The 4 Types Of Squats Everyone Should Be Doing | Mind Pump 2350

squats they're incredible it's one of the best exercises you could do but there are four types of squats four variations that everybody should be doing each one of them has benefits each one of them should be included in your routine so in today's episode we're going to talk about the four squats you should be doing all right as we go through these did you order them in a way that we would go like neglect I see the bottom one I think that's definitely one of the most neglected I feel like order them in terms of like like importance yeah maybe although I mean it could depend on the individual right impact I would say too I mean I before we got started you know I heard uh Doug and Andrew chiming in and all other different variations and it's like there's all kinds of different squat variations and uh all squat variations have value so I want to make that clear but the idea of this episode was you know the four that we feel like you have to you're going to limit it to four this is kind of where went right like there's always tremendous value in rotating through all the different variations but uh I do think that the four that we narrowed down to like they they need to be uh in integrated into your roue in your routine at some point and I would say on an annual basis is probably how I would specify that cuz like the next question I think that we'll get following up this would be well how often or when and I would say my goal would be for a client to incorporate uh all four of these at least in a in a program once a year yeah I think long enough to where you get good at them right I'm thinking like the way we structure programs three months right so at least one of the a cycle yeah a whole a whole program cycle which in our case is normally about a 3mon cycle uh of each of these exercises that doesn't mean that they can't go in there or be in there all year but at least that I think is important now now squatting in general is just it's a a a basic uh fundamental uh human movement right so you could put pressing and pulling um you know Locomotion walking running squatting is up there um as a fundamental human movement um and and what you find when you when you look at movements that are considered fundamental is a lot of carryover when you work uh you know through those movements when do exercises that mimic those movements and when you can add load to those movements uh and get stronger at them you see tons and tons of carryovers squats are one of them squats in general have so much carryover to Everyday Life to Mobility to Athletics uh to muscle building metabolism boosting some of the most effective exercises for those in those categories are squats you know I remember and not that these studies mean much but I do think that they kind of hint towards the maybe the signal that exercises send to an extent um but I remember those studies that showed the hormone response to different exercises which ones raise the most testosterone in the short period of time squats are up there always at the top y um they they cause the highest spike in these anabolic hormones though now that anabolic hormone Spike probably doesn't do anything but but again I think it it's showing us that this is a movement that has a lot of impact um on the body I don't know if I would I would say or or discount it to and say that it doesn't have an impact that much because remember when I went through that that three-year stint where I came off of competing and I and I came off of all all synthetic hormones and I was trying to naturally boost it back up of all the things you had me doing and you had me doing all the ashwagandha and Tung cat Ali and we were doing stuff nutritionally that we were trying to do to boost my testosterone naturally red light therapy I mean all kind I did every I threw everything at the kitchen sink at it and one of the things that I thought was so interesting was of all the things I was doing the greatest impact I felt like was a heavy squat day or a heavy deadlift day and I noticed it for a good 24 to 48 hour window post squat like I felt like I literally felt the libido increase I felt a surge of energy and mood increase like just the all the benefits of what you feel from testosterone I felt that and um you know because of that I leaned heavy into making sure that of all the things I was doing like that okay I'm trying to build this up I'm trying to get back in this routine so I I found tremendous value uh in that and if there's anybody who's trying to do that naturally I feel like that's important it seriously promotes the the loudest signal possible like the systemic effects the squat can can provide I mean you see that with people that actually grow muscle in their upper body and you don't really see that with a lot of carryover from other uh exercises that you're doing but it's just that overall systemic demand and like really raising up um you know the the muscle recruitment process like all over throughout your body just to sustain that amount of load on your back uh it's it's pretty significant yeah and I generally speaking you know because someone be what what makes something a squat because you're going to see us go through different exercises and they look different um especially the last two in comparison to the first two they look very different but I think a squat uh requires that you're starting in a standing position and you're bending uh and using the ankle knee and hip joint uh at the same time so that would make something a squat because there are a lot of variations of the squat some of the some variations aren't even called a squat but really are a squat like lunges are really just a split stance squat or a squat with one leg in the front is doing the squat right so any movement that involves those three joints where you're bending all all three of them and you're starting in a standing position could be