Squat: Home

82 Days to Memorial Day

Being as in favor of home and garage workouts as I am, let's bring this down and look at loading a squat at home. If you've been following the blog very long at all (thanks Mom) you might remember the post a few weeks back where I talked about picking up a suitcase or bag full of heavy books. Well, that's it right there. That's the application. And that's also why I don't program back loaded squats for people very often. Think of everything you lift and move in the course of a day. When you're moving it, where it is in relation to your body? You're holding it in front of you somewhere between hip and shoulder height, or pushing it up & relatively over your shoulders. The latter may come in the form of bending at the hips & reaching out to push something all the way to the back of the car trunk or just putting the big box of Christmas decorations back up on the top shelf.

At any rate, very rarely is the weight loaded across the back of your shoulders. So, if we're going to be efficient in our time & efforts, to create the kind of change that sticks with us over time, that improves the quality of movement in the body and by virtue of that gives us both functionality and aesthetic gains, we train in those ways that we actually move every single day.

Here's a home style progression that has immediate application for all of us. Once you've gotten used to your front squat, load up a bag of books, grab at least a 5lbs bag of rice (they regularly sell bags as large as 20lbs at the store if u need some quick & cheap weights) or a gallon jug of water. Standing with feet about hips width apart, left foot slightly forward. Hug the object to your chest with your right arm. Rotate slightly so from the hips up you're facing slightly to the right. Now reach down with your left hand and stick your hips out as far behind you as possible as your knees start to bend. In this case, go ahead and spot the ceiling. Go down until you feel the ground with your left hand. Now stand up & face front.

Let's call that a one handed squat. You've got a kid, a bag, or some load in one arm, you've dropped your keys & you've got to pick 'em up. Well, there you go. I've actually shown you a picture of a progression of this exact move before.

Arthur Saxon. Turns out those old school strongmen weren't so far off the mark after all.