Are Squats Necessary?

Q: I hate — HATE!!! — squats. The way the bar feels on my traps, the pressure on my knees, and how my lower back tightens up makes the shit more uncomfortable than when you stumble upon your sister’s OnlyFans content and then have to pretend like you’ve never seen her get her cheeks clapped every time you’re together at a family function. Yeah, it’s that uncomfortable! So yeah, are squats necessary?

A: Ahhhhhhhh, the barbell back squat!

Some people love the exercise and others hope the person who invented it is burning in hell.

Considering what you wrote in your question, it’s easy to see which category you fall into. That being the case that you find the movement uncomfortable for a number of reasons that are the main cause for your hatred, it may be of interest to try some of the following suggestions to see if there’s a difference in how your body feels when squatting.

First, you should make sure that you’re squatting with proper form and using an appropriate load that doesn’t place an inordinate amount of stress on your back and knees. From there, you can look into experimenting with the bar position on your back; messing around with the placement of your feet; using a squat pad for extra cushion on your shoulders; wearing knee sleeves to help stabilize the knee joints and improve blood flow to keep them warm; and trying a safety bar to reduce strain on your shoulders and reduce the load on your lower back. Those are a few things that might make squatting more comfortable.

As for the question that you actually asked, there’s no exercise that’s “necessary” for the development of any muscle. If you want to perform an exercise because you enjoy it and it doesn’t cause pain, then do it. If you hate it or it causes discomfort, then don’t do it. There are a million exercises for each muscle. As long as you do one, two, or three out of the million and achieve hypertrophy while applying progressive overload, you’ll be alright. It’s that simple. So while barbell back squats are great for developing size and strength in the glutes and quads, there are many alternatives that provide similar benefits.

Welp, there’s your answer about the necessity of squats. And as a bonus, you were also provided with alternatives you can do. In return for that info, how about you jog your brain real hard to remember the name of your sister’s OnlyFans account so I can check it out for…ummmm…research purposes. Yeah, that’s it, for research!

Now, does anyone else have a fitness or nutrition question of their own that they want to ask?⁣⁣⁣

Glossary: barbell, dumbbell, exercise, fitness, glutes, hip belt squats, hypertrophy, lifting form, lunge, muscle, nutrition, squat, squats, traps

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer and online coach in San Diego. He's helped hundreds of people lose weight, build muscle, and become more attractive to their loved one so they don't have as strong of a desire to cheat on them anymore. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys making fun of Drake and people who like the guy.

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