them are injured or have a history of injury. And for some of them, that injury list is so long there is a huge amount to unpick before we even think about loading a bar.

So to explain.

The squat is a technical lift. And most people can't do it well.

In twenty years of working with clients, the number of people who walk into a gym and squat properly is minimal. Its probably 2%. Thats not an exaggeration.

To do it well you need a vertical torso, correct knee and ankle tracking, good hip mobility, mobile shoulders, and flexible ankles.

You will also do better if you are shorter, have shorter femurs, and your hip is set up well for squatting (there is HUGE variation.

Now add a barbell.

Then add a history of knee problems, a lower back issue, and s shoulder that cant quite get in the right position.

Why would I put that man under a bar?

He's 48. He doesn't need to back squat. He needs to move well, stay strong, and stay healthy for the next thirty years. And a barbell squat is not the most efficient way to get there.

The squat is also a compound lift. That means it uses the full body simultaneously. For men with movement dysfunction, specific muscle weaknesses, and years of old injuries... a compound lift demands that everything works in unison. If ten things need fixing before the movement is safe, why would I use that lift when I can get the same or greater stimulus from exercises that don't carry the same risk?

What I do instead.

Most of my clients run, cycle, or compete in endurance events. These are single-leg sports. So I train them that way.

Step-ups. Split squats. Rear foot elevated split squats. Single-leg Romanian deadlifts. Leg press.

Because they're smarter ways to do it. And the research backs that up.

The science - Alex Natera's load continuum.

Alex Natera is a sports scientist, strength and conditioning coach, and researcher who has spent years using force plates to measure exactly how much load goes through each leg in different exercises. His findings are worth understanding.

A bilateral back squat splits the load 50/50. Squat 100kg and each leg handles roughly 50kg. To get 80kg of stimulus through one leg, you need 160kg on the bar.

A split squat changes that. The front leg takes around 65% of the load, the back leg just 35%.

Elevate the rear foot and it shifts further. Front leg now handles around 85%, back leg just 15% - essentially only there for balance.

A true single leg squat? 100% through one leg.

Therefore..

A 90kg man doing a single leg squat with just his bodyweight is handling the same per-leg load as that same man squatting 90kg on a bar. Same stimulus. No barbell. No spinal compression.

Take it a little further. That 90kg man holding two 22.5kg dumbbells in a single leg squat - 45kg of external load - is producing the equivalent of a double bodyweight back squat per leg. That is widely considered a THE strength benchmark.

From two dumbbells.

Natera himself has said that as athletes get older, unilateral work should form the foundation. Bilateral work is something you earn the right to, but I don't agree that even this is the case.

That is the opposite of how most gyms operate.

And for the record - if a client is desperate to squat, we can get there. But in six years of working specifically with men in their 40s and 50s, almost none of them have asked. Because by the time the single leg work is producing results, the case for loading a barbell onto their spine simply doesn't make sense.

What my programming actually looks like.

Movement-based work to restore what's missing and address compensation patterns built up over years of injury.

Specific, heavy strength work built around what the person can actually do..not what socail media tells us.

Progressive strength work through previously injured ranges.

Long hold isometrics to force the nervous system to fire muscles it has learned to avoid. This is the piece most coaches never use, and in my experience, it's the piece that changes everything in the first few weeks.

What the programme doesn't have is squats.

Or deadlifts - but that's next week.

The men I work with are not getting weaker for the lack of a back squat. They are getting stronger, more athletic, and more resilient than they have been in years. Without the injury risk that comes from loading movement patterns that simply aren't ready for it.

If you've been training like a 20-year-old into your 40s and it's not working for you, I have one space available for training in April.

Message me on this link to book a call: https://calendly.com/razorperformance/30min