Is the squat for everyone?

Edited by Dr. Simone Losi

It is the "prince" exercise in the gym, all of us have used this magnificent exercise at least once in our lives.
But let's see if the squat can be an exercise within everyone's reach or if some considerations need to be made before proposing it to our customers.

Let's start from the "support of the barbell on the upper part of the trapezes, we can immediately notice that in order to position the barbell correctly and not make too much" effort "in keeping it in the correct position, it is necessary to have a good elasticity at the level of the internal rotators of the shoulder (pectoral, great dorsal , subscapularis), it goes without saying that any retractions of these muscles as well as "stress" the shoulder joint, create a "compensation" hyperlordosis at the lumbar level.
So initially testing these muscles and possibly doing a period of stretching exercises (if necessary), it is useful to be able to correctly position the barbell on the shoulders and not create compensation at the lumbar level.
Once the barbell is positioned correctly, you begin to perform the actual exercise.
The eccentric phase of the movement occurs through the flexion of the knees and the anteversion of the pelvis, these two movements must occur simultaneously;
during knee flexion, the patella must always be aligned with the center of the foot, in case of vare and / or valgus knees it is not possible to maintain this alignment; this is not recommended for those who do not have a good alignment at the level of the knee.
Furthermore, the inability to antivertire and retrovert the pelvis will create a very significant compression at the level of the intervertebral discs.
In this case, an initial work of mobilizing the pelvis in the direction in which there is the block can later help to better manage the execution of the exercise.
Another no less important detail is the ability or not to keep the heel on the ground during the "descent"; any retractions at the level of the soleus or gastrocnemius will raise the heel and even the use of a shim under the heel will only move the problem to the knee, without resolving the cause.
As you can see, although the squat is a fantastic exercise as it recruits a lot of muscle, it is not without its risks.
Therefore, in order not to create problems for our customers, it is useful to test the mobility of the muscles indicated above and, if necessary, to perform a sectoral stretching program for those muscles that have important retractions.

Finally, I would like to remind you that there is no perfect or better exercise, there is the person, who as such presents a very precise postural and articular reality, and on this it is necessary to choose the exercise that can give the maximum benefit with the minimum risk.