You love squats … but they hurt.

 

Should you still do them?

Well … it depends.

 

The barbell squat is one of my favorite exercises, and one of the most beneficial when it comes to maximizing your relative strength.

 

But many people struggle with squats for a variety of reasons.

Usually, the culprit is one or more of the following: poor mobility in the hips, ankles or upper back; underactive glutes; or weak core.

A qualified coach should be able to assess your movement and determine where the deficit is. In this case, the plan should be to work on improving flexibility and/or strength in the problem area so you can gradually improve your ability to squat without pain.

If there isn’t an obvious deficit that’s holding you back, it might be a matter of exploring different foot positions, or temporarily limiting range of motion to a squat depth that doesn’t cause pain.

Maybe there’s a strength imbalance – i.e. one leg is stronger than the other – that’s causing you to compensate in your movement. In this case, the answer is to skip the squats for now and replace them with lots of single-leg exercises – like split squats and lunges – to resolve the imbalance.

 

Do you see why simply eliminating an exercise because it hurts can cost you the strength gains you’d make if you had someone who could help you dig a little deeper?

 

One more point about pain.

Exercise should never cause acute pain. For me, that’s anything 5 or more on a scale of 1-10. If we hit or exceed that threshold, it’s time to step away and reassess.

But learning how to safely train with a pain threshold below five can unlock plenty of benefits.

 

First, it makes us more aware and sensitive about how to safely train through minor discomfort and still get the benefits of the exercise.

 

Second, oftentimes pain is a sign of weakness. If a certain exercise causes pain, eliminating the exercise -- and the strength gains that would come from it -- won’t do anything to resolve that weakness or strength imbalance.

 

In fact, it could actually make it worse.

 

Just something to think about. Hopefully that helps you make better and more informed decisions about your training.

Of course, if you have questions or need help, just reply back and we can hop on a quick phone call and do some troubleshooting about your particular situation.

To your health, 

Coach Seth

 

PS: If you’ve ever wondered “am I doing this right?” — that’s exactly why my Foundations course exists.

It walks you through the key movements most people need (core, hips, shoulders, posture, squats/hinges, pushing/pulling) and shows you how to do them safely and correctly so you actually get results… not pain. Follow this link: Foundation