considered a squat and again the ones we picked the exercise we picked all address uh strengths and weaknesses and work really well together there isn't a single exercise that uh would replace all other exercises for the lower body um but uh the squat in general has got some of the best characteristics and and these the four that we picked when you you combine them all I think you got all the all the bases covered uh if I if I say so myself no 100 today's giveaway is Maps split to enter to win leave a comment below this video in the first 24 hours we drop it subscribe to this Channel and turn on notifications if you win we'll let you know in the comment section now this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors eight sleep so eight sleep is a device it goes over your bed and it cools or warms your bed to improve the quality of your sleep and how does it know this it has AI technology that monitors your sleep adjusts the temperature and creates an individualized plan to maximize your sleep so now your 7 hours at night feels like nine hours it is the world's most advanced Sleep System go check them out go to 8sleep.com that's spelled out 8 EIG GT so 8sleep.com slm pump and on that link you'll get $200 off plus free shipping on the Pod cover by e By the way it ships within the US Canada the UK some countries in Europe and even Australia also this month's program sales are Maps 15 half off bikini bundle of programs half off and the shredded summer bundle of programs also half off if you're interested go to Maps Fitness products.com use the code June 50 for the discount or just click on the link at the top of the description below all right here comes the show so the first squat variation is just your traditional back squat this is where the barbell is on your back you this is the kind of squat people think of when people say say squat or how much can you squat uh now one of the big pros of this exercise this variation particular is the load of all of the squats and squat variations you can do you're most likely going to be strongest at this one this is the one where you're going to be able lift the most weight and there is something to be said about an exercise that allows you to handle High load those exercises tend to build the most muscle they tend to have the most carryover um and a back squat is is if if it's not the strongest exercise you have it's definitely the second strongest exercise you can have but among squats it's the back squat back squat you're going to lift the most uh it's a big muscle builder for sure working the entire lower body and if it's not the king of all post tier chain exercises then it's it's number two queen yeah it's the it's top one if not top two of the greatest posterior chain which as a trainer um is is extra important because you you as you train more and more people you realize how neglected the posterior chain is in fact most people are so interior driven that a a big portion of programming I feel or I felt was centered around the posterior chain to get people in a more upright posture and neglect all those muscles on the backside right on the back side of their body that uh were just not getting used and so when you have an exercise like the barbell back squat that you can load this heavy and address most all of those muscles in one shot it's such a great movement and because most people neglect that side to be able to to load and strength train and address all of that in all one single moment it's the reason why it is the king I let look at let's look at this go down the list right first off it allows you to load a lot we said that already but it requires decent shoulder Mobility it requires decent thoracic stability that's the upper uh the kind of the upper spine area not towards the neck but kind of where the shoulder blades are you need to have good core stability you're going to be holding weight on your back and squatting so your core has to be strong and stable um and you have to maintain that posture as you squat it involves the hip muscles the very powerful muscles of the hips including the glutes and the hamstrings it includes the quads of course it even includes the muscles that support the ankle right the calves uh the Solus muscles so all and those are the prime movers right but you have to be able to maintain this real tight stable position with the upper body while squatting which I like a lot for a lower body exercise cuz often times when you use your lower body in the real world you're not you know like a leg press right I don't know how how how often you do that in the real world where your whole body's you're relaxed stabiliz and it's just your legs that are moving typically you have to use your upper body to support something when you're lifting it and so this squat allows you um this type of a squat allows you to do that well it also forces you to be present right like in in that regard just because you have to be able to constantly maintain that tension of protection of your spine and be able to keep your core tight be able to keep those muscles engaged uh otherwise you know you're going to pay for it and so the you know obviously this is one of those where it you know it risk reward in like learning uh how to improve your mechanics and the skill of the actual squat is is up the utmost importance because yes you can hurt yourself but the reward is so much greater as a result of that and and going back to my trainer Point like think of the cues that you guys were always giving your clients like neutral spine you know tuck your chin shoulders back and depressed right like activate squat position right activate your core like that is all setting up for the squat so the the cues that we were constantly queuing our clients to do throughout their entire workout because we were always combating this kind of you know rounded shoulders forward head poor posture and trying to get them back into this more optimal position