When you train people in real life you notice that most people have major inbalances, mostly in hips in shoulders. His "Test and retest" videos have helped me help alot of people with these issues. It has also helped me get rid of hip issues and knee pain.
When I have aches, pains and stiffness, squat university is usually pretty good at helping to diagnose stuff and figure out how to fix it. It’s helped me at least. I also tend to train myself into the ground and overtrain like an idiot and end up either not being able to get out of bed or hurting myself, so his approach helps to balance me out and actually make some progress.
I think squat U overlooked the fact that if you can squat 650 with imperfect form, it wouldn't be that hard to drop to ~77% of that (500 lbs) and hit that with very clean form. So at the very least these two lifters would be equally impressive
Funny enough that’s my squat max and I can tell you for fact I can squat 570 beltless effortless. The statement from squatU about strength not mattering is a joke. Anyone who legit squats 600lbs+ raw will find 500lbs absolutely easy
@@user-ec1dn3uz5k Honestly I think lifting without belts and straps fundamentally means you have much better technique and a much stronger muscle chain as a result (especially regarding your core and lower back), and even if you are squatting with slightly imperfect form at max, you could absolutely smash a lighter weight because fundamentally every aspect of your body is strong enough to perform easily under a lighter load. It's nice to see other people are lifting heavy raw, I don't get why there is such opposition to this in some parts of the lifting community. If you are actually strong enough to lift a weight, you should be able to do so without support, otherwise some aspect of your overall strength is lacking, I don't get why people would sacrifice core and grip strength training just to lift a weight they aren't actually strong enough to move without strapping up.
@I, CATO SICARIUS using a lifting belt doesn't take away from your core training (and as far as RAW lifting concerned is allowed in most RAW powerlifting feds). If anything you can squeeze your core harder while wearing one and it'll be under more stress as there is a physical wall to push against. The reason you lift less without the belt is not because the core has become weaker as a result of the belted training. Its because you have removed the wall to press against and you cant reach those same levels of tension. The gains you make belted should directly translate to beltless gains also assuming the belt is being used correctly which is the most important factor, I reckon a lot of gym goers using a belt don't necessarily know how to use it properly. No go read your codex Cato Sicarius you Ultramarine nerd with a high pitched voice that insists on introducing himself at every possible moment ;)
I don’t think a pistol would be a good determining factor for a good weighted squat. People have such vast differences in torso, femur and shin lengths. This is clearly a movement all on its own. Nothing to do with proper mobility. My daughter is a level 9 gymnast and can’t do a pistol. So there you go.
Personally, I used to follow more of the functional side of fitness pages (specifically athlean x a lot), and I think worrying about these things set back my progress quite a bit. "Oh my back rounded a bit during deadlifts, I must take weight off the bar" and stuff like that. Not to mention the psychological portion of it, constantly worrying about injuries and health makes training much less enjoyable. Nocebo is real. Nowadays I just warm up with the empty bar instead of doing all that elaborate warmups lol.
By following advice from SU, years of elbow and lat pain went after after doing some exercises. But having said that, if we micromanage everything we do, then we might never actually find the time to squat, deadlift and bench.
@@GaryMiller-z6tyou can be healthy squatting benching and deadlifting without doing 600 correcting exercises (correcting what only god knows sometimes) If you follow all squat u advice you would need one hour for warming up a a day and another hour to activate your stabilizer muscle at best before training
He's a physical therapist, ofcourse he focusses on the things he does. His job is to fix movement patterns as rehab and to prevent injury. As far as the posts go, as you said they do great in the algorithm so he keeps posting them. As a strength and weightlifting coach I get your point of training hard and pushing weight, that will give you better numbers in your lifts. But as I health coach myself, there is no need or benefit to that outside the weightlifting or powerlifting sports. So lifting lighter (while still lifting and getting the benefits of that) with good technique, decreasing chance of injury and working on a more complete development of the body, not only the strength, is better (for health purposes). Everyone has their own frame of reference for whats most important.
Very good point. I like zack, but commenting on others has brought him down in my books. Aaron is clearly focused on movement. Bad positions over time can lead to injury and permanent damage. Correcting these patterns are essential, only if it bothers you to do so. You dont have to do it. But you have the options. I believe hes giving you options from hes beliefs. Nobodys wrong and nobodys right. Your comment is spot on dude. Whats more benficial? Over fitness or overall strength..... Fitness all day hands down. Cannot be debated. Unless your so invested in "heavy lifting" that you cant do cardio of any type, because youll lose your "gains". (Or because there is no hope of you moving that weight for that long. Because its not meant to be. So in the end, its up to the individual. What they want to achieve and pay for in training. I feel Zak is taking on Aaron to get hes own name out there and try get the likes and comments, just like Aaron has done. Ya know the saying "speculate to accumulate". Well here we are. I like both guys. But dislike commenting on others beliefs when there isnt a thing wrong with what he does. Ive gained lots of knowledgeable info from aaron @ Squat University. Zak on the other hand not much at all, tips for tall lifters is about it. Seedman makes me wonder however.
Very narrowminded of you. There is no benefit to lifting heavy weights? Come on... I can't even take you serious if you say there is literally no benefit. Increased muscle and tendon strength, denser muscle, injury prevention, functional strength just to name a few. Sorry, but you're way out of your league here obviously. What are you even teaching people is what I'm most worried about...
@@XXLRebel there's a point of diminishing returns in strength training. And there's a difference between "lifting heavy" and "lifting as heavy as you possibly can". The strength you need to be "healthy" is not that high to begin with, only if you are training for a sport, or if it's your priority for any other reason, there's a point in trying to reach your genetic potential in regards to strength.
unless you’re a full time athlete, like martins and even then he was doing rehab on a ton of injuries ranging from nerve damage in his neck or hip injury to literally getting hit by a car. dude needed rehab 😂
I understand that the guy sometimes does these "click bait" type posts to attract people, but as an overall I think he does much more good than harm. In my opinion he gives extremely helpful advice. You have to remember one very important thing: outside USA it's not that common to find health professionals with a basic knowledge of weight training. In where I live, as a general rule, doctors/physios don't lift and aren't interested in learning anything related to weights either. They solve everything with pills, machines or the classic "start swimming". In this scenario, the content given for FREE by Aaron, Stuart McGill, "Knees over toes", Dr Spinelli, etc., it's gold. As always, great video Zack.
@@jakeb89 It makes sense for the "average" non-gym-goer person. If they're doing something that hurts, and they don't need it, just stop doing it. That's a common first approach a lot of doctors and physios have. They SHOULD gauge the level of importance of an activity to their patient (required for work or personal fulfillment) and create a plan of treatment accordingly, but telling someone to just stop is a simple "cure" for them.
I feel like Squat U leans towards a more extreme view to get some publicity. He makes some great points but often gets way too obsessive about having completely perfect form.
His straight arm obsession on cleans and snatches are just ridiculous. He’s someone that could use some mark rippetoe in his life lol, just get stronger and stop obsessing over something like a 1 degree arm bend 1cm before the bar makes contact
I read and used Aaron's Squat Bible book and it helped my form and squat a lot. He definitely knows his stuff and it does help, but like you said it's to be used as a tool with everything else you do. There are many aspects to lifting and what he teaches is just a part of it.
And Squat University just made a post saying “Stop associating with coaches who want to bring others down and spread negativity…” Coincidence? Personally, I felt like this video was constructive criticism, but no one likes being told they’re wrong, so Squat University may see it as a personal attack. Has an internet beef just started? A couple years ago, I made a video critiquing Master Wong’s terrible jiu-jitsu technique videos. Suddenly the whole internet demanded that we fight to the death to decide who was right. What do strength athletes do in this situation? Have a lifting battle? On a more serious note, the point you made in this video is an extremely important one: focusing on the minutia and nitpicking at technical joys and titles that don’t matter, instead of getting out there and training, is a horrible trap. I fell into that trap myself for a long time. A coach is supposed to facilitate the success of an athlete, not compel the athlete into a state of codependency.
Well, I have a different take on Squat university content, Generally speaking, most of the newcomers to the strength training, call it powerlifting weightlifting, or CrossFit, came from a commercial gym background, where nobody tells you anything about mobility, range of motion nor anything except lifting weights and using machine that splits the muscle workout and makes it easier for everybody. However, when you begin with any type of strength free weight training, you need to start to understand your strength and weaknesses in your mobilities, your limits, and how you can develop it in a good way, not only to prevent injury " which is an essential element " but also to develop this strength in the good direction. Yes, S.U; exaggerate in many cases, but I still think it is good guidance for the beginner athlete to better understand how things related to mobility are as important as lifting the weight itself.
