Squat does a high volume causes injuries

If you look around in the gym much. You’ll notice that people are training body-parts cq muscle-groups for various reasons.

Most of them where reading articles about reps and sets on the internet or in magazines. Others were told by friends or gymmates.

The different exercises are known to produce different effects. Some are isolation exercises others are known as “basics”.

Everyone is doing them for different reasons. In the past the old school bodybuilders had their reasons to do different exercises and a different amount of reps and sets. Which brings us to the subject of high volume vs low volume and high reps vs low reps. Just GOOGLE around and you will find out.

These subjects are hot just as powerlifters are interested in increasing their strength on the different basic exercises. And bodybuilders want to increase their mass on the trained muscle-groups. And now we didn’t even mention the definition.

Wow, I forgot.. many girls do this exercise because it produces a nicely shaped, firm butt. Just look in our section eyecandy!!

Today everyone, the hard-gainers and genetically blessed or cursed ones are able to develop great legs, because there are many chemical aids, of course I mean  roids and  peptides. If you do a proper cycle, train hard, eat enough and sleep like a dog.  You will not have all the problems “naturals” have.

That doesn’t mean the amount of reps and sets, the kind of exercises, reaching a plateau, genetical thin legs, will not have ANY effect, of course it will, but you can succeed. What was true for the Old School bodybuilders is still needed even if you use roids, the right mindset, you have to be determent to reach your goal.

With so much money involved in sport, many studies are performed about these issues that bodybuilders are discussing about for decades. In this blog article I want to discuss a study about high volume and the right technique. There are many different squat exercises, it involves the width of the feet, the front – back- powerlift squat, the hack-squat, box-squat. How deep you squat, you name it ( I want to another post about that later).. The study from 2014 we will discuss below makes a lot of sense. If you are training high volume with a light weight, and you have a lot of reps ahead of you, you tend to do it quick and sloppy. When you are getting tired you will slow down and start to perform a better technique.

I posted on squatting in this blog here:  //juicedmuscle.com/jmblog/content/tom-platz-golden-eagle-awesome-leg-work-outs?page=2 and said: “Another note that needs to be added here is that high rep squats shouldn't be done until you have mastered squat technique with several months of low rep”

What is really frustrating is an injury that prevents proper work-outs.

Squat technique worsens with lots of reps and sets

Training programs in which strength athletes perform squats by doing lots of reps and sets with relatively low weights includes danger. According to sports scientists at the University of Connecticut, athletes tend to get sloppy when performing these kind of squats and as a result strength and muscle mass get less stimulus. What's more they can also cause injuries.

The kind of program that David Hooper, of the University of Connecticut, studied is popular in fitness magazines. It consists of just three exercises: the deadlift, the bench press and the squat. Between sets the subjects take little or no rest at all.

Hooper's subjects started by doing a set of ten reps of each exercise. Then they did a set of nine reps of each exercise. Then a set of eight reps of each exercise. And so on... you've got it. The subjects had to continue until they did a set of one rep of each exercise, so they did a total of 55 reps per exercise.

In his study Hooper looked at how the subjects performed the squat. He filmed his subjects – 12 men and 13 women who had been doing strength training for at least six months – while they did their squats, and noted the angle of their knee joint and the hip joint at the lowest point of the movement.

Hooper wondered whether such a voluminous schedule would tend to lead to sloppiness and possibly risky performance. And this was indeed what happened, although not in the way you might expect. The subjects' squat performance didn't become sloppier as the training session progressed and they became more tired, but was worse during the first phases of the workout.

During the first sets the subjects did not bend their knees deeply enough and didn't keep their backs straight either.

Squats are safer the more straight and vertical athletes can keep their back. Athletes achieve more muscle growth and gain more mass the deeper their squats are. So at the start of their workouts at least, the subjects did not perform squats well.

As far as the position of the back went: the subjects' hip angle was not optimal at the start of the workout, but improved as the session progressed.

The graphic left summarises the researchers' findings. Women were worse at performing this programme than the men.

"These technique changes are most likely a demonstration of self-preservation, where the squat movement is abbreviated when individuals are faced with high repetition programs", Hooper writes.

"Negative technique changes can be reversed with the prescription of lower repetitions, even in the face of extreme fatigue, but this prescription must be balanced with the need for strength gains", he advises. "Ultimately, if movement patterns are erratic during a resistance exercise, particularly under heavy loads, it seems in the interest of athlete safety that this workout design is performed with less technical exercises (such as resistance machine exercises) to keep potential injury risk at a minimum while still seeing the positive adaptations associated with such program design."

Everyone knows the squat is an effective leg exercise, but is it bad for your knees and back?

Like the deadlift, the barbell squat is one of the most powerful exercises you can do, involving the strength and coordination of over 200 muscles in your body.

But, also like the deadlift, it’s avoided by many due to the fear that it’s bad for your back and knees.

If you have a weak back or knees and are unable to do this exercise, you can use a lifting-belt and/or knee-wraps. You can also buy elastic knee bands. Some people start with machines and others do so after an injury. Some even use knee bands on the machines, if you feel it helps you to be able to train your legs this way, then do it. The only one that feels how your body responds to training is YOU! The best advise anybody can give you is: listen to your body! No pain –no gain, is a true saying, but that doesn’t include pain in your joints and spine.

