What are the best alternatives to the good old barbell squat? I love the resistance it adds to the muscles but I've been doing them for years and I just don't think doing heavy barbell squats is the best thing for your body to do.
>inb4 just do the squats you fag
Nah, if you know you know. Maybe pistol squats?
>regular human compound movement is bad for the body
>let me do meme shit like lunges and machines which require unnatural means of movement
>Lunges
>Meme
Oh he thinks the barbell is the end itself and not a means to an end.
>Front Squat
>Hack Squat
>Bulgarian Split Squat
>Leg Press
You have a lot of similar movement options bro.
First off
>considers squatting down a regular movement pattern
>doesn't do the same for a lunge for whatever reason
Secondly
>unnatural movement
have a nice day. No movement is inherently unnatural. Also, if you're trying to make a point about functionality of the movement, then you're also wrong. There's been an experiment of people being put into 2 groups of lifters that either got to work with machines or free weights. After a 12 week training cycle, the group that got better at everyday tasks like moving furniture etc was the machine group.
Pistols are a party trick, not a movement for strength and size. Leg presses are elite tho, true.
This
Wdym
Why should he get to that weight if he's uncomfortable with the movement, retard
True pistol squats aren't worth training but they are a good metric to do somewhat regularly to see how your strength balance is.
unilateral training is a meme. just perform bilateral movements in a symmetrical way, aka the intended way
Oh you don't actually perform in any sport
> Implying anyone on fit actually does sports.
I play division 1 baseball. Unilateral stuff is a meme and that guy is an idiot. Even when you’re “on one leg,” like when you’re throwing, training legs simultaneously gets a better effect than training them individually. The whole is greater than the sum.
For your sport you should be doing explosive training not really heavy squats or shit like that, swinging sledge to a tyre, as well as lateral movement with the bat to generate power as far as the throwing of a ball is considered you need more wrist and shoulder mobility for that strength.
Most of all squat strength doesn't matter for your sport as its more core and shoulders focused, deadlifts would be better with some sort of rotational work. Also unilateral work is great for running speed development or single leg strength.
Kek he said he plays in D1, granted no proof, but what are your credentials to be giving advice?
Just analyse the sport and movements used you dumbfuck. Its unilateral rotational strength output, its not powerlifting with shitty form or ATG squats, its a step, rotate and throw or step, rotate and swing. The step is like a lunge, not a squat by any means, the rotation is simple to understand.
You’re just wrong. You can read all the material or studies you want, doesn’t change the fact that heavy squats change your body in a way that nothing else does. You’re already training as much “rotation,” as you need from actually practicing the sport. Take your bench to 350, get your squat to 500+ for reps, deadlift 600. All those things change your physiognomy in profound ways, that single leg lunges or med ball throws simply do not.
You’re a retard. Read the two factor model. For throwing, get strong using heavy barbells, then do your throwing program. You don’t need to combine the two. Until you can throw 93 from the outfield I’m not interested in what you have to say
And I run 6.4 in the 60, don’t talk to me about not training squats for speed; squats work, period.
Salty fuck, ignore advice given by this retard who doesn't understand sport specific training vs general training.
Mimic what you do on the field to get better at what you do on the field.
A lineman in football who “mimicks” his knee angle by quarter squatting is weaker than the lineman who squats ATG.
Missing the point, please shut up.
Are you slamming the baseball against a tyre on the field? No but you are using similar energy and rotational force on the field thus increasing your strength and power output capacity for that sport.
No, when you slam a tire you’re using no force, that’s why it doesn’t make you stronger. The point of training is to increase force production, prancing around on one leg doing slams does not challenge your force production. Squats, presses, deadlifts and cleans increase force and power output. Practicing your sport makes you better at your sport. I have top 1% measurables at the highest level of college baseball. You’re a NEET who took an exercise phys class and thinks he’s discovered something. Pipe down and take notes.
Show proof of your wild claims that you are top 1% or else you are a laughable fuckup wasting his time here just like the rest of us. You need to build stronger torque to get better at baseball and short term fast af sprints over specific distances. You are striking the tyre with more force and there's impact that resists your output, thus making more effective than just swinging air.
Not doxxing myself less than a year from the draft, sorry. You’re wrong and should re evaluate your views. Your torque and everything else goes up with your force production. In the swing, the torque is a product of the scapula resisting the turn of the hips. It’s not complicated on a mechanical level, it’s hard at the experience level of handling the pitchers. Too bad you weren’t born athletic or smart. Maybe next life will treat you better
Okay you can shut up, please. Nobody will believe wild claims buddy. xD Hahaha, suck a dick failure.
Don’t care if you believe me or not, you’re nothing to me. I’m gracing you with my wisdom, and telling you why you’re wrong. You can choose not to believe me, but that won’t make you correct, or strong. Get under that bar and get your squat to 500x5; all will be revealed then.