Really if you want to train long-term with good progress and without injury you need to start reading around the subject (self-education is a factor in succeeding with any hobby), yes a commerical fitness experience isn't exactly educational, but all the materials exist out there once you start reading into established material and various stickied posts on fitness forum's. Though most people still seem to completely rely on broscience (which is the antithesis of productive training in many ways) and just apeing other's they see instead of applying their mind to the problem. The one thing I would say SU actually brings to the table is a decent focus on rehabilitation and prehabilitation, which are extremely necessary part's of a workout that I don't see anywhere near as discussed as they should be. These are essential to longevity and to consistent performance by preventing injuries and improving recovery time, so that's at least one benefit in the dude's favour. The issue is that he sometimes goes too deep on this, and you can end up with beginner's believing that unless they do everything perfectly they won't make progress and will be injured all the time. Personally having learned proper programming and informing myself on the best rehab/prehab for my aims (because it certainly varies, if you want to do, say, hand balancing you need specific wrist focused prep etc) before finding out about SU, it does seem like he has some decent information on offer for people who otherwise are unaware of various supplementary training methods everyone should be including, but at the same time the people watching should be reading around concerning their own goals and figuring out how this applies to them. Also they need to understand that he does exaggerate, and you shouldn't take it as gospel, but that really applies to any source of information. I see it like a similar situation to the Knees Over Toes Guy, useful information, but might go too far down the rabbit hole and exaggerate the efficacy or impact of certain things, but usually beneficial for people who have issues and don't currently have the information to deal with them.
Also anyone who contributes to a collective understanding of mobility and flexibility in regards to building a strong and healthy body gets a pass in my book. There's no point being strong if you can't even move through a basic ROM or if your training is limiting your ability to move. Even bodybuilders can be flexible and mobile if they just add some basic elements into their training. I've seen some ridiculous statements on this as well, many seem to think flexibility makes you weak (to get the splits you have to hardcore train your hip flexors and other supporting muscles to essentially drag the legs out) and that mobility makes certain movements like the squat more dangerous...
I feel like squat u's point of view is mostly from injury recovery perspective. Aka the pain downarrow you glossed over at the very beginning. He has lots of videos of him rehabbing athletes recovering from various injuries. So yeah, I'd agree improve the foundation and recover rom before adding the weight back on.
I disagree. In the rehb community, those PTs who tell patients they shouldn't carve in their knees at max loads, they shouldn't round their back, they need to have perfect technique, etc are looked down upon because they are instilling fear of movements to their patients. Disability is biopsychosocial. Incompetent therapists like SquatU are responsible for creating or prolonging disability that would not be there had they not intervene. They ar doing this to keep patients coming back to the clinic and line their pockets. It is disgustingly unethical.
He probably projects his goals allot more because he has to for his brand. I think most people would agree that filling out every check for an absolute perfect movement is unnecessary , it's just a preference.
Mmm so for the sake of the argument I told you , you want squat all the way to 700 but by 50 your hip is destroyed because you don't fix the imbalance our whatever fuck wast right ,,, our 600 and walk fine later in life your pick , and after pick what most of the regular people is going to pick?
@@AnthonyGarcia-sy3yk What if for the sake of argument, you could squat 650 but your ankle does something kind of funny, and it doesn't hurt? I'm on the side of people who like having perfect form and joint health, but I think we overexaggerate allot of consequences.
It really comes down the fact that Squat U’s perspectives aren’t incorrect, but misguided. He’s a physical therapist that’s worked with top level athletes and has done his part in promoting rehabilitation, and he wants people to succeed in their physical activity of choice. These blanket statements and absolutist remarks however, even with further nuance and context, are not helpful and create more barriers to physical activity than necessary. When you provide statements with negative connotation, like the single leg squat compared to a 1000 lb squatter, it doesn’t send the right message and nocebos a lot of the general population into worrying more about exercise efficiency as opposed to just getting them into the gym consistently and building confidence and self efficacy for the long term. And that’s huge when you have such a big following and are creating more reasons for people to not engage in physical activity and resistance training in particular. Again, not a bad person and has good intentions overall I just don’t know if he provides a net positive to the fitness world if he continually makes out of pocket statements like this and continues to roll with it.
addressing weaknesses and imbalances is a fantastic active recovery - non heavy training day approach. I think SquatU is overly idealistic in a lot of his content, but if you can incorporate it into your training at say 30% it is often enough to see benefits. Especially for those annoying nuisance injuries that don't stop you but cause pain/discomfort.
I understand you trying to see both sides of this but in the end you still dont seem to actually understand his side. i dont want to type a novel but, IMO, he seems to targeting a different community of lifters. Lifters like you seems to care about strength goals more that anything else. Lifters like me dont really care about squatting 400 pounds and more about being able to squat in a way that will reduce injuries, promote longevity, and also have good mobility. My top focus is to stay healthy and prevent injuries so his posts seem right up my alley of focus.
Idk Zack I would definitely not put Aaron in the same category as Seedman. There’s tons of research that backs all of the interventions and modalities that Aaron advocates. Would you agree that being able to perform a pistol squat to depth would make you a better squatter? Not necessarily to say that you cannot be a good squatter without this ability but that it simply allows you to better control your body throughout the movement. And yea, clickbait is real unfortunately. But all influencers do it. These review videos of other influencers seem to drum up good traffic.
Unless you're not much of a squatter to begin with the pistol squat won't make you a better squatter. Its a different movement pattern that requires mobility and stability specific to the single leg squat.
It's totally baffling to me that people still don't understand the difference between general fitness and sport. Most sports that require movement specificity by nature are going to have motor pattern biases.
SquatU can C&J 140kg, he is also a really good athlete. He gets a lot of hate for absolutely no reason; probably just because he is popular. He reinforces movement, mobility, and stability to be better regardless of how much you can lift
He has amazing information, he has great result with people he coaches, helps people who deal with issues related with weight lifting, is a great person all this backlash is from people who are childish and "dude bros" who feel attacked by his popularity or just have a gut reaction and womits hate back. Its as if they are glorifying being injured or going towards injury. SquatU has plenty of high lvl atheltes who come to him because their "gung hou" style of aproach led them to inability to perfom at a high level anymore. I think these steroid abusers should stop glorying balls to the walls mentality and start thinking about longevity as well... ofcourse who cares about living with a life long disability when you can brag that 30 years ago you lifted 700 pounds. If you live that long that is...
A 140 or even a 150 clean and jerk at 85 is not impressive, and it definitely doesn't justify his pompous statements that are contradictive just for the sake of drawing attention
It's not like he's putting out long form content and then someone else is clipping him out of context and pissing people off. He's putting out longer form content and then clipping himself out of context for an algorithm boost. It works, it's a good marketing strategy, and I don't blame him one bit. But him choosing to post shit like this and then getting hate for it is not 'for no reason'. He posts controversial, bordering on nonsensical shit, on purpose hoping to get people to interact with his more long form content. He is a good athlete, he does reinforce a lot of things that are good for a lot of athletes, but he also puts himself in a position to rightfully be criticized.
@@hiebrantsify there’s also plenty of amazing athletes who don’t obsess over any of the things he says and are just fine he gives off Joel seedman jr vibes
I've seen some of the squat university mobility videos, and some of them were kinda helpfuI, but those insta posts look like a tame version of joel seedman's bs
I would think all the big numbers he has from posts is because he has a large Indian following (guess). Being Indian myself I only started following him because he worked closely with Mirabai Chanu, an Indian silver medalist in Tokyo 2020 and was interviewed by quite a few news outlets back home.
The part of training hard even when you don't feel 100% or the technique isn't perfect and constantly challenging yourself is really, really important. At one point in my training i was so preoccupied with long term results that i was basically doing micro steps in my training (the James Clear approach) when what i really love is giving my all and passing through pain and mistakes, and fixing them later (the Stefi Cohen/"Bulgarian" approach). My training was so boring that i wanted to quit even though i was making consistent progress, it was killing my love for the game. Focusing too much on perfect technique, recovery and "balance" can certainly be detrimental (but i should say that i learned a lot by going to the other side of the Force for a while tho).