well the S the squat forces you that the Justin's point you've got this massive load that is would crush you if you're not paying attention and you're not positioning yourself in all if you're not tucking the shoulders back down you're not activating the core getting the the spine in a neutral position right if you're not bracing if you're not doing those things then the thing's going to crush you and so it forces that and it forces it in this very heavy loaded isometric position so you're you're activating all those those even those upper body muscles that promote better posture while you do this great you know leg exercise and so I think there's just so much Val it has to be a part of every routine uh to get it's the Cornerstone of most most strength training uh routines I will say this a squat perform all the exercises will fall into this category but uh a a a squat performed with appropriate resistance with good Mobility good stability good control so you could do it and you own the movement is extremely safe it's extremely safe that being said the traditional squat holds a higher injury risk than the rest of the other squats because of the strength potential in particular now of course people are going to say well what about the fact that it's a complex exercise you have to have good technique yes that's I didn't say that because I feel like that should be assumed right exercises that require more technique the injury risk is higher because if you don't have the technique right well then it's not a safe exercise um but that being said the injury risk is higher uh on this squat because you can get so strong on it and I don't mean that the injury risk is high because you're lifting a lot of weight I mean if you can get really strong moving one particular way all of the support ways all the stabilizing ways your body's AB ability stabilize so you don't move left to right while you're moving this super heavy weight on your back for example or the stabilizes that prevent your knees from twisting or that prevent your feet from collapsing or or or your low back from all of a sudden rounding or whatever all those stabilizers because of the load that you're you're lifting if you don't move outside of the squat and train some of these other variations which we're going to go over then the the the difference between the strength in this movement and the strength that you have when you just move outside of that movement you could over respond that's right you know then you're going to be in a dire situation yeah and to me one of the best analogies is envisioning like a drag car right that is got a th000 horsepower in it and it's so powerful and strong and it's going straight forward but the minute you ask that thing to make a dynamic left or right or turn around yeah it flips it rolls it's out of control and it's because and and the body is like that when you've trained the squat so hard so heavy for so long and you've neglected all these other things like suspension and handling and all the other abilities that it needs to be able to have and so that's where this becomes the that's the con of this exercise is getting so good at it yes it's in fact very like linear the Direction with yeah it's so challenging because it's so great like if you start squatting and you get good at squatting man you see incredible gains and you don't want to stop you don't want to do variations you just want to do back squat um but now your strength ratio between a squat and moving laterally or rotating uh or stabilizing starts to become so vast cuz here's what ends up happening you know you're going to move outside of perfect form by a fraction of a degree but now you can't stabilize that fraction of degree outside of of technique because the weight is so high this is when injuries start to happen so the con of this is uh is the injury risk is high because the strength potential is so high so don't get stuck and addicted to just barbell back squatting even though it's like you're going to love it you start doing it it is awesome it is awesome uh the risk of injury gets high because of how strong you get with it the next variation that I think for sure not enough people do is the front squat so it's it's very similar to a back squat in the sense that your feet are it's bilateral both feet on the floor both feet are you know relatively pointing straight or whatever and you're squatting up and down but the difference is instead of the weight being on your back the weight is on your front it's on the front of your shoulders and there's there's different ways to hold the bar you can cross your arms over like bodybuilders do or do a weightlifting style one where the fingertips are underneath but the because the weight is is in the front of the body in the back of the body it really does change the feel of the exercise you're going to get more quad activation less glute activation core stability is totally different you'll see yeah very different like the stability with the traditional back squat it's a lot of low back strength and stability when you start to move that bar in front of you you start to feel the sides of your core activate and you got to stand really upright it's a much more upright version of too like in terms of like uh facing anything in the real world you're most likely going to be loading in the front of your body because you're going to be carrying something heavy you know in the front or up on your chest and uh to be able to incorporate front squats will get you stronger more stable uh and really help uh just with normal everyday activity so much more I know that the the word functional has been bastardized in our space but it it is more fun than a back Squad to that point the fact that you if you're going to bend over and lift a couch up help a friend carry something say lift it properly with your legs like a friend squat yeah nobody's going to take that thing and throw it on their back