The fact that many sports doctors say these things doesn’t help the squat’s cause. Consider, however, that these doctors specialize in treating people with injuries, many of whom should not be squatting in their current conditions. These people are not representative of the average, healthy gymgoer, however, and the advices that apply to those undergoing rehab don’t apply to everyone. Just because barbell squats can exacerbate a knee injury doesn’t mean it helps cause one in a healthy person.

Another common reason why these squat myths linger is even less scientific: just like how heavy, strenuous deadlifts look like they’re bad for your back (when they’re not, when performed correctly), intense squats look like they’re bad for your back and knees.

Well, to get to the bottom of these myths, let’s look to the anecdotal evidence of decades of weightlifters, and the scientific evidence of published literature.

Why Serious Lifters are in Love with the Squat

When it comes to leg training, there are usually two types of people.

The first loads up the Leg Press with every plate in the gym, and goes through an intricate ritual involving tourniquet-tight knee wraps, a weight belt cinched to its tightest notch, and pre-lift announcements and cheers. He then wiggles into the sled and grinds out a few excruciating half-reps, ending with an ear-splitting yell and high-fives with his buddies.

The other type? Well, he was in the corner with the squat rack—you know, the loneliest place in the gym—quietly going about his business with deep, heavy squats. No wraps, no belts, no swagger—just a bar bending across his back, loaded with a “measly” few hundred pounds, and a puddle of sweat on the ground.

Who’s the winner, in the end? Who will consistently get bigger and stronger, and who’s the least likely to get hurt? The latter, of course.

While many people will do anything for legs before putting the barbell on their backs, they’re missing out on what many of the top strength coaches in the world consider the absolute toughest and rewarding exercise we can do.

To nobody’s surprise, squatting strengthens every muscle in your legs, which in turn helps you not only lift more weight in the gym, but run faster, jump higher, and improve flexibility, mobility, and agility. As if those aren’t reasons enough to squat, it’s also an incredibly effective core workout.

That said, the biggest fears that keep people from including squats in their workout routines are worries of back and knee injuries. Are these valid concerns?

How Your Back and Knees Can Love the Squat Too

The myth that squatting is bad for your knees started with work done in the 1960s. Research concluded that a properly done squat stretched the knee ligaments, increasing the risk of injury. These findings spread like wildfire through the fitness world. Some US military services even cut squatting movements out of their training programs.

It was noted that the studies had serious flaws, including the choice of subjects and researcher bias (for instance, one of the studies was done with parachute jumpers, who often hurt their knees due to legs getting caught in parachute lines and violent impacts when landing), but that wasn’t enough to stop the uprising against the squat.

Well, much research has done since then, however, and a much different picture has emerged.

A rigorous study conducted by Duke University involved the analysis of over two decades of published literature to determine, in great detail, the biomechanics of the squat exercise and the stresses it places on the ankles, knees, hip joint, and spine.

Highlights from the study, and many others reviewed within, set the record straight on how the squat affects our bodies, and teach us a lot about proper squat form:

•While most of the attention is given to the knee, hip, and spine, ankle strength plays a large role in power generation during squat performance. Research has shown that ankle weakness actually causes faulty movement patterns during the squat.

•The hamstrings counter-act the pull on the shinbone, which helps neutralize the shearing force placed on the knee, and alleviates stress on the ACL.

•Sit back into the squat during descent and resist the urge to bring the knees beyond the toes, as this increases shearing force placed on the knees.

•Even in extreme cases, such as powerlifters lifting 2.5 times bodyweight, the compressive forces placed on the knee and its tendons are well within its ranges of ultimate strength.

•Stress placed on the ACL is negligible considering its ultimate strength (in one study, the highest ACL force recorded when squatting was a mere 6% of its ultimate strength). Highest recorded PCL forces were well within natural strength limits as well.

•Don’t let your knees bow inward at any point during the squat. Keep them in line with your toes.

•Squat depth matters–a lot. The deeper you squat, the more work your legs and butt have to do. (I recommend either full squats or parallel squats, but not half squats.)

•Full squats cause more muscle activity in the butt than lesser squat depths (you hear that girls?). (Use a wide stance too if you want to hit your butt even harder!)

•If you maintain a neutral spine position while squatting (instead of a rigidly flexed position), you greatly reduce the shearing force placed on your vertebrae (your spine is better at dealing with compressive force than shearing).

•Maintaining a posture as close to upright as possible further reduces this force, as does increasing intra-abdominal pressure, which you can create by holding your breath while you squat, and gazing straight ahead instead of down.

•Squatting rapidly doubles the amount of shearing and compressive forces placed on your knees. Keep your reps at a controlled pace to avoid this (I like a 2:1:2 pace—2 seconds down, pause, 2 seconds up).

•Avoid exaggerated rotation of the feed inward or outward, as they don’t make the exercise any more effective, and can potentially cause undesirable knee movements.

•While the low-bar squatting position produces less torque on the knees than the high-bar position, the magnitude of both forces are well within tolerable ranges, making neither position “better” than the other in this regard. Use whichever squatting position is most comfortable for you.

•The front squat produces significantly lower knee compression and low-back stress in comparison to the back squat, and thus can be a viable alternative for those suffering from various knee and back problems.

•Squatting while you’re fatigued can cause poor form, and is likely a contributing factor in both short- and long-term injuries. (This is one of my gripes regarding Crossfit, wherein participants are often urged to squat and deadlift heavy weights while fatigued—an injury just waiting to happen).

In closing, researchers concluded that the squat “does not compromise knee stability, and can enhance stability if performed correctly.” Furthermore, any risks of spinal injury can be avoided by simply minimizing the amount of shearing force placed on the spine.