I totally agree! You are doing corrective exercises to get better at something thats not your main goal. If its something you are doing off season or on a rest day... fine I'll buy it, but not on a training day. Ps. You just killed it with the mindcraft background, coach!
I don't care If you bench 25 lbs or 250 lbs, If you can't do 1 arm quadruple clap push-up, it means your chest is weak, your arms are weak, and your bench press is probably killing your gains.
Dr Andrew Lock (probably best rehab specialist in Australia - does seminars with Australian Strength Coach) seems to support Squat U’s ideas- & he has a 200kg bench at age 50+
I can get 15+ good reps pistol squat per leg. Yet my max sq is 160 kg. Does that mean I am better than every powerlifter?? Thanks, Aaron. Being a guy whose anatomy allowed to pistol squat pretty much 10 days after I first learned what it was.
One of the big issues I have found when discussing anything like squats or deadlifts is that for some they are the goal and others the process. The point regarding single leg squats I would agree with for the majority of athletes due to the unilateral demands of most sports. People need to ask themselves why they want a bigger squat and at what point the returns diminish or become detrimental to the primary goal - so for a weightlifter the answer is generally going to be never until you move past the primary competing phase of life. It is incredibly easy to get stuck in the minutia of training and miss the wood for the trees, so I personally stick to the old 80/20 rule and tell clients that corrective exercises (or whatever you want to call them) are only beneficial if you are working the primary movement patterns. Otherwise it is just getting expensive and super light gears on your bike but your frame is made of steel.
Zack I think you need to take on consideration the public he is aiming,,, most of the people workout to feel good and be healthy not compite and they don't interesting on clean jerk 150 kilos, just feel good when they wake up in morning and nothing hurts ,, the audience you aiming is totally a different one ,and with you I want the kilos but we the minority brother...
I think he's right to say that it doesn't matter what you back squat, if you're unable to do a single leg squat to parallel you can probably improve your back squat or your longevity/injury risk by developing the capacity to do so. Nothing exceptionally controversial there and I'm sure basically every split jerker can single leg squat on their leading leg to parallel and probably back leg as well.
No, it does matter. However there is a difference between how you define it. A person squatting atg X weight vs. a person parallel squatting X weight, the person squatting atg will have better hip and ankle mobility and will be stronger that the person only parallel squatting X weight, so neither mobility or strength will be an issue for him to perform pistol squats however the parallel squatter most likely be limited by his lack of mobility.
@@jotr.9786 sure you’re right. But let’s also bear in mind in may help mostly from and injury risk and longevity standpoint rather than just adding lbs on the bar.
@@VastChoirs unless you're on roids you will not be "just adding lbs on the bar" and even on roids most plateau. doing atg you continue to progress while you improve/ maintain good mobility or you can just lose your time doing pistol squats...
According to an article I read many years ago, the writer said that five members of our team going to the World Championships had not made any improvements in their totals in four or more years. These athletes were the best we had at the time, so certainly deserved their place on the team. That said, one reason these athletes stop making progress is because they get injured, and have to take long periods to rehab. The takeaway Squat University might be giving us is that as they progress, weightlifters need to address deficiencies in structural balance that could result in injury?
But where's the proof that 'not perfect form' leads to an increased risk in injury? It's not there. It's way more plausible that because of the level on which these atletes perform, their risk of injury increases. overall it's way more plausible that the risk of an overuse injury increases the closer you get to the limits of human performance.
@@jantje.96 My comment related to how muscular imbalances can lead to injury; I never said anything about “not perfect form” or “overuse injuries.” Perhaps you are replying to a comment made in another post? That said, there are examples from other sports showing the improper technique increases the risk of injury. In sprinting, if the contact foot lands too far in front of the athlete’s center of mass (overstriding), the risk of a hamstring injury is higher. (Sugimoto, D., et al. “Running Propensities of Athletes with Hamstring Injuries.” Sports, 2019; 7(9):210.) In boxing, higher skill levels are associated with a reduced risk of concussions. An extensively-referenced book that deals with the causes of sports injuries in 24 sports is “Epidemiology of Sports Injuries by Caine, Caine, and Lindner.” Expanding on my point about US athletes not making progress, consider (as John Broz says it) the difference between “desire and desperation” in weightlifting motivation. He said many US lifters desire to improve, whereas Bulgarian lifters are desperate to improve. Bulgarian coach Angel Spassov told me that one reason for the success of the Bulgarian lifters was that they had limited resources. If a younger lifter came along who was better than a senior lifter, the younger lifter would take his place. Angel said the reason Blagoy Blagoev stayed on the national team for so long even though he was much other than other athletes was that no one came along who could beat him! One of my athletes got recruited to play hockey for Moscow Dynamo in Russia. He said that there were three levels of housing, with the best athletes getting the best food and living conditions. The thing is, where you stayed depended on how you performed EVERY DAY. So, if you were living on the top level on Monday and had a bad practice on Tuesday, Tuesday you would be moved to the bottom level. This policy motivated these athletes to try their best every day.
I think his content is great. You just have to use some common with how much of it you utilise. He does consistently say try things and test and repeat, keep what works ditch what doesn't. He encourages not to take too long with warm ups and corrective exercises and to get the biggest bang for your buck. Hard to argue with that. But we all know how the algo game works, just like your funny shorts to trigger the bro's. You have to play the game 🤷♂️
The single leg squat is soooo stupid... A skill is just that: a skill. Its like saying that not being able of performing 20 pull ups is "having a weak link". No, I just dont train to improve my pull ups to a point where I can do 20 pull ups. Single leg squats are not a common human movement pattern, so its completely normal not bein able to do a single one if you dont train for it, and it does not mean that you ahve a "weak link"
And some people simply can't do them because of their body's proportions. It's just impossible for a long femured guy. It's weird that a PT don't mention that.
when I started weightlifting I was so worried about form, and I tried to follow Squat U for help but honestly, it was so complicated and there were so many little caveats to 'perfecting squat form' that I got almost nowhere. The slightest imbalance and I thought I had to drop weight. A little knee wobble and I thought my knees were gonna snap. Eventually I just started doing squats a ton and in a way stopped worrying about form. I focused on depth and not doing anything dumb, but other than that, I got way better just lifting weight.
you're just scrolling this dude's instagram on screen and waffling about it! how is this content? why does youtube keep recommending this channel to me
Corrective exercises are meant to correct something that is a flaw, that is holding you back, or that is actively hurting you. Why are you trying to correct something that isn't even there? Thank you for the lunchtime video and for accepting a comment for the algorithm
The problem is the way the clickbait is stated. On the fitness side of Reddit, there are so many comments like "I can squat X, but I noticed I have a slight lean, should I cut the weight in half and correct my form?". By saying "1000 bad form is less impressive than 100 perfect form", it leads to this line of thought that you should constantly cut down, which stalls your progress because it's natural that flaws you have at higher weights would disappear at lighter ones. Also, if you can lift 1000 with bad form, you can correct at 1000 pounds and you'll probably be able to do more. The way he states the comparison creates an illogical interpretation by people who are going to read his 2 page top comment.
I like the way Zach approaches these different statements. Every area of movement has a place in getting stronger. How to best do that varies from person to person
Zack hit on a really good point, that not only applies to the topic with Squat University, but also to one of the greatest inhibitors in progress in training, in general. *Learn to stop obsessing over all of the little things.* That is one of the biggest personal hurdles that I have struggled with (and sometimes still do) in progressing in my training; and I have a feeling that it applies for many others.
I think a lot of people misunderstood what SquatU was saying based on the way he worded it. He's not at all disparaging people who are very strong, he's just highlighting that inevitably if you are lacking basic mobility, coordination or balance standards you will face issues with injury or pain.
I've gone to Squat University videos when I have a problem. Hip pain, knee pain, etc. And his videos definitely help. But I also want to hit a 500lb squat. I don't go to his content for that.
I physically feel and move the best I ever have at 36, and I do the least amount of warming up I’ve done in over a decade. I think training load management and intelligence goes so much farther than sooo much of this stuff. I do love my 10-15 minutes of bar warmups, tbf.