and lift it you don't ever carry anything like that so it it is it it's more transferable to you know your daily task and so I think it's so important and and to be able to do that with good form and technique if you never front squat and you don't know how to break your core that way and hold something in front of you that that you see low back injuries all the time happen because of because of this and so this exercise is and and the core to me I can't stress it's such a different core feeling oh yeah and and much more demand yeah I mean to me every time my fronts caught it's it's always glaring to me like the amount of neglect that I have at my core because that's actually I get more sore in the core many times than I do anywhere else just trying to support that kind of weight in the front I feel too and that's because because you you really do have to counter a lot of the forces pulling you forward which you know when you're back squatting that is a factor uh you know with some people with like the position of the bar sometimes to go higher lower to compensate for that but to be able to rotate in your front squats it helps you balance and and actually improves your back squat sub substantially as well I mean you would probably Justin you would probably make the case too that it's a more athletic uh squat too wouldn't you yeah yeah I I I would tend to promote it a bit more and again I would cycle it in a lot more frequently with athletes for that reason uh because too I want their stance uh you know to be in a certain uh position and for them to have be really comfortable on their forefoot more so than than on their heel on if you're on your heel as an athlete you're dead yeah now what's interesting about this is it is a a very technical exercise a lot of people struggle with learning this you can do it eventually but it is a tough one to learn but what's funny is that this is actually the type of squat that I would have a client do before doing a back squat they just didn't load it and and what it looks like is put your arms out in front of you no weight that's or like a goblet squat started with things like that yeah so the irony is it's an easy squat to learn but once you start loading it with a bar then it becomes very technical and it's very difficult a lot of people have trouble with it so that would be I guess one of the cons but I mean in terms of building lower body strength uh hypertrophy especially for the quads like I I have I have a tough time trying to find a better exercise yeah another con too too is that and a lot of people and I'm guilty of this too when I first started front squatting is being discouraged because you're significantly stronger in the back squat compared to that and so we all have this tendency to be like oh man if I can if I'm not lifting as much as this then it's not as good as that and so you know being comfortable with uh with allowing yourself to be you know 50% or less of the load that you can do on your back squat and really perfecting the technique and knowing that it is a new stimulus new adaptation you're going to get you're going to get gains you're going to get benefits from it even if you can't quite load it anywhere near what you can do on the back squat don't neglect doing it because it is so valuable in your routine one more point for it Jo though still is just because you're in that rack position um it's actually going to improve and enhance your overhead press uh and and two this is one of those like kind of mid positions where the more comfortable you get with that and especially with Olympic lifts where we got to be explosive we got to accelerate uh and um you know for for that aspect of it to be able to stabilize and have control over heavier weight uh in that rack position it's going to help translate to a lot of other lifts totally I I would say uh a front squat should be I mean if you really want to have a balanced out uh routine should be done at least 50% of the time uh that you spend on a back squat meaning not that they're split 50/50 but if you squat you know 50 times a year you probably want to front squat uh at least 20 or 25 times uh you know that many times it's it's it's got to be one of the staple uh squat versions next would be the split stance squat a lot of people will call this a lunge um I guess the big difference is they're both squats lunges even if you're stepping lunges but a split stance squat typically you get in your split stance and then you go up and down you're typically not walking like you would with a quote unquote lunge although it's very similar I would I would put a bulgarians put squat in this because they're all they're all similar enough that the adaptation that we're seeking is is similar enough in this which is like the you know unstable environment the unilateral work like the stability component there I think that's so important um when we're talking about squatting I will go ahead and no and common that you see people that love like this is common in like the the powerlifting Community where they they they understand obviously the value of of you know front squats and back squats and they do so much of that but then they neglect unilateral work and there's a massive discrepancy there and many times this is what's promoting like injuries and issues that they have causing because they neglect this but it's as valuable as the other two for pelvic stability like you know when you're squatting with heavy weight with both your feet next to each other that's one type of stability you need to build but when you split your stance now you're creating torsion on the pelvis now you have the hip flexors of the back leg and the glutes and tendencies is to want to rotate that's right out and so yeah you have to compensate to have an anti-rotational effect which really helps stabilize The Joint it is really good for the and I'll tell you this much like if you ever want to see a discrepancy take