What’s up, guys.
Sean Nalewanyj here at www.SeanNal.com-www.BodyTransormationTruth.com with a Q&A video today.
And the question is: are squats necessary for building big legs?
Now, I know that for whatever reason this can end up being, sort of a sensitive subjects
where someone tries to say that squats aren’t an exercise that you must do, then some people
will get kind of defensive on it, probably because squats are a very traditional bodybuilding
exercise and they’re sort of treated as a symbol of hardcore lifting, so there’s
a lot of emotional attachment to it.
So I’m sure this video will get some auto dislikes no matter what reasons I give here,
but the fact is that it is perfectly possible to build a strong muscular, impressive lower
body without specifically performing barbell squats.
There’s no direct physiological reason for why a squatting movement is specifically required
in order to add significant muscle to your lower body.
Now don’t get me wrong, squats are an extremely effective leg exercise and I do recommend
that you include them in your leg routine if you’re physically able to.
And I would say that overall for most people a basic barbell squat is probably going to
be the most productive lower body exercise you can do.
So, yes, if your goal is to maximize your size and strength gains in your lower body,
then you should perform squats if you can.
However, that doesn’t mean that squats are some kind of magical exercise that you absolutely
must perform and it doesn’t mean that you can’t still get great result without them.
So maybe you have an injury that makes it difficult for you to squat safely.
Maybe you don’t have access to a squat rack.
Or maybe you just don’t identify as a bodybuilder and you don’t even want to maximize the
size of your quads and glutes, and you’d rather perform other exercises just out of
preference.
Not everybody has the same training goals and just because the guy next to you at the
gym is working to achieve four hundred and five pound squats or build twenty-eight inch
thighs, that doesn’t mean that you have to be doing the same thing.
Everybody is different and everybody is in the gym for their own reasons.
But in any case, if you’ve decided to remove squats from your routine for whatever reason,
then no, it’s not the end of the world for your leg training by any means.
At the end of the day achieving hypertrophy ultimately just comes down to placing a given
muscle under tension using a particular exercise and then progressively overloading that movement
with enough volume and frequency.
And as long as you’re able to accomplish that then you will gain muscle.
And basic squats are one of the best movements when it comes to achieving that, but it doesn’t
mean that there aren’t plenty other effective options as well.
You’ve got leg presses, either forty-five degree or seated.
You could do one-legged leg presses, barbell or dumbbell lunges, barbell or dumbbell step-ups,
these are all perfectly acceptable ways for hitting your quads as long as you’re using
good technique and increasing the workload overtime.
And in some cases for people with certain body structures that aren’t ideal for squatting,
like those with really long femurs, other exercise like leg presses can actually be
superior to squats, believe it or not.
And if it’s specifically barbell squats that you can’t perform then there are ton
of other squatting variations that you can use there as well.
I wrote some of them down here so I don’t forget, but you’ve got front squats, split
squats, single leg squats, hack squats, dumbbell squats, various types of machine squats, these
are just a few examples.
And there’s actually research out there now which I’ll put in the description box
below, showing that spilt squats are actually just as effective as barbell squats when it
comes to lower body training.
So, bottom line here guys, squats are an awesome leg exercise; I’m not talking down on squats
here, and I would encourage you to perform them if you’re trying to maximize your gains
and you can do them safely.
But are squats necessary to make great gains?
I would say no, they’re not.
Your quads can still be hit effectively using a wide variety of other movements.
Whether you go with a leg press and a lunge, or split squats and a one-legged leg press,
or a front squats and a dumbbell step-up, there are lots of different ways to do an
effective quad workout without specifically doing a barbell back squat.
Your hamstrings are going to be best hit with direct knee flexion and hip extension exercises
anyway.
So things like leg curls and Romanian deadlifts and if you want to specifically target your
glutes then hip thrust will do a better job than squats anyway or at least as good as
a job.
So, that’s all I want to say on that.
Thanks for watching, guys.
I hope this was helpful.
Make sure to hit the like button, leave a comment and subscribe if it was.
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Thanks for watching, guys.
And I’ll see you in the next video.