Same. I get on a bike or a ski erg to warmup for a bit, maybe 5 mins of light stretching and then get after it lol. I do one day of just full recovery however and i think that helps me. Fitness and wellness is very dependent on the individual though. Lol
I stopped following this clown like two years ago. He's just reposting the same stuff anyway. He's got like 25 practically identical videos on butt wink on instagram and TH-cam combined the last 4 years. And his tweets or whatever they are that he posts on instagram are just stupid and 10% of the time it's misinformation 🤷♂️ like, "if you feel a pump in your lower back while working out you're doing it WRONG" err, okay.
the numbers on those tweets are clear attention grabs and algorithm manipulation not to mention the athletes he has helped rebuild from injury do great when they’re full time athletes and have the time to do all the work he prescribes (martins, micah, etc) However his prehab/warmup takes longer than I am willing to put in but does provide insight into what I can do better when feeling stiff or ‘off’. and his book is pretty good info when dealing with pain. take it w a grain of salt and still do your work 🤷🏻♂️
I agree with your bottom line (if you wanted to make it) that you should not overthink your training. However, one should distinguish between lifters with actual competitive aspirations (be it professional or amateur) and recreational lifters (like me). For the latter, I think focusing more on form than on progression (adding weight fast) is better. From a health perspective I would say that lifting heavy weights on a regular basis, often pushing your limits, is not to be recommended (although this is probably true for a lot of other non-strength-focused sports Like football (soccer) or tennis. What I like about working out is that you do it for yourself, so you shouldn't bother too much with what others say/do, but be realistic about your priorities/abilities/goals and do it for yourself.
I'm glad you made this video, Zack. I stopped following Squat University because all his 'statements' kind of wore me out and I couldn't put my finger on why.
It's funny, because I think your squat routine is insane and tedious, but appropriate for what you want to do. So you taking Squat University down a couple pegs, is pretty insightful and interesting.
I am a big fan of Squat U. I have been in/out of physical therapy my whole life from over doing it and poor form (no doubt a coach would have helped). His corrective movements got me lifting far sooner than had I attempted something on my own. To be fair, I am a 'nerd' and really appreciate that attention to detail. I do agree that he does troll the community a little bit with his tweets. However, he is speaking from a perspective that values longevity and mobility over short term pride. Those that can squat a gargantuan amount would probably benefit from training the mobility of pistol squat as they get into older life.
Clout chasing off the Squat University brand, and getting a bunch of fat "powerlifters" (who never actually compete, for some reason) to commiserate in the comments. "NO EXCUSES. JUST IMPROVE" ...unless it's on a single-legged squat lol
My wife is a CrossFit coach and we just moved. Changing gyms and jobs in the process. A former coworker at her last gym messaged her about a video that she posted to her business page of her squatting. The clown goes ahead says "your knees are coming in on the squat, you should really try keeping your knees out". For starters, the knee cave is not egregious. She pushes out her knees extra as she hits the hole so they swing back in as she goes up, it doesn't cause her pain, and she's been coaching for as long if not longer than the dude so she knows how to squat and coach the movement! Asking her about it, the coworker is really into SquatU. This culture of black & white, right and wrong leads to too many people thinking they have the right to jut into peoples business as they think they have the Good News of "proper movement". Give me a break!
Why's everyone pressed about a single leg squat? It's really fucking easy to do, and if you can't because of your hip/knee/ankle, it's fair to say that you should probably look at that and get better.
Honestly some of his videos helped me a lot in overcoming very poor ankle mobility and occasional hip pain faster than I would just continuing to squat normally without any additional drills BUT: 1 - I'm not a professional athlete 2 - I agree he's pushing too much on the big slogan for the algo more than on the actual content and he's going to burn himself I believe that for average people and mostly, the average or less than average crossfitter (which I am) he's a good tool to avoid injuries and try to obtain better form. Probably totally useless for weightlifters, powerfilters or people who trains to compete.
I agree with Zack mostly. The cult of personality is annoying as hell and you call out the “experts” superbly Zack. But it’s a case of half empty half full. I feel squat. Uni is right sometimes but the cult loves a leader to says they are always right. Keep up the great work Zack and in sebs video his your Zack name sake related?
It sounds like you're saying that our current algorithm reality sucks for our species, but Horschig is playing the game, and because of this he can afford his mortgage. I think this is less about his opinions than about what kind of horseshit it takes to get paid in 2021, and not just in the fitness "space".
I have seen a lot of his stuff and done some of it and I actually think some of it worked. But after my brother mentioned that he works a lot within the bounds of nocebo. I started noticing that no matter the pain it was always the same solution and corrective exercises and it really started to grind my gears... I had shoulder issues and spend ages working on my rotator cuff because he said that was the issue. Turns out it was my proximal bicep tendon being tight, that was causing me pain in the bottom of press movements.
8:06 totally agree. I think the reason for that is because of the amount of information we have now on the internet .. and it is good, but it is also bad because it takes away enjoyment on some occasions
I completely agree with the points, I don’t know if SquatU is inherently bad but it doesn’t have the impact Aaron thinks it does. When Martins won the Rogue invitational he did thank SquatU for the recovery work but he also thanked like 10 other people / programs including Bioxcellerator, and I’d have a hard time believing that “fixing” hip shift did anything close to actual stem cell therapy. I have no problem with corrective accessory work but at the end of the day strength athletes want bigger totals, and this weird hyper focus on form won’t get most people there
![[Full Episode] The Restaurant War Thailand ศึกพ่อค้าซ่าแม่ค้าแซ่บ Episode 3 | 6 ต.ค. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fTfIMFVjt_8/mqdefault.jpg)
Squat Community College
Hey Clarence
You already made this joke
Clarence ❤️
First
Lol
When you train people in real life you notice that most people have major inbalances, mostly in hips in shoulders. His "Test and retest" videos have helped me help alot of people with these issues. It has also helped me get rid of hip issues and knee pain.
At least he’s no Joel Seedman. He heavily emphasizes on form and technique. He doesn’t demonize full range of motion like Seedman.
Yeah he preaches ass to grass
He emphasizes on form too much though.
He's half way there
I mean, being as bad as Joel Seedman is a special feat in on itself, its not much to say someone is better than him.
He has far too much emphasis on technique and form.
Putting our bloat lord and savior in was perfection
it was so unexpected, I burst out laughing in public transport like an idiot.
No one puts Grizzly anywhere. He just shows up and Kool-aid Mans himself into the situation through the nearest reinforced concrete wall.
When I have aches, pains and stiffness, squat university is usually pretty good at helping to diagnose stuff and figure out how to fix it. It’s helped me at least. I also tend to train myself into the ground and overtrain like an idiot and end up either not being able to get out of bed or hurting myself, so his approach helps to balance me out and actually make some progress.
Thats literally the whole point of his channel. Everyhthing else he does in, as bluntly as possible, irrelevant at best, and adverse at worst
Just the fact you frame it as "fixing" let's me know that you know very little about pain science.
Same, just before I hit peak I get injured for 3mths
@@ibrahimrodriguez3995you have a playlist on youtube called “fixing my ankles”
I think squat U overlooked the fact that if you can squat 650 with imperfect form, it wouldn't be that hard to drop to ~77% of that (500 lbs) and hit that with very clean form. So at the very least these two lifters would be equally impressive
Funny enough that’s my squat max and I can tell you for fact I can squat 570 beltless effortless. The statement from squatU about strength not mattering is a joke. Anyone who legit squats 600lbs+ raw will find 500lbs absolutely easy
@@user-ec1dn3uz5k
Honestly I think lifting without belts and straps fundamentally means you have much better technique and a much stronger muscle chain as a result (especially regarding your core and lower back), and even if you are squatting with slightly imperfect form at max, you could absolutely smash a lighter weight because fundamentally every aspect of your body is strong enough to perform easily under a lighter load.
It's nice to see other people are lifting heavy raw, I don't get why there is such opposition to this in some parts of the lifting community. If you are actually strong enough to lift a weight, you should be able to do so without support, otherwise some aspect of your overall strength is lacking, I don't get why people would sacrifice core and grip strength training just to lift a weight they aren't actually strong enough to move without strapping up.
@I, CATO SICARIUS using a lifting belt doesn't take away from your core training (and as far as RAW lifting concerned is allowed in most RAW powerlifting feds). If anything you can squeeze your core harder while wearing one and it'll be under more stress as there is a physical wall to push against. The reason you lift less without the belt is not because the core has become weaker as a result of the belted training. Its because you have removed the wall to press against and you cant reach those same levels of tension. The gains you make belted should directly translate to beltless gains also assuming the belt is being used correctly which is the most important factor, I reckon a lot of gym goers using a belt don't necessarily know how to use it properly. No go read your codex Cato Sicarius you Ultramarine nerd with a high pitched voice that insists on introducing himself at every possible moment ;)
I don’t think a pistol would be a good determining factor for a good weighted squat. People have such vast differences in torso, femur and shin lengths. This is clearly a movement all on its own. Nothing to do with proper mobility. My daughter is a level 9 gymnast and can’t do a pistol. So there you go.
