Mike Boyle's been circling around this notion for a few years now--in his book Functional Training For Sports, he makes no secret of his suspicion of squats, but in this video, Mike comes out and says it:  as a lower-body builder, conventional squats are no good.

Wha--wha?  In this article, Coach Mike advocates the Bulgarian Split Squat (he calls it the Rear-Foot-Elevated Split Squat) as the most functional and safest knee dominant exercise out there.  In the video he explains more fully why:  that the lower back, and not the legs, are the weak link in the kinetic chain on that particular exercise:  although the legs are functionally strong in conventional squats, the lower back is in flexed-forward and functionally weak position.  Bulgarians essentially reverse that equation:  the lower back becomes functionally stronger and the legs functionally weaker.  The legs, therefore, tire before the lower back on Bulgarians.

As I've written here in the past, I've been bitten in the ass (or, more accurately, in the lower back) enough times by conventional squats that I've started to amass strategies to work around them in my training, and often in the training of my clients as well (that's my personal bias showing, but trainers will always teach what's worked for them...we can't help it).  At this point, I'll throw squats into the mix only occasionally.

I spent years trying to nail down perfect form on the exercise, getting my hips and ankles mobile enough to squat low, dropping back to weights that would make twelve-year-old girls laugh and building back up to something semi-respectable by tiny increments over the course of months...all to no avail.  No matter how patient I was, I'd always wind up getting hurt.

I imagine Mike's proclamation will ruffle quite a few feathers in the strength-training community, and that a lot of people will disagree with his blanket appraisal of squats:  sure, some people can't tolerate squats, but what about short guys?  What about the Franco Columbus of the world, the guys who look like they were born with 400-pound Olympic bars on their shoulders?

(This guy can squat).

To them I say, have at it.  But Mike's livelihood depends on his ability to make professional athletes stronger and fitter while keeping them healthy.  If he injures his athletes--or if they aren't as strong or fit as possible--his livelihood suffers.  He's got a massive population of highly motivated athletes at his disposal, and he's always fiddling with new ways to make them improve safely.  I don't know, but when a guy like that pipes up, even with as radical a theory as "Don't Squat"--I'm apt to listen.