The Case for Loaded, Full Range of Motion Squats and the Case Against Machines, Alternatives, and High Box Squats

Listen, we know all the arguments for leg-presses, using that foam thing on the barbell and squatting to a bench or whatever, and every other cousin of the basic squat. People will say lots of things like: 

• There’s greater loading potential
• A real squat doesn’t show up in nature
• My clients aren’t powerlifters
• There’s less chance for injury 
• They are less scary
• If you don’t need to squat in your sport, you don’t need to squat in the gym

And, the list goes on. Frankly, all of these points are true.  I could probably get a 70-year old guy to “squat” 200lbs on the Smith Machine and Sally down the way would love to put the foam thing on the bar and sit to a bench and “squat” for the ‘Gram. 

There’s maybe just one reason to ignore all that and squat anyway:

If you can’t squat ass to grass with load, then you can’t squat ass to grass with load. 

Seems obvious? It is! If you cannot do that, you’re building a liability. You’re creating a space where you can’t go and you’re vulnerable and weak. If life (or sport) brings you into that range of motion, you will fail, hurt, and suffer there. 

Avoiding squatting isn’t just avoiding the things that make them challenging. It avoids the insurance policy that having that capacity affords you.