If you could only perform one exercise for the rest of your life, the squat would be a solid choice. It incorporates all the muscles of the lower body, uses a large range of motion, engages the muscles of the trunk and upper back, and it has the potential to be loaded very, very heavily.
Functionally, humans squat all the time in some form: getting up from a chair, from a toilet, or even crouching under a desk are all examples of squat-like movements.
There are hundreds of different ways to squat, but the low bar back squat, performed below parallel is our preferred variation of squat.
"Low Bar" means the barbell is resting on the rear deltoid muscle on the back of your shoulder. This is different than the "high bar squat", with the bar sitting at the base of the neck.
"Below Parallel" means the lifter squats until the crease of the hip drops below the top of the kneecap. This is standard legal depth in powerlifting.
We prefer this variation of squats whenever possible. Here's why:
1. Most muscle mass
Due to the lower position of the bar on the back, the low bar squat requires a more horizontal back angle than other varieties. This places more load onto the hip extensors (glutes, hamstrings and adductors) and lower back muscles compared to a more upright variation.
2. Longest effective range of motion
Squatting just below parallel allows the maximum range of motion for the hip, knee and ankle, without sacrificing muscular involvement - most people cannot squat all the way down without losing tightness at the bottom. In order to keep the muscles under tension, we cut depth where the hip crease passes the top of the knee.
Squatting higher than this reduces load on the hips, and is also harder to keep consistent between workouts.
3. More weight on the bar
Because of all the big muscles involved, and the leverage produced by bending over, the low bar squat allows the largest amount of weight to be lifted of any squat variation. Heavy weights make you strong!
The low bar squat is a more effective strength exercise than the front squat, overhead squat, split squat, goblet squat or any other variation. There's a time and place to use those variations, but if your goal is to get as strong as you can, the low bar should be your pick.
Learn to squat correctly with an experienced coach and rehab professional at Iron 97, Vaughan's best strength training facility.
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