Personally, I used to follow more of the functional side of fitness pages (specifically athlean x a lot), and I think worrying about these things set back my progress quite a bit. "Oh my back rounded a bit during deadlifts, I must take weight off the bar" and stuff like that. Not to mention the psychological portion of it, constantly worrying about injuries and health makes training much less enjoyable. Nocebo is real. Nowadays I just warm up with the empty bar instead of doing all that elaborate warmups lol.
Same thing happened to me good thing I found barbell medicine helped me unlearn all of that
@@OMAR-vk9pi yeah same i found alan thrall and BBM.
Couldn't agree more with you. Spot on
@@OMAR-vk9pi same!
Be careful, heavy squats killing your g4inZ!
By following advice from SU, years of elbow and lat pain went after after doing some exercises. But having said that, if we micromanage everything we do, then we might never actually find the time to squat, deadlift and bench.
how'd you deal with the lat pain?
not everybody wants to or needs to get jacked. We just want to feel healthy.
@@GaryMiller-z6tyou can be healthy squatting benching and deadlifting without doing 600 correcting exercises (correcting what only god knows sometimes)
If you follow all squat u advice you would need one hour for warming up a a day and another hour to activate your stabilizer muscle at best before training
He's a physical therapist, ofcourse he focusses on the things he does. His job is to fix movement patterns as rehab and to prevent injury. As far as the posts go, as you said they do great in the algorithm so he keeps posting them. As a strength and weightlifting coach I get your point of training hard and pushing weight, that will give you better numbers in your lifts. But as I health coach myself, there is no need or benefit to that outside the weightlifting or powerlifting sports. So lifting lighter (while still lifting and getting the benefits of that) with good technique, decreasing chance of injury and working on a more complete development of the body, not only the strength, is better (for health purposes). Everyone has their own frame of reference for whats most important.
Very good point.
I like zack, but commenting on others has brought him down in my books. Aaron is clearly focused on movement.
Bad positions over time can lead to injury and permanent damage.
Correcting these patterns are essential, only if it bothers you to do so. You dont have to do it.
But you have the options. I believe hes giving you options from hes beliefs.
Nobodys wrong and nobodys right.
Your comment is spot on dude. Whats more benficial? Over fitness or overall strength.....
Fitness all day hands down. Cannot be debated.
Unless your so invested in "heavy lifting" that you cant do cardio of any type, because youll lose your "gains". (Or because there is no hope of you moving that weight for that long. Because its not meant to be.
So in the end, its up to the individual. What they want to achieve and pay for in training.
I feel Zak is taking on Aaron to get hes own name out there and try get the likes and comments, just like Aaron has done.
Ya know the saying "speculate to accumulate". Well here we are.
I like both guys. But dislike commenting on others beliefs when there isnt a thing wrong with what he does. Ive gained lots of knowledgeable info from aaron @ Squat University.
Zak on the other hand not much at all, tips for tall lifters is about it.
Seedman makes me wonder however.
Very narrowminded of you. There is no benefit to lifting heavy weights? Come on... I can't even take you serious if you say there is literally no benefit. Increased muscle and tendon strength, denser muscle, injury prevention, functional strength just to name a few. Sorry, but you're way out of your league here obviously. What are you even teaching people is what I'm most worried about...
@@XXLRebel I think you're confusing not training maximal strength with not training at all here.
@@JCesarH No you're talking about lifting lighter right? There is no point in lifting light weights.
@@XXLRebel there's a point of diminishing returns in strength training. And there's a difference between "lifting heavy" and "lifting as heavy as you possibly can". The strength you need to be "healthy" is not that high to begin with, only if you are training for a sport, or if it's your priority for any other reason, there's a point in trying to reach your genetic potential in regards to strength.
Squat U is good for Rehab. If you do Prehab in his way, you‘ll never have enough time for the performance training.
unless you’re a full time athlete, like martins and even then he was doing rehab on a ton of injuries ranging from nerve damage in his neck or hip injury to literally getting hit by a car. dude needed rehab 😂
Yeah he is good for that and some other minor things, like zack said, he is just a tool
No, you can do this stuff between the sets.
I saw those same Squat University posts floating around the internet lately, and I just though: No. This is not helpful information.
Zaack we need a reaction of the best lifts in Strongman Rogue invitational
I second this
@@zacmoylan4317 thirded
its at round rock. he should be there
Fourthed
YES
That would be sick
I understand that the guy sometimes does these "click bait" type posts to attract people, but as an overall I think he does much more good than harm. In my opinion he gives extremely helpful advice. You have to remember one very important thing: outside USA it's not that common to find health professionals with a basic knowledge of weight training. In where I live, as a general rule, doctors/physios don't lift and aren't interested in learning anything related to weights either. They solve everything with pills, machines or the classic "start swimming". In this scenario, the content given for FREE by Aaron, Stuart McGill, "Knees over toes", Dr Spinelli, etc., it's gold. As always, great video Zack.
At least they told you to swim. In my city, they just tell you not to do anything, then you will be fine.
@@chinocoffee9565 Yeah my (former) doctor told me (for a tendinopathy) to just stop doing sport because it's unhealthy... like wtf!?!
@@jakeb89 It makes sense for the "average" non-gym-goer person. If they're doing something that hurts, and they don't need it, just stop doing it. That's a common first approach a lot of doctors and physios have. They SHOULD gauge the level of importance of an activity to their patient (required for work or personal fulfillment) and create a plan of treatment accordingly, but telling someone to just stop is a simple "cure" for them.
Look for Paulo Gentil
One needs to be careful and distinguish "having a weakness" and "being weak". Those statements have different meanings.
I feel like Squat U leans towards a more extreme view to get some publicity. He makes some great points but often gets way too obsessive about having completely perfect form.
that's why I hate getting any fitness information from Instagram. It's clickbait to the extreme
He doesn’t make that many good points tbh
@@OMAR-vk9pi I disagree. I’ve had hip knee and ankle issues and it’s helped me loads. And Martins Lecis is happy 😂😂🤣
@@scottessery100 great but that doesn’t make his points all good he’s said very stupid things
His straight arm obsession on cleans and snatches are just ridiculous. He’s someone that could use some mark rippetoe in his life lol, just get stronger and stop obsessing over something like a 1 degree arm bend 1cm before the bar makes contact
I read and used Aaron's Squat Bible book and it helped my form and squat a lot. He definitely knows his stuff and it does help, but like you said it's to be used as a tool with everything else you do. There are many aspects to lifting and what he teaches is just a part of it.
And Squat University just made a post saying “Stop associating with coaches who want to bring others down and spread negativity…”
Coincidence? Personally, I felt like this video was constructive criticism, but no one likes being told they’re wrong, so Squat University may see it as a personal attack. Has an internet beef just started?
A couple years ago, I made a video critiquing Master Wong’s terrible jiu-jitsu technique videos. Suddenly the whole internet demanded that we fight to the death to decide who was right. What do strength athletes do in this situation? Have a lifting battle?
On a more serious note, the point you made in this video is an extremely important one: focusing on the minutia and nitpicking at technical joys and titles that don’t matter, instead of getting out there and training, is a horrible trap. I fell into that trap myself for a long time. A coach is supposed to facilitate the success of an athlete, not compel the athlete into a state of codependency.
Well said
Meh he can get over it.
Wise as always Mr Ramsey
"stop spreading negativity" is such a hackneyed thing to say
Was this criticism constructive? By the end of the video I had no idea what the point was.
Well, I have a different take on Squat university content,
Generally speaking, most of the newcomers to the strength training, call it powerlifting weightlifting, or CrossFit, came from a commercial gym background, where nobody tells you anything about mobility, range of motion nor anything except lifting weights and using machine that splits the muscle workout and makes it easier for everybody.
However, when you begin with any type of strength free weight training, you need to start to understand your strength and weaknesses in your mobilities, your limits, and how you can develop it in a good way, not only to prevent injury " which is an essential element " but also to develop this strength in the good direction.
