When you look at primitive movement patterns (this idea was first introduced to me by Gray Cook who is a well-known physical therapist) man began deadlifting well before he was doing traditional squats with weight on his upper back. Cavemen would bend over to pick up a large stone off the ground and move it another location – deadlifts. They would not find a large stone on a rack at shoulder height, walk over to it, place it on their shoulders, and then squat down to lower the heavy stone. Deadlifting (using your legs and back to pick up an object off the ground) is still a very common movement pattern in every day life. Whether you are moving boxes or lifting groceries out of your car, the same movement pattern is necessary to complete the task. When you begin to load your spine with external resistance and do squats (such as traditional barbell squat), compensations and deficiencies begin to arise. Of course I implement squatting (bilateral and unilateral) exercises in my program, but I like to introduce squatting with body weight or dumbbells to perfect the movement pattern before moving on to barbell squats. I have begun to add more deadlifting variations (single leg, single dumbbell, etc.) into my programs in the last year and I have seen a difference in squatting mechanics and lower body strength. Take home message – don’t forget to include deadlifts into your strength training program.
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[...] Overhead athletes (baseball, volleyball, tennis, football QB, etc.) should be careful when performing back squats. I am making this statement based on the upper body (shoulder) and not paying much consideration to the lower body right now. As for the back squat – This exercise requires the athlete to place the bar behind their head on their upper back/neck. Gripping the bar can place a large amount of strain on the shoulder. To grip the bar you need to abduct and externally rotate your humeral head (upper arm bone). This position can irritate an athlete’s shoulder and create further instability for athletes who already have an over-worked shoulder from throwing, hitting, and serving. Many overhead athletes already have imbalances, compensations, and deficiencies in their throwing shoulder. As a precautionary measure, it makes more sense for the coach to have their overhead athletes perform front squats. Another great alternative would be deadlift variations, as I discussed in a previous post. [...]
Greatings,
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
Have a nice day
Zoran