someone who squats really heavy back squats who never does a split sand squat watch them do a split sand Squat and you'll see somebody who could squat 500 lbs all of a sudden can barely do a split stand squat with 120 lbs well you remember when our friend Ben Pollock did the did that video of himself after and he's what a 600 lb a monster just a beast and then and then I think he I don't it was like 135 Less on there and it was just crazy to see how challenging that was for him now as far as athletically functional is concerned this is got to be one of the most athletically functional lower body exercises because in sports very rarely are your feet just together yeah typically you're running uh your your one legs in front of the other so this is strengthening that kind of locomotion type position that split stance position in fact a lot of athletic coaches strength coaches say that this is how they have all their athletes SCH well that's like your Mike Bo method right Mike Bo is all split stance like that that or you'll hear have these coaches they they don't do any backloading and it's all front Squad all and all unilateral work like that for sure so it's it's up there I mean I man I when I went to a Bulgarian another reason okay or this is I guess a con uh because you tend to be if you don't do it really really weaken it and I remember so humbling oh God it was it was this was tough for me cuz I remember the girl I was dating at the time um um you know she was she was working I think she was doing Bulgarian split squats with like 20 or 25s and I was struggling with the same way to do that and that was like such a shot to the ego and like you know my young dumbass at that time you know chooses not to do that not doing that one yeah yeah because I was so weak in it instead of having the the the trainer mind and go man the board is out highlight that I'm neglecting this and I need to address that so one of the cons of this is that you know if it's something you've neglected for a long time you've gotten so bad at it that you just ignore it all together when it's like there's which by the way as you get older and wiser and more experienced and lifting that's where the gold is that right that when you find an exercise that you are terrible at or you're extremely weak at uh for somebody who's been Lifting for a long time there's a huge opportunity for for progression for growth for strength gains for muscle gains and like so to to shy away from that is silly because that's hard the more you've been lifting the longer you've been doing this for it's so hard to find big jumps and gains when it comes to building muscle or building strength but until you find stuff like this that's really challenging so don't shy away from it if this is a that's all the gains are yes yeah now one of the pros of this uh type of a squat is you can also work with very little ankle Mobility or with a lot of ankle Mobility depending on where you place that front leg where how far you allow your knee to travel forward which is normally a major limiting factor for your clients right so a lot of people can't do traditional squats back squats because ankle Mobility is lacking and so you have to do all these Mobility exercises sometimes you you you rise the heel to allow them to squat deeper but with a split stance that doesn't become an issue at all also though you can work on ankle Mobility yes with a split with a split squad mean you can challenge it and move that knee forward and really work on ankle mobility in a way that traditional squats uh don't necessarily do now one of the cons of course is load but I will say this some of the best split stance squatters the load they can lift is not nothing it's phenomenal mm you look Olympic lifters when they're coming out of a you know a fast lift often times they catch the lift in a split stance and they can really support a lot of load so you're not going to be able to lift as much like this like you will with the back squat so the load is lighter but by no means is this can you know this this definitely can turn into it's not limiting you could really progress you can another another con is that back foot some people have issues with the stabilizing or supporting themselves with toes being bent uh but I think that's just the mobility issue that if you continue your practice and work then you can you're able to do it and another positive this and this was something that I I got to see firsthand when I when I started to really train Bulgarian split squats more often um was how much it contributes back to the the the backloaded squad huge um you if you neglect the Bulgarian or the split St Squad and you don't ever do that and then you focus on it and you get really strong many times that just simply doing that will break you through a plateau on the back squat right so we've talked about already how how valuable the back squat is how many gains how much gains how awesome that is and then a lot of times what happens is you hit a plateau you can't get past a certain weight and you're kind of stuck there one of the best things to break through those plateaus sometimes is I'll take a client and we'll go so F solely focused on bulgarians get really strong at buan split squats then come back to the squat the barbell back squat and watch us break through a plateau next up is the CAC squat this is kind like a side lunge some people would say but the reason why this exercise is in this list is because the top three all move you it's basically in front of your body or straight ahead right CAC squat works on that lateral stability and strength and I'm going to tell you right now and I've experienced this myself you get really really strong moving with traditional squats front squats back squats split stand squats and you do nothing for lateral stability the discrepancy between the strength that you have when when you're facing forward and moving forward and back versus side to side