Yes, S.U; exaggerate in many cases, but I still think it is good guidance for the beginner athlete to better understand how things related to mobility are as important as lifting the weight itself.
Really if you want to train long-term with good progress and without injury you need to start reading around the subject (self-education is a factor in succeeding with any hobby), yes a commerical fitness experience isn't exactly educational, but all the materials exist out there once you start reading into established material and various stickied posts on fitness forum's. Though most people still seem to completely rely on broscience (which is the antithesis of productive training in many ways) and just apeing other's they see instead of applying their mind to the problem.
The one thing I would say SU actually brings to the table is a decent focus on rehabilitation and prehabilitation, which are extremely necessary part's of a workout that I don't see anywhere near as discussed as they should be. These are essential to longevity and to consistent performance by preventing injuries and improving recovery time, so that's at least one benefit in the dude's favour. The issue is that he sometimes goes too deep on this, and you can end up with beginner's believing that unless they do everything perfectly they won't make progress and will be injured all the time.
Personally having learned proper programming and informing myself on the best rehab/prehab for my aims (because it certainly varies, if you want to do, say, hand balancing you need specific wrist focused prep etc) before finding out about SU, it does seem like he has some decent information on offer for people who otherwise are unaware of various supplementary training methods everyone should be including, but at the same time the people watching should be reading around concerning their own goals and figuring out how this applies to them. Also they need to understand that he does exaggerate, and you shouldn't take it as gospel, but that really applies to any source of information.
I see it like a similar situation to the Knees Over Toes Guy, useful information, but might go too far down the rabbit hole and exaggerate the efficacy or impact of certain things, but usually beneficial for people who have issues and don't currently have the information to deal with them.
Also anyone who contributes to a collective understanding of mobility and flexibility in regards to building a strong and healthy body gets a pass in my book.
There's no point being strong if you can't even move through a basic ROM or if your training is limiting your ability to move. Even bodybuilders can be flexible and mobile if they just add some basic elements into their training. I've seen some ridiculous statements on this as well, many seem to think flexibility makes you weak (to get the splits you have to hardcore train your hip flexors and other supporting muscles to essentially drag the legs out) and that mobility makes certain movements like the squat more dangerous...
I feel like squat u's point of view is mostly from injury recovery perspective. Aka the pain downarrow you glossed over at the very beginning. He has lots of videos of him rehabbing athletes recovering from various injuries.
So yeah, I'd agree improve the foundation and recover rom before adding the weight back on.
I disagree. In the rehb community, those PTs who tell patients they shouldn't carve in their knees at max loads, they shouldn't round their back, they need to have perfect technique, etc are looked down upon because they are instilling fear of movements to their patients. Disability is biopsychosocial. Incompetent therapists like SquatU are responsible for creating or prolonging disability that would not be there had they not intervene. They ar doing this to keep patients coming back to the clinic and line their pockets. It is disgustingly unethical.
aka reductionism?
@@GF-fb8sq xd
The grizzly clip mogging everyone with how perfect he is
Love the background 😂
Maybe a single leg squat is a bit of a stretch but if you can't do a bodyweight squat to parallel then you have some serious issues.
He probably projects his goals allot more because he has to for his brand. I think most people would agree that filling out every check for an absolute perfect movement is unnecessary , it's just a preference.
Mmm so for the sake of the argument I told you , you want squat all the way to 700 but by 50 your hip is destroyed because you don't fix the imbalance our whatever fuck wast right ,,, our 600 and walk fine later in life your pick , and after pick what most of the regular people is going to pick?
@@AnthonyGarcia-sy3yk squatting 600 =/= squatting 600
Lol I know .
@@AnthonyGarcia-sy3yk What if for the sake of argument, you could squat 650 but your ankle does something kind of funny, and it doesn't hurt?
I'm on the side of people who like having perfect form and joint health, but I think we overexaggerate allot of consequences.
@@slingshotmcoy mmm that is exactly what and saying lol ....
That mine craft house is 🔥🔥🔥
I was stuck on that too lol 😅
It really comes down the fact that Squat U’s perspectives aren’t incorrect, but misguided. He’s a physical therapist that’s worked with top level athletes and has done his part in promoting rehabilitation, and he wants people to succeed in their physical activity of choice.
These blanket statements and absolutist remarks however, even with further nuance and context, are not helpful and create more barriers to physical activity than necessary. When you provide statements with negative connotation, like the single leg squat compared to a 1000 lb squatter, it doesn’t send the right message and nocebos a lot of the general population into worrying more about exercise efficiency as opposed to just getting them into the gym consistently and building confidence and self efficacy for the long term. And that’s huge when you have such a big following and are creating more reasons for people to not engage in physical activity and resistance training in particular.
Again, not a bad person and has good intentions overall I just don’t know if he provides a net positive to the fitness world if he continually makes out of pocket statements like this and continues to roll with it.
Very very well said. Thank you for this
I could perform 25 pistol squats weighing 70 kg way before being able to squat 90 kg. One legged squat doesn't prove jack shit.
addressing weaknesses and imbalances is a fantastic active recovery - non heavy training day approach. I think SquatU is overly idealistic in a lot of his content, but if you can incorporate it into your training at say 30% it is often enough to see benefits. Especially for those annoying nuisance injuries that don't stop you but cause pain/discomfort.
Saying injury is just because something is weak or theres an imbalance is reductionism and local approach to pain and injury.
I understand you trying to see both sides of this but in the end you still dont seem to actually understand his side.
i dont want to type a novel but, IMO, he seems to targeting a different community of lifters. Lifters like you seems to care about strength goals more that anything else.
Lifters like me dont really care about squatting 400 pounds and more about being able to squat in a way that will reduce injuries, promote longevity, and also have good mobility. My top focus is to stay healthy and prevent injuries so his posts seem right up my alley of focus.
Idk Zack I would definitely not put Aaron in the same category as Seedman. There’s tons of research that backs all of the interventions and modalities that Aaron advocates. Would you agree that being able to perform a pistol squat to depth would make you a better squatter? Not necessarily to say that you cannot be a good squatter without this ability but that it simply allows you to better control your body throughout the movement. And yea, clickbait is real unfortunately. But all influencers do it. These review videos of other influencers seem to drum up good traffic.
Unless you're not much of a squatter to begin with the pistol squat won't make you a better squatter. Its a different movement pattern that requires mobility and stability specific to the single leg squat.
It's totally baffling to me that people still don't understand the difference between general fitness and sport. Most sports that require movement specificity by nature are going to have motor pattern biases.
In the uk 🇬🇧 if you call some a tool. It’s a pretty bad insult 😯. In the uk if you have a small tool 😯 that’s pretty bad
Relax you tool
@profit mah mad was a pdf file 😂😂😂😂😂😂
SquatU can C&J 140kg, he is also a really good athlete. He gets a lot of hate for absolutely no reason; probably just because he is popular. He reinforces movement, mobility, and stability to be better regardless of how much you can lift
He has amazing information, he has great result with people he coaches, helps people who deal with issues related with weight lifting, is a great person all this backlash is from people who are childish and "dude bros" who feel attacked by his popularity or just have a gut reaction and womits hate back. Its as if they are glorifying being injured or going towards injury. SquatU has plenty of high lvl atheltes who come to him because their "gung hou" style of aproach led them to inability to perfom at a high level anymore. I think these steroid abusers should stop glorying balls to the walls mentality and start thinking about longevity as well... ofcourse who cares about living with a life long disability when you can brag that 30 years ago you lifted 700 pounds. If you live that long that is...
There's multiple videos of him doing over 150 @85.
A 140 or even a 150 clean and jerk at 85 is not impressive, and it definitely doesn't justify his pompous statements that are contradictive just for the sake of drawing attention
It's not like he's putting out long form content and then someone else is clipping him out of context and pissing people off. He's putting out longer form content and then clipping himself out of context for an algorithm boost. It works, it's a good marketing strategy, and I don't blame him one bit.
But him choosing to post shit like this and then getting hate for it is not 'for no reason'. He posts controversial, bordering on nonsensical shit, on purpose hoping to get people to interact with his more long form content. He is a good athlete, he does reinforce a lot of things that are good for a lot of athletes, but he also puts himself in a position to rightfully be criticized.
