The Man Who Refused To Squat
"Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who has a strong opinion on a complicated issue." - Scott Adams
I had a client interaction the other day that really stuck with me. The client refused to squat. What?! Blasphemy! To clarify, this gentleman does want to squat under load but doesn’t want to work on the joint mobility necessary to accomplish the task safely. Even worse! Holy shit he might die or something. We were working on an unloaded resting squat position with the heels raised. It was uncomfortable for him and instead of working with me to find a suitable regression, he boldly declared that this position wasn't something he wanted to spend time working on. What’s a personal trainer who “knows” the “fundamental truths” of human movement to do?
A little background on this guy:
He is in his 70’s and is in pretty great shape. He does Qigong every morning and slings around some kettlebells twice per week. For all intents and purposes he’s able to do everything he wants to do with his body and has no real joint pain to speak of. The thing is though, this guy is stiff as a board. I mean zero flexibility. Touch your toes? Absolutely not. Reach your arms overhead? Tons of compensation in the spine to accomplish the movement. Sit in a bodyweight squat? Out of the question!
My job as a personal trainer is to keep people safe first and get them strong second. Everything I know about movement says that if this guy wants to squat under load (which he does), then he must have the prerequisite joint mobility prior to loading the pattern. But at the end of the day, I can’t force him to do what he doesn’t want to do, and he is certainly going to do what he wants to do. I have to work with him (sometimes subversively) to try and make the movement as safe as possible even though I consider it inherently risky.
So how do I accomplish this?
Asymmetric loading, split stances, reduced range of motion, working in multiple planes and sneaking in mobility drills when possible. All in all it requires a large toolbox of options and constantly shifting stress around so that no one joint or area of the body takes on excessive load. Balanced training is often corrective in and of itself. It isn’t the path to getting crazy strong or achieving specific performance goals. But For a guy who is stiff as all hell and just wants to squat with some kettlebells, it’s enough to keep the movement safe and meet him halfway.
So what is the takeaway from this experience?
It’s best to leave assumptions about people and what they “should” or “should not” be doing at the door. Most folks above the age of 30 are often working with years and possibly decades of compensatory movement adaptations. Their compensations have compensations! It is my job as the personal trainer to simply meet them where they are at and help them move better.
The world of fitness and health is a world of strong opinions. You will probably recognize a few of these…
“Everyone should squat and deadlift”
“Going barefoot is better than wearing shoes”
“If you don’t sleep 7-9 hours per night you will probably die early”
“The meditteranean diet is the best diet for longevity”
“You must meditate to counteract the stress of modern life”
“Sitting is the new smoking”
“Your bad posture is the reason you are in pain”
“Your doctor is a bad person who is trying to ease all your pain with pills”
These strong opinions are very often supported with a compelling hypothesis and threads of truth that give the false sense of being universally applicable. But, to quote George Carlin, “It’s all bullshit and it’s bad for you.” The fundamental flaw in what is otherwise well meaning advice is that it doesn’t consider that you are in fact an individual with goals, aspirations and DNA completely distinct from the next person. The only constant is variability! Strong, polarizing opinions sell and will continue to sell for the rest of time. But be wary of the person who speaks in absolutes, they are likely to be selling you the proverbial “bag of goods”.
