There is no doubt that people believe all the myths about heavy squatting. From being too dangerous, causing too much “bulk” or concerns about ruining running times, I’ve heard it all.
The truth is heavy squatting is the king of exercises and must be included in your fitness routine no matter what your goals are.
Below, is just a short list of the benefits you will see when you include heavy front squats or back squats in your routine.
#1 – IMPROVED FULL BODY STRENGTH
Who doesn’t want more bang for their buck? Performing heavy front or back squats releases naturally occurring hormones that increase strength and build muscle. And because they utilize the whole body, you’ll gain rock hard quads, glutes, hamstrings, abs and back all in one lift!
#2 – INCREASED LEAN BODY MASS
As you improve strength, your body adds lean muscle. As a result, the body holds onto lean body mass better, increases your resting metabolic rate, burns more calories, and increases lean body composition.
Increased lean body mass is the KEY that results in an aesthetically toned body!
#3 – SIX PACK ABS
During the performance of a heavy squat, your abs and midline have to work in overdrive to stabilize the weight you’re lifting to safely maintain an upright posture.
In terms of building your six-pack, heavy squatting is a necessity!
#4 – INJURY PREVENTION
During a heavy squat, we’re asking the joints to move through a natural range of motion. This assists with not only building strength, but increases flexibility and improves neurological connection.
Building a neurological connection simply means focusing on specific muscles you want to activate in an exercise. In doing so, you will be able to increase the number of muscle fibers recruited during each contraction.
This is important for both new & experienced lifters to improve automated muscular activation outside of the gym.
Also, with many of our new clients who complain about knee or back pain we often see improvement in a matter of weeks after practicing deep squatting through a full range of motion.
Practicing a large range of motion with heavy squats increases strength in the muscles and ligaments that stabilize your knees and hips that don’t get recruited in a partial range of motion squat.
This is highly beneficial for injury prevention in daily activities and sports.
#5 – IMPROVED CONDITIONING
Because squats require the body to move weight a long distance (from a standing position through a full squat to standing), they’re highly potent for increasing conditioning.
Moving weights a long distance is a critical piece of increasing work capacity. Being able to perform work in a short amount and having stronger legs will translate over to being able to attack hills better while running long distances, improve sprints and improve functional performance.
Heavy squats are much more than just another exercise, it’s a necessity for a healthier, stronger and leaner body. From strengthening your whole body, to injury prevention and improved conditioning, the health benefits are beyond comprehension, so get out there and get under a barbell!
At Lincoln Nutrition & Fitness, we offer you both nutrition & fitness coaching, from personal training to group CrossFit classes we have the keys to help you reach your goals!
Our personal trainers and group coaches value lifting weights, and using multi-jointed, functional exercises performed at high intensity. You don’t have to guess about what to do!
Schedule a free consultation with a coach to see how we can help you with your goals! → I’M READY TO MEET WITH A COACH!
COACH PHIL KNIEP – Owner & CEO of Lincoln Nutrition & Fitness
Precision Nutrition L1 Coach
CrossFit Level 3 Trainer
Endurance Certified
Mobility Certified
Scaling Certified
3x CrossFit Games Qualifier