@@hiebrantsify there’s also plenty of amazing athletes who don’t obsess over any of the things he says and are just fine he gives off Joel seedman jr vibes
I've seen some of the squat university mobility videos, and some of them were kinda helpfuI, but those insta posts look like a tame version of joel seedman's bs
I would think all the big numbers he has from posts is because he has a large Indian following (guess). Being Indian myself I only started following him because he worked closely with Mirabai Chanu, an Indian silver medalist in Tokyo 2020 and was interviewed by quite a few news outlets back home.
The part of training hard even when you don't feel 100% or the technique isn't perfect and constantly challenging yourself is really, really important. At one point in my training i was so preoccupied with long term results that i was basically doing micro steps in my training (the James Clear approach) when what i really love is giving my all and passing through pain and mistakes, and fixing them later (the Stefi Cohen/"Bulgarian" approach). My training was so boring that i wanted to quit even though i was making consistent progress, it was killing my love for the game.
Focusing too much on perfect technique, recovery and "balance" can certainly be detrimental (but i should say that i learned a lot by going to the other side of the Force for a while tho).
holy shit i love the background confirmed zack mines diamonds
The burden of pain is not meant for everybody. I can admit to not having Herculean joints. Strength Numbers won't matter when you're 70.
I totally agree! You are doing corrective exercises to get better at something thats not your main goal.
If its something you are doing off season or on a rest day... fine I'll buy it, but not on a training day.
Ps. You just killed it with the mindcraft background, coach!
I don't care If you bench 25 lbs or 250 lbs, If you can't do 1 arm quadruple clap push-up, it means your chest is weak, your arms are weak, and your bench press is probably killing your gains.
When you cut in our Bloatlord and Saviour, that was a really nice meme touch :D
What a warm and cozy cabin
Dr Andrew Lock (probably best rehab specialist in Australia - does seminars with Australian Strength Coach) seems to support Squat U’s ideas- & he has a 200kg bench at age 50+
I fucking love the backgrounds dawg
I can get 15+ good reps pistol squat per leg. Yet my max sq is 160 kg. Does that mean I am better than every powerlifter?? Thanks, Aaron. Being a guy whose anatomy allowed to pistol squat pretty much 10 days after I first learned what it was.
Should put audio from a '10-hour Crackling Fire & Storm Outside ASMR' video at 10% volume on the next episode with a background like this. Soothe us.
One of the big issues I have found when discussing anything like squats or deadlifts is that for some they are the goal and others the process. The point regarding single leg squats I would agree with for the majority of athletes due to the unilateral demands of most sports. People need to ask themselves why they want a bigger squat and at what point the returns diminish or become detrimental to the primary goal - so for a weightlifter the answer is generally going to be never until you move past the primary competing phase of life. It is incredibly easy to get stuck in the minutia of training and miss the wood for the trees, so I personally stick to the old 80/20 rule and tell clients that corrective exercises (or whatever you want to call them) are only beneficial if you are working the primary movement patterns. Otherwise it is just getting expensive and super light gears on your bike but your frame is made of steel.
Zack I think you need to take on consideration the public he is aiming,,, most of the people workout to feel good and be healthy not compite and they don't interesting on clean jerk 150 kilos, just feel good when they wake up in morning and nothing hurts ,, the audience you aiming is totally a different one ,and with you I want the kilos but we the minority brother...
How dare you be rational and balanced in your response
It took me eight and a half minutes to realize Zack wasn't in an actual house.
I think he's right to say that it doesn't matter what you back squat, if you're unable to do a single leg squat to parallel you can probably improve your back squat or your longevity/injury risk by developing the capacity to do so. Nothing exceptionally controversial there and I'm sure basically every split jerker can single leg squat on their leading leg to parallel and probably back leg as well.
No, it does matter. However there is a difference between how you define it. A person squatting atg X weight vs. a person parallel squatting X weight, the person squatting atg will have better hip and ankle mobility and will be stronger that the person only parallel squatting X weight, so neither mobility or strength will be an issue for him to perform pistol squats however the parallel squatter most likely be limited by his lack of mobility.
It’s just a movement that requires practice
@@jotr.9786 sure you’re right. But let’s also bear in mind in may help mostly from and injury risk and longevity standpoint rather than just adding lbs on the bar.
@@VastChoirs unless you're on roids you will not be "just adding lbs on the bar" and even on roids most plateau. doing atg you continue to progress while you improve/ maintain good mobility or you can just lose your time doing pistol squats...
Wanna hear what Zack says about Chandler Smiths horrendous lifts from the rogue invitational.
According to an article I read many years ago, the writer said that five members of our team going to the World Championships had not made any improvements in their totals in four or more years. These athletes were the best we had at the time, so certainly deserved their place on the team. That said, one reason these athletes stop making progress is because they get injured, and have to take long periods to rehab. The takeaway Squat University might be giving us is that as they progress, weightlifters need to address deficiencies in structural balance that could result in injury?
But where's the proof that 'not perfect form' leads to an increased risk in injury? It's not there. It's way more plausible that because of the level on which these atletes perform, their risk of injury increases. overall it's way more plausible that the risk of an overuse injury increases the closer you get to the limits of human performance.
@@jantje.96 My comment related to how muscular imbalances can lead to injury; I never said anything about “not perfect form” or “overuse injuries.” Perhaps you are replying to a comment made in another post? That said, there are examples from other sports showing the improper technique increases the risk of injury.
In sprinting, if the contact foot lands too far in front of the athlete’s center of mass (overstriding), the risk of a hamstring injury is higher. (Sugimoto, D., et al. “Running Propensities of Athletes with Hamstring Injuries.” Sports, 2019; 7(9):210.) In boxing, higher skill levels are associated with a reduced risk of concussions. An extensively-referenced book that deals with the causes of sports injuries in 24 sports is “Epidemiology of Sports Injuries by Caine, Caine, and Lindner.”
Expanding on my point about US athletes not making progress, consider (as John Broz says it) the difference between “desire and desperation” in weightlifting motivation. He said many US lifters desire to improve, whereas Bulgarian lifters are desperate to improve. Bulgarian coach Angel Spassov told me that one reason for the success of the Bulgarian lifters was that they had limited resources. If a younger lifter came along who was better than a senior lifter, the younger lifter would take his place. Angel said the reason Blagoy Blagoev stayed on the national team for so long even though he was much other than other athletes was that no one came along who could beat him!
One of my athletes got recruited to play hockey for Moscow Dynamo in Russia. He said that there were three levels of housing, with the best athletes getting the best food and living conditions. The thing is, where you stayed depended on how you performed EVERY DAY. So, if you were living on the top level on Monday and had a bad practice on Tuesday, Tuesday you would be moved to the bottom level. This policy motivated these athletes to try their best every day.
I think his content is great. You just have to use some common with how much of it you utilise. He does consistently say try things and test and repeat, keep what works ditch what doesn't. He encourages not to take too long with warm ups and corrective exercises and to get the biggest bang for your buck. Hard to argue with that. But we all know how the algo game works, just like your funny shorts to trigger the bro's. You have to play the game 🤷♂️
the Minecraft back ground is my favorite so far.
The single leg squat is soooo stupid... A skill is just that: a skill. Its like saying that not being able of performing 20 pull ups is "having a weak link". No, I just dont train to improve my pull ups to a point where I can do 20 pull ups. Single leg squats are not a common human movement pattern, so its completely normal not bein able to do a single one if you dont train for it, and it does not mean that you ahve a "weak link"
And some people simply can't do them because of their body's proportions. It's just impossible for a long femured guy. It's weird that a PT don't mention that.
when I started weightlifting I was so worried about form, and I tried to follow Squat U for help but honestly, it was so complicated and there were so many little caveats to 'perfecting squat form' that I got almost nowhere. The slightest imbalance and I thought I had to drop weight. A little knee wobble and I thought my knees were gonna snap. Eventually I just started doing squats a ton and in a way stopped worrying about form. I focused on depth and not doing anything dumb, but other than that, I got way better just lifting weight.
you're just scrolling this dude's instagram on screen and waffling about it! how is this content? why does youtube keep recommending this channel to me
Although Alittle I like alot of his info alot of his posts tend to put others down. Everything iz 100% on this video zack🙌
Zack out there making videos after long day of mining diamonds.
Low key a super calming background tho.
@@seanikan fr, great choice
Corrective exercises are meant to correct something that is a flaw, that is holding you back, or that is actively hurting you. Why are you trying to correct something that isn't even there? Thank you for the lunchtime video and for accepting a comment for the algorithm
The nuance was in the caption. Read the caption. His point was about doing things right in training. It’s the same message that Ed Coan says.
