Anybody who hasn’t had their head buried in the sand knows how I feel about the squat. Furthermore anybody who hasn’t had their head cut off knows how all smart Olympic lifters feel about the low-bar back squat. That being said every now and then a world-renowned, decorated weightlifting coach will put out his thoughts out there on the forbidden squat and it’s worth looking at. Specifically for the Olympic lifts used all the time in Crossfit, the high bar backsquat is the way to go. There really can be no argument made against that. John coffee wrote a beautiful article walking us through this reality. Hopefully you have read this by now but for those who haven’t. Enjoy.
The Low Bar Back Squat by John Coffee
Secondly, I have preached and preached and preached for the utility and necessity of active gluts. My ART team preaches and preaches on this daily. If you want a big squat and thus big Olympic lifts the gluts are a essential part of that. You can’t squat with your gluts turned off (like the picture below) and expect any of your work to translate into better cleans, front squats, wallballs, or thrusters. Today I read an awesome article on hamstring dominance caused by inactive gluts that is worth the 15 minutes. It explains a ton of causes for lower back lordosis, tight hamstrings, and bad squatting. Here’s a quote to tempt you.
“Injuries tend to occur to synergists when the prime mover has become weak, and the synergist has to do more work and never gets time off. The muscle that becomes injured is rarely the problem, but usually the victim.”
Hamstring Dominance By: Brijesh Patel
