by Frankie Dejong

At Peak we train all types of athletes: volleyball, football, basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, tennis, badminton, the whole 9 yards. Each athlete trains through programs that are specifically made for their individual requirements. Although each program is made based off the individual, you will find there are a few overlapping movements depending on the given sports and time of year. One exercise we program for nearly every athlete is the squat, or some variation of the movement.

Squatting is something as humans we were made to do. For instance next time you see a baby playing with their toys observe how perfect their squat is, you will be amazed at the mobility a small child has and how deep they can get while sitting in a squat position (you would think they’ve done it 1000x). As we age we tend to get away from sitting in a deep squat position, here are a few reasons why we as adults may need to revisit how often you decide to drop it down low and why we believe squatting is imperative in our athletes programming.

Why we believe you NEED to be squatting:

  • Squatting uses just about every muscle in the body. If you’re looking to get the best bang for your buck you wouldn’t look too much farther than this exercise. When you squat you are using every muscle in your lower body for obvious reasons, your core and upper body are then being used to stabilize the weight as you perform each repetition.
  • Bigger muscles equals more athletic potential. You’ve never heard of someone who grew more muscular legs and didn’t immediately jump higher. Squatting and jumping are almost identical motions, squat more jump higher, its thats simple.
  • When incorporated in a well balanced training program squats will reduce the risk of injury. A well performed squat brings all major joints in the lower body through a wide range of motion. The easier it is to move through long ranges of motion the less likely an injury will occur.

This is the squat progression we use for our athletes:

Exercise

1) Beginner

-Body Weight

-Overhead wall squat

2) Intermediate

-Goblet

-Box

-Paused

-Negative

3) Advanced

-Front

-Box

-Paused

-Negative

4) Elite

-Back

-Paused

-Negative

-Band Resisted

-Chains