The problem is the way the clickbait is stated. On the fitness side of Reddit, there are so many comments like "I can squat X, but I noticed I have a slight lean, should I cut the weight in half and correct my form?". By saying "1000 bad form is less impressive than 100 perfect form", it leads to this line of thought that you should constantly cut down, which stalls your progress because it's natural that flaws you have at higher weights would disappear at lighter ones. Also, if you can lift 1000 with bad form, you can correct at 1000 pounds and you'll probably be able to do more. The way he states the comparison creates an illogical interpretation by people who are going to read his 2 page top comment.
I like the way Zach approaches these different statements. Every area of movement has a place in getting stronger. How to best do that varies from person to person
Zack hit on a really good point, that not only applies to the topic with Squat University, but also to one of the greatest inhibitors in progress in training, in general.
*Learn to stop obsessing over all of the little things.*
That is one of the biggest personal hurdles that I have struggled with (and sometimes still do) in progressing in my training; and I have a feeling that it applies for many others.
I see squat university as a resource for issues that come up while training.
I think a lot of people misunderstood what SquatU was saying based on the way he worded it. He's not at all disparaging people who are very strong, he's just highlighting that inevitably if you are lacking basic mobility, coordination or balance standards you will face issues with injury or pain.
loving the house
I've gone to Squat University videos when I have a problem. Hip pain, knee pain, etc. And his videos definitely help. But I also want to hit a 500lb squat. I don't go to his content for that.
I physically feel and move the best I ever have at 36, and I do the least amount of warming up I’ve done in over a decade. I think training load management and intelligence goes so much farther than sooo much of this stuff. I do love my 10-15 minutes of bar warmups, tbf.
Same. I get on a bike or a ski erg to warmup for a bit, maybe 5 mins of light stretching and then get after it lol. I do one day of just full recovery however and i think that helps me. Fitness and wellness is very dependent on the individual though. Lol
Can we get a dark souls background next?
yes!! Majula from ds2
I have Erik Bugez stuck in my head screaming when i read this things
I stopped following this clown like two years ago. He's just reposting the same stuff anyway. He's got like 25 practically identical videos on butt wink on instagram and TH-cam combined the last 4 years. And his tweets or whatever they are that he posts on instagram are just stupid and 10% of the time it's misinformation 🤷♂️ like, "if you feel a pump in your lower back while working out you're doing it WRONG" err, okay.
Oh yeah new id allways better huh? Go eatch seedman
8:01 Zack being straight savage, talking about Squat U's "small tool" accompanied by that hand gesture
Zack making me cozy af on a Tuesday morning with this therapeutic Minecraft background.
I'm just saying this. Squat U helped me pass my ACTs and cured my ED.
Zack the minecraft background is 100% the vibe
There is a powerlifting community in Hungary, from them I heard the best quote: Squat University is the cause of weak squats since 2015. :D
Powerlifters have the ugliest squats. They turn the squat into a deadlift.
the numbers on those tweets are clear attention grabs and algorithm manipulation not to mention the athletes he has helped rebuild from injury do great when they’re full time athletes and have the time to do all the work he prescribes (martins, micah, etc) However his prehab/warmup takes longer than I am willing to put in but does provide insight into what I can do better when feeling stiff or ‘off’. and his book is pretty good info when dealing with pain. take it w a grain of salt and still do your work 🤷🏻♂️
I agree with your bottom line (if you wanted to make it) that you should not overthink your training. However, one should distinguish between lifters with actual competitive aspirations (be it professional or amateur) and recreational lifters (like me). For the latter, I think focusing more on form than on progression (adding weight fast) is better. From a health perspective I would say that lifting heavy weights on a regular basis, often pushing your limits, is not to be recommended (although this is probably true for a lot of other non-strength-focused sports Like football (soccer) or tennis. What I like about working out is that you do it for yourself, so you shouldn't bother too much with what others say/do, but be realistic about your priorities/abilities/goals and do it for yourself.
2:32😂 yea can lifter b even squat 650
Who knows lifter a and b could be the same person
Trendy to rag on SU at the minute. Well done for keeping it high brow ZT, you hit the nail on the head.
Yo ZT when will you do an interview with Kyriakos?
I'm glad you made this video, Zack. I stopped following Squat University because all his 'statements' kind of wore me out and I couldn't put my finger on why.
It's funny, because I think your squat routine is insane and tedious, but appropriate for what you want to do. So you taking Squat University down a couple pegs, is pretty insightful and interesting.
I am a big fan of Squat U. I have been in/out of physical therapy my whole life from over doing it and poor form (no doubt a coach would have helped). His corrective movements got me lifting far sooner than had I attempted something on my own. To be fair, I am a 'nerd' and really appreciate that attention to detail. I do agree that he does troll the community a little bit with his tweets. However, he is speaking from a perspective that values longevity and mobility over short term pride. Those that can squat a gargantuan amount would probably benefit from training the mobility of pistol squat as they get into older life.
Clout chasing off the Squat University brand, and getting a bunch of fat "powerlifters" (who never actually compete, for some reason) to commiserate in the comments.
"NO EXCUSES. JUST IMPROVE" ...unless it's on a single-legged squat lol
My wife is a CrossFit coach and we just moved. Changing gyms and jobs in the process. A former coworker at her last gym messaged her about a video that she posted to her business page of her squatting. The clown goes ahead says "your knees are coming in on the squat, you should really try keeping your knees out". For starters, the knee cave is not egregious. She pushes out her knees extra as she hits the hole so they swing back in as she goes up, it doesn't cause her pain, and she's been coaching for as long if not longer than the dude so she knows how to squat and coach the movement! Asking her about it, the coworker is really into SquatU. This culture of black & white, right and wrong leads to too many people thinking they have the right to jut into peoples business as they think they have the Good News of "proper movement". Give me a break!
Why's everyone pressed about a single leg squat? It's really fucking easy to do, and if you can't because of your hip/knee/ankle, it's fair to say that you should probably look at that and get better.
Nothingburger from our coach ZT who would not be even a master of sport in weightlifting in Russia
🙄🙄🙄
Honestly some of his videos helped me a lot in overcoming very poor ankle mobility and occasional hip pain faster than I would just continuing to squat normally without any additional drills BUT:
1 - I'm not a professional athlete
2 - I agree he's pushing too much on the big slogan for the algo more than on the actual content and he's going to burn himself
I believe that for average people and mostly, the average or less than average crossfitter (which I am) he's a good tool to avoid injuries and try to obtain better form.
Probably totally useless for weightlifters, powerfilters or people who trains to compete.
Id rather take advice from Squat University than Joel Seedman thats for sure!
I agree with Zack entirely, SquatU is such a tool!
I agree with Zack mostly. The cult of personality is annoying as hell and you call out the “experts” superbly Zack. But it’s a case of half empty half full. I feel squat. Uni is right sometimes but the cult loves a leader to says they are always right. Keep up the great work Zack and in sebs video his your Zack name sake related?
THE MINECRAFT BACKGROUND OMG YES ZACK KEEP IT FOREVER
It sounds like you're saying that our current algorithm reality sucks for our species, but Horschig is playing the game, and because of this he can afford his mortgage.
I think this is less about his opinions than about what kind of horseshit it takes to get paid in 2021, and not just in the fitness "space".
Loving your vids
I have seen a lot of his stuff and done some of it and I actually think some of it worked. But after my brother mentioned that he works a lot within the bounds of nocebo. I started noticing that no matter the pain it was always the same solution and corrective exercises and it really started to grind my gears...
I had shoulder issues and spend ages working on my rotator cuff because he said that was the issue. Turns out it was my proximal bicep tendon being tight, that was causing me pain in the bottom of press movements.
Just perfect assessment! Only a Sith deals in absolutes 😂
A great tool but not a one size fits all
8:06 totally agree. I think the reason for that is because of the amount of information we have now on the internet .. and it is good, but it is also bad because it takes away enjoyment on some occasions
I completely agree with the points, I don’t know if SquatU is inherently bad but it doesn’t have the impact Aaron thinks it does. When Martins won the Rogue invitational he did thank SquatU for the recovery work but he also thanked like 10 other people / programs including Bioxcellerator, and I’d have a hard time believing that “fixing” hip shift did anything close to actual stem cell therapy. I have no problem with corrective accessory work but at the end of the day strength athletes want bigger totals, and this weird hyper focus on form won’t get most people there