Boris Bachmann
Level 8 Valued Member
No one needs to squat anymore than they need to do any specific exercise, piece of equipment, or sport. It's why I asked you at the beginning of the thread "Do you WANT to squat?". If you have poor leverages for squatting and/or squatting causes you pain AND you don't want to squat, then forget about it - there are other ways to reap similar benefits.This is the exact reason I posted this in the first place. If there are certain categories of lifters/athletes/avg Joe’s for whom squatting doesn’t make sense, then how does one determine this? I definitely fall into the noob/avg Joe category, so the question is, what am I getting with squat that I would miss if I just went with DL and bench?
In a squat, the hips, knees, and ankles move through a greater range of motion than in a hinge. You squat when you climb, crawl, drop to and get up off the floor, and get in and out of a chair. It is a fundamental movement. Can you do a 'squat' without 'squatting'? Yes, there are many substitute exercises and variants. Does anyone really need to do them? Again, (and I'm not trying to be circular - seriously) it depends.