The Squat King
- Jul 11
- 2 min read
“The squat is the king of all exercises”— Fred Hatfield.
Can we still write anything interesting about the squat pattern? Is the squat a lift that can actually tell us something beyond the reheated 3, 2, 1 or 0 ("if it hurts") inherited from the now somewhat outdated and rather inaccurate FMS™ functional assessment system—a method that promised everything but ultimately delivered very little? If someone cannot squat competently, will the weight simply "fix" their movement? Or is the problem actually coming every time from the ankle problems? Or perhaps from poor lumbopelvic control? How long is it worth correcting the squat before it simply becomes an attempt to lift progressively heavier loads? And are there specific squat variations that may be better suited for managing low back pain, others for rehabilitating hamstring injuries and others still for guiding return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction?
Illustration 1. Shallow squat, parallel squat and deep squat from. Graphics from PODSTAWY REHABILITACJI course.
Why is it also the case that, when it comes to lifting weights (especially squatting) there seem to be as many extreme opinions as there are coaches? After all, if the squat truly is the "king of all exercises," it is rarely absent from any well–rounded strength development programme. So let's see what current expert knowledge and biomechanical research have to say about these questions—combined with modern analytical tools powered by AI ...
... tools that, at a world–class level, are provided by Smarter Diagnostics, a company I proudly support. They have just released a FREEMIUM (free, yet still premium) version of their Motion Capture squat assessment, which, through its Talk–To–Data functionality, may help practitioners answer exactly the questions raised above.
Read Adam Kozłowski's full article here.