becomes so big that you actually become an injury uh the injury risk goes to the roof and then next thing you know you have to catch yourself moving sideways or whatever and you're like why do I feel so un you know awkward or unstable and it's because you don't do anything to develop that lateral strength which is what a cc squat does it allows you step out to the side go down come up and push yourself out how are you going to uh change directions as an athlete with any kind of strength and power you know unless you train it uh and and that's a big component I know not for everybody to consider but two even from you know building up your body to be able to build up uh your legs and really like highlight and emphasize some of these other muscle groups that you know really help to contribute with the stabilization uh you know around the hips around the knees um it's it's vital uh to to address that because you are going to get lateral forces you're going to get uh um you know rotational forces as well and so to be able to react appropriately have strength in those two this is this is a different range of motion so every time we go in a little bit of a different range of motion it's like a very brand new exercise to your body and so to be able to have strength in that while um you know having something similar maybe I'm squatting but my leg's a little far away from me uh you know in that type of position where so if I'm an athlete and I'm moving like that or just in life in general uh can I get myself out of that safely with strength and so this is one of those that it's it's just overlooked quite substantially when I look back at all the clients um that I train that suffered from some sort of an injury so funny because people talk about like exercises like heavy deadlifting and squatting is so dangerous and I I never had a client that got hurt with me deadlifting or or squatting I did have clients though that were really strong with squatting and deadlifting get hurt doing the most basic things at home yeah and it's almost always a very basic rotational movement or lateral movement y it's like uh pulling a a weed in the garden and they throw their back out having to rotate that way or you know moving to the laterally having to move really quick to the side to do something or playing with their kid tennis like not even that that difficult you know and then something go like this is how people get hurt is they get really strong in One Direction and they neglect the rotational and the lateral component and we as kids we don't it's built into our life when you're a child when you're a child and you you you Rough and Tumble play and you wrestle and you roll around and you go to the gymnasium everything yeah you're you are you're you're moving in all these Dynamic planes and as and as silly as that may sound it's so valuable to to you being in in control of your body and protecting yourself when you move in all these different planes as we get older we tend to move in that that sagittal plane all all the time we're just forward and back forward and back rarely ever do we do anything rotationally or laterally anymore and then when the body does call upon it because it will it will highlight itself it will it will surface in your life somewhere and the embarrassing part it's normally doing something very basic and that's where clients would get hurt it's always something like that and it took me a long time as a trainer to recognize that this was my fault as a coach and as a trainer for neglecting movements like this and not incorporating it cuz I put so so much value in the first two exercises that we talked about because we know how important those are and neglected to do the other ones and it was my fault that my clients are getting hurt doing these really basic stuff because I wasn't programming that lateral and rotational component yeah you know what I really like about this too is it connects the ankle the knee the hip uh connects the upper body with this lateral movement because you see a lot of exercises especially done on machines that attempt to strengthen muscles that help with Al stability but they don't connect the ankle with it so when you go down you move to the side you imagine a tennis player running to the side and you ever seen those tennis players with I mean they get a real low angle with yeah rolling ankles is a you know real consideration that's that's right now this exercise does require more mobility and for some people it's very difficult but slowly scale yourself into a really deep CAC squat if especially if you can load it uh i' I've only known very few people that can load a costc squat really heavy but man does it develop like bullet proof hips and ankles just from be able to move a great regression to this is to use the suspension trainer for support and to to take yourself through that right and so and even just doing that body weight supported with the suspension trainer and practicing that that lateral movement in a costic squat is so valuable uh to your training routine and and if you got to start there start there start by just doing that and then progressing to a place where maybe you don't have to hold the suspension train anymore and then maybe you can hold one dumbbell that goes to the inside of your ankle and then maybe you can eventually get to a point where you can load it with a barbell on your back but just simply doing that and moving through the progressions uh through that and again if it's really hard and difficult that's where the gold is at that's where a lot of the the the the gains and the benefits come from so don't neglect it just because you're not good at doing it totally look we have a free how to squat like a pro guide so it's a guide teach you how to squat like Pro cost nothing it's at mind pump free.com you can also find us on Instagram Justin is at mind pump Justin I'm at mind pump to stano and Adam is at mind pump Adam [Music]