God, a lot of retarded shit was said while I was gone
True but again, they're more of a balance thing than a measurement of strength, even in relative terms
Unilateral lifting helps prevent asymmetries and strength imbalances, retard.
What does this have to do with sports now
Lmao
This and also
>does barbell squats
>strong legs
is the same as
>does split squats
>strong legs
Unilateral or bilateral won't matter in this context.
Athletes hit the gym for hypertrophy training to gain muscle to use gained muscle on the field. Trying to make everything specific to the sport will most likely mean you're not deviating enough to progress in other areas that would benefit you.
Leg press. If you do them correctly you can do about 2x the weight of a squat.
You should also do good mornings to make sure you develop no imbalances.
These are usually 0.5x your deadlift.
>barbells are... LE NATURAL
No CPAP in the jungle.
there is nothing natural in lifting up a heavy barbell for five times
also pretty much all movements in any sport are unilateral or at least not symmetric
also if they are bilateral in a squatting movement its never an ass to grass movement because you can generate more force and power wit ha half or quartr squat
fuck you are incredibly retarded
let me have this natural squat rack with these natural plates and this natural bar that i will naturally put behind my back and naturally do this motion and naturally get a prolapsed anus.
if we are arguing bodyweight squat vs whatever machine exercise then i guess you may have a point, albeit a bad one.
putting weight on your back doesn't make the squat a non-natural movement
spinal compression and maximal loading of the spine is as unnatural as it gets for exercise, what was the last time any animal had to compress his spine with heavy loads(heavier than bodyweight) for 30+ seconds while squatting down on his hind limbs in any point in time?
ah yes metallic perfectly balanced bars on top of your spinal cord loaded with calibrated plates on each end are perfectly regular human movement
lunges which are similar to the actual movement you do every time you take a step on an incline or a ramp is unnatural though lol
Pistol squats are nice. I unironically really enjoy leg press as a supplement to squats. Legs can take way more of a blasting than your lower back can if you use your body for any sport which I do.
>looking for alternatives to squats for imaginary reasons
>lol pistol squats
Yeah, you don't know.
do 1 month of leg press and then 1 month of squat? maybe try bulgarian split squat? idk, to each their own
>I just don't think doing heavy barbell squats is the best thing for your body to do.
I bet you can't even do 4pl8
As someone who could squat 4 pl8 for reps in the past I can tell you I do not squat regularly any more.
I've found my deadlift carries over almost 1 to 1 and every fucking time I get heavy again on squat I have back or knee discomfort. I've tried rehabbing my squat form more times than I can count.
I've lifted for 10 years. My body personally just feels far healthier if I do higher frequency heavy ass deadlifts. (2-3x a week)
Though I'm well aware that statement is far from the truth for everyone I can tell you something about my leverages make it very true for me.
If you've done squats for years and have come to the conclusion you don't want to do them anymore; how in the flying fuck do you not know an alternative?
>Nah, if you know you know
what i know is that 60 year olds with gout squat heavy, and you're just a lazy piece of shit rationalizing being a gay
dumbbell squat
There are no substitutions
Enjoy being smol
Hindu squats with jumps, probably imo best for broad jump type strength.
Any goals with the extras?
You sound like a giant gay OP. Please do the world a favor and die in a fire.
Roon
> I just don't think doing heavy barbell squats is the best thing for your body to do
Correct
For replacements, don’t think of them as replacements but as superior movements. Squats are also the most technical lift after Olympic lifts and you should have multiple hours of coaching to learn them. If your goal is Olympic lifting or strongman and maybe if the throws, or jumping sports then barbell squats are a decent choice.
Without you saying your goals, gonna assume it’s general fitness and aesthetics.
You should be doing some kind of heavy compound in the >85% 1RM range or 5 reps max work or under. For bone density, and somewhat for hormone stimulation, not for any other reason except fun.
Trap bar deadlifts, barbell deadlifts, or barbell/trap bar split squats are best for this. Though the unilateral option is slightly worse for the goal. Half rep leg press if you can’t learn correct form otherwise.
For the rest of the reasons to otherwise squat…
Leg press for the easiest to learn, or hack squat
Zercher squats for core work but less impact on joints
Heavy short bike sprints
Heavy short sled push
Split squat/Bulgarian split squat
Trap bar deadlift for higher reps
Pistol squats are too skill based unless you care more about learning the skill/balance for it.
What’s your 5rm? My guess is you don’t actually squat. Cut the Joe Rogan and get your squat to 500x5. No, you don’t need to be fat. Barbell squats have no substitute; they are the single best exercise ever devised to this point in history. Do them.
Trap bar deadlift
Hackenschmidt squat
There isn't, barbell back squats are the be all and end all of fitness and athletics. It's the ultimate test of strength, power, mobility, posture, body awareness and balance. Every athlete in every sport does them.
Bulgarian Split Squats are the king of leg builders
Sprinting unironically
Better if you do it uphill
Get squat shoes. Game changer.
Belt squats