Is the King Dead?

I did it, I did it for years! I always made the squat the cornerstone of all my training programs. Who would blame me? There are hundreds of studies and practical experiences showing just how darn effective squat training actually can be for performance. Yet, that doesn't mean there can't be a better way and our thinking can't evolve.

When I think to my own training I can remember times when squat numbers would improve, yet, performance in sports I would enjoy would not see any improvement. Why did this occur? After really taking a look at my own training and to those that I work with I found some interesting observations.

1. Since the squat form of people can vary so greatly it is impossible to make an overall generalization if squatting is good or harmful for one's goals.

2. We live in an era where injuries, muscle imbalances, movement problems, and other physical issues play a large role in what happens during the squat. I could yell and scream about how awesome they are and how you HAVE to do them, but that isn't always the answer.

3. More important than squat numbers going up is whether or not they are leading people to the bigger picture of their overall goal.

I know for myself squatting was definitely a beneficial exercise, but I really didn't understand what I was missing till I started addressing my own weaknesses. Sports such as basketball and Strongman took a large toll on my body.

From these sports I had more than a few days where my hip would ache, I would have altered walking patterns, shoulder tightness and just didn't feel like I could progress in my training. I made the hard decision to take a break from the traditional back and front squatting and make lunging a priority in my training program.

Most people would say that I was "wussing out", but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. The worst case from my own experiment? I would not get any better and possibly lose some strength. The result was much different than I expected.

After about six weeks of making lunging a strength focused lift for me I found that my hips felt better and more surprisingly my back squat went up! Why could this happen? A few things came to mind pretty fast.

1. Squatting is an easy exercise for us to think as a superior strength exercise because simply we can often handle more weight. More weight must mean more strength being built, but it is impossible to say that single leg exercises could not do the same at smaller loads. It would appear that lunges stimulate just as many, if not more muscles because of being slightly unstable. Therefore, we can't simply assume more weight equals more strength.

2. It is far more difficult to compensate on the lunge than the squat. The most common compensation is altering stride length to something shorter to remain more balanced. Outside of this pattern, it is darn hard to cheat a lunge. Many lifters know there are more than a few ways to cheat a squat.

3. You hit your weak points! I can't think of too many people that like to do what they are not good at. So many issues can be addressed with lunging, hip mobility, lower leg stability, and hip and leg strength. These issues can be missed with a lack of focus and time spent on single leg exercises. However, what I like so much about lunging is the dynamic stretch to one of the most problematic areas of the body, the hip flexors.

I also began to be in favor of using suspension training to enhance the training effect of lunges. The beauty of suspended lunges is that you can alter and progress range of motion and stability depending upon the version of the movement you use. Today I wanted to share some very important variations of suspended lunging that we use to take people's training to a new level.

The most difficult part? Being comfortable with not judging the success of the lift by how much weight you lift, rather by the results you obtain.

More Than Screaming and Yelling

Unsophisticated, "hardcore", basic, easy, all these are terms I have heard various people use when refer to sandbag training. You see there is a HUGE difference between using a sandbag exercise and using sandbags as a systemized form of training.

I have seen many jump on board the sandbag bandwagon, but that isn't always a good thing. Seeing the random assignment of sandbag exercises to workouts or techniques being anything BUT good, I don't know if these people help or hurt our efforts. A sandbag by itself does not help you training, using a sandbag with great technique and purpose makes a world of difference in one's performance training.

Trust me, when you see the videos of athletes performing crappy sandbag exercises with the mindset of this being "hardcore", or "toughness training" it is anything but!

During the growth of my Sandbag Fitness Systems program I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet many coaches that I normally would have never spoken with. One of these coaches is Vince McConnell of McConnell Training in Fairhope, Alabama. Vince has been a leader in the fitness community for many years. So, I was really excited when he showed interest in the sandbag program.

Recently Vince sent me two videos of two VERY different athletes. The first is a high level athlete performing one of my favorite Ultimate Sandbag drills, the one legged goodmorning. As Coach McConnell told me this athlete can typically perform this drill with over double the weight with the bar on two feet. Yet, it is very obvious that this athlete is struggling to do less than half the weight on one leg with the Ultimate Sandbag.

This is a perfect example how good coaching can identify the needs of an athlete rather than just trying to "smoke" an already strong athlete. Now, the performance of the athlete, rather than the training of the athlete gets priority.

The next athlete is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Here is a young man that needs to build a base of training and instead of just "making him sweat", Coach McConnell provides a well balanced training program that hits patterns and muscles that makes this not just a preparation program, but definitely will provide this young man an edge in performance. It needs to be pointed out that this young man is not rushing through rep after rep, rather much more attention is spent with technique and performance. This may seem obvious, but how many times have you fallen for the trap of racing against the workout rather than remembering the objective of training for a specific purpose! Are you training or working out?

Take the "Tough Enough" Challenge

So many people wanted to see the types of workouts I created for the Special Forces candidates. Watch the video to not only see a great workout, but why we are using these exercises and tools! Get the secrets to being elite!

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