A fundamental movement for every human being is to be able to lift something from the ground. When the movement is initiated and performed properly, it includes one of the first motor patterns learned in life, the squat.
For years, as a chiropractor, I have heard people say things like, “My doctor told me not to do squats” or “Doc, since they say it’s not good to do squats, are there any other leg exercises I can do?” and my favorite, “I heard squats are bad for your back.”
My response to most, if not all, of these folks is usually a gentle and polite, “I’m sorry, you’re wrong!”
If anyone has ever spent 15 minutes with a toddler learning to walk they will notice the prevalence of the squat movement in the child’s mechanics. Our bodies were innately designed to be able to squat to and from the ground, from early in life throughout our entire life. In fact, it is crazy to think that we have to actually “teach” adults how to squat properly.
While there are as many theories and reasons as to why we lose our ability to squat properly as there are guys who skip leg day, there is one that I deal with on a daily basis: lower crossed syndrome. LCS occurs when a human body, designed for elegant, fluid, coordinated movement is reduced to spending the majority of its time in the seated posture. Over-sitting is a bad, bad thing. Just like over-eating and over-sleeping get you in trouble, so does over sitting.
Too much time in the seated posture causes shortening of the trunk muscles on the front side of the body, and abnormal lengthening of the backside muscles. Not to mention, this posture increases the intradiscal pressure in the lumbar spine. With this dysfunction in play, the posterior chain (gluteus, hamstring, erector, etc) is neurologically shut down resulting in horrible postural aberrations. The pelvis is tipped forward, the hamstrings get super tight, the lumbar curve gets accentuated and, in most cases, the shoulders round forward to compensate. With over 85% of the population suffering from a low back problem at some point, it’s easy to see wide spread negative effects of LCS.
In the gym, LCS is expressed in movement training by the inability to squat. Yes, I know, I know, bad knees, loss of ankle mobility, hip labrum issues, blah, blah, blah can all play a part in losing the ability to squat. In general, the most significant culprit for loss of squat-ability in a “healthy” population is LCS.
Next time you train, look around at those willing to do squats. You’ll see it: chest way to far forward, stopping 10 or so degrees above parallel and weight shifting forward to the toes and upon completion, no full hip extension. Some will call this an immature squat. I call it a dysfunctional squat. Others, will call it a squat…hmmm.
So here’s the fix: keep squatting. Yep. It can take up to 2 years to get a completely dysfunctional squat to the point where it is clean, easy and effortless. You can speed up that time by utilizing mobility training, chiropractic adjustments and individualized coaching. Every time you squat you must work at ensuring you are hitting the points of performance at the best of your ability without sacrificing one for another: weight on the heels, knees tracking over the toes, chest/head up, hip joint below parallel. Over time with quality repetitions and effort, you too can squat with excellence.
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