For lazy/shy people like me I recommend bodyweight fitness. Reddit has some nice community for that. Various core drills and stretching (back bends, lounges, squat) cured my back pain.
[1] - https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend...
[2] - https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/exercises/sq...
> At best, we might undertake ［squatting］ during Crossfit, pilates or while lifting at the gym, but only partially and often with weights (a repetitive maneuver that’s hard to imagine being useful 2.5 million years ago)
I kind of go along with that. Squatting with a bar on your back is a weird maneuver.
Wouldn't our ancestors carry far less, maybe max 90kg, then people do today? It doesnt make sense to brutally punish your joints with much more than that for part of that action and completely ignore the other part of it.
Well, yes and no. In unnatural movements like the hip belt “squat” where you have no range of motion and have almost created an isolation movement, sure. In more natural movements like a lunge or squat, where the muscles must work together and you use reasonable range of motion, not necessarily true. It’s more commonly the legs that fail in a squat.
You do realize that the glutes and hamstrings are part of the legs, right? They execute the hip hinge that makes bending at the hips possible. When you take the back out of a squat, you largely remove these as well.
> Also there is only a limited amount of repeated compression that the vertebral discs can handle.
This is a definite “citation needed” sort of claim. The spine produces synovial fluid and heals like the rest of the joints.
Obviously there are limits to how much it can heal, but that applies to every joint and consistently studies indicate better joint health among strength training individuals. A few dozen squats a week is definitely not the maximum the spine can handle.
Back squats and front squats are good because they involve the posterior chain.
Often all of that has to work together. A squat with a small load will show you where you are deficient and will help you improve as you learn to squat properly.
E.g.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NvOuty_Fnc
Edit: Shrimp squats are an exception, I suppose.
Squats are great for building leg strength but have a high risk of back & knee injury under heavy loads if done incorrectly. Even if you do them correctly, a heavy load might force you to lean forward which can damage your back. There are much safer lifts for those of us who aren't experts, such as hex bar squats.
Leaning forward damages your back? Then why are you suggesting deadlifts?
Squats are not hard to do correctly. Risk of injury is probably not higher than deadlifts. And squats work more than just legs. They do work the legs hard, but they also work the back. Front squats will also work the upper back quite a bit.
I agree, front squats are great! But I personally feel squats do minimal to back muscles.
The amount of work the lower back does is directly related to how far forward the body leans (at the hips; I'm assuming we're not discussing bent-back lifts). The lower back does a lot of work in a deadlift to counteract the torque the weight creates via the upper body lean. In a low-back back squat, the amount of work the lower body does is reduced somewhat because the lean and therefore the torque reduced. It's reduced even further in a high-bar squat, and in a front squat the back muscles are mostly doing isometric work in conjuction with the abs to keep your spine from collapsing.
Even if your squat form is bad and you're leaning excessively, you're probably not putting more stress on your back than in a deadlift. Unless maybe you're dive-bombing your squats and letting your lower back round a ton at the bottom.
Of course as anything in fitness it's always up for debate.
[1]https://startingstrength.com/article/squat-mechanics-a-clari...
That is, rather than lifting the bar using the legs, lifting the bar by bending back. Of course, Rippletoe would never recommend doing this, and while leaning forward doesn't guarantee improper form, it can sure make it easier.
Leaning forward is okay while doing squats. A heavy weight causing you to lean forward out of your position is bad.
For the doubters who think you need heavy weights, try to do:
- 1 arm pull-ups
- 1 arm, 1 foot pushups
- Dragon flag (for abs)
- 1 leg squats (pistol squats)
Of those I can only do the 1 leg squats and 1 arm-1 foot pushups (working on the rest ;)).
Also search YouTube for "calisthenics" to get a bunch of stuff you can do. There are things from absolute beginners to insane.
Yes you CAN. That doesn't mean it is not a hell of a lot easier to get the same results by using other tools though.
If you want to get fit (build muscle), and you're not using a barbell, you're most likely making things harder for yourself. If that is what you want to do, fine, but recognize that you're taking a more difficult route.
Your body needs time to adapt to exercise, and body-weight exercises can provide a longterm plan to get that growth without threatening some serious injuries.
Fast forward a decade, and my right shoulder still remembers these pains - I dunno if the weights caused it or some previous injury, but when I started training with my own weight, one sign that I was getting ahead of myself was that small pain. Now I can progress slower, but still I have to be very careful. Some of the exercises with heavy weights are just not natural for the body and simply exhaust/strain it more than it should. If you are experienced, you can work around these limitations, but I prefer body-weight exercises now.
You were increasing the weights at a rate that your body couldn't handle. It is very frequent with new trainees because the neurological adaptations that appear at the beginning of training are always impressive: you finally learn how to use those muscles you always had and make them work towards a simple common goal, lifting that barbell. The main problem is that the rest of your body sometimes cannot keep up with that speed, and that results in this sort of issue. Had you been to a professional strength coach, he or she would have forced you to lower your pace and think about long-term progress over short term gain, which would probably have been at your 16 year old self's annoyance (as it was to mine).
Also, that's a false comparison. Nobody said that you need to get off the couch and go straight to squat 500lbs to be in shape. You need a proper training plan with reasonable progression, and you need to start as low and as light as necessary, no matter the training stimulus (BW, barbells, dumbbell, kettlebells, bands, ...). The difference is that weights can provide an external force that can be scaled to your strength in many ways that BW training cannot, because in BW training the only weight is your body and you need to use leverages to modify your training stimulus.
Finally, BW versus weights is a dumb debate. They complement each other, and a well-rounded athlete should do both.
*to be fair, I'd recommend that a new trainee start with anything but barbell stuff. Simple bodyweight training 3-4 times a week, playing a real sport once-twice a week and doing some form of cardio twice a week should be the starting point of any athletic career, at least for 3-6 years. I started training with people who had an athletic past like this and they blew past me at an incredible speed progress-wise, and ended up stronger, healthier and in better shape than I ever was.
Using weights indeed allows you to fine-tune your workouts more. Want to do 8 reps instead of 5? Just take some weight off. This is indeed harder to finetune with bodyweight progression.
If you talk about bodybuilding, max strength gains, etc, I agree you need to use weights for the fastest/best results.
But if your goal is to "get fit", my personal opinion (or preference) is that there is nothing better than bodyweight. Different muscle groups working together, balance, etc.
I guess it all comes down to personal preference. I got bored lifting weights, but absolutely love those bodyweight trainings. All I'm saying is that it's a viable option where you can build a lot of strength. Is it optimal for size, strength or endurance? Probably not. But it's not something to dismiss either.
Get a ironmaster superbench + attachments / or powerrack + bench, and some suspension trainers. Makes a huge difference on what body weight exercises you can do
For example, I do bulgarian split squats. But I have a TRX suspension trainer on a ironman adjustable bench, so I can have one leg suspended and have a more natural movement doing bulgarian split squats. This is a much easier progression going into a pure 1 legged pistol squats.
I use a modified reddit r/recommended routine /bodyweight fitness / callisthetics
/r/fitness also has a great wiki with a number of programs, including a recommended progression of programs.