When you go to the gym and see people working out a good majority of those people are bodybuilders, athletes and just people who likes to workout and want to look good. For some reason only 20% of those people do squats. I went around my gym and took a poll asking who does squats and almost everyone said "No I do leg press" or "Nah i don't work legs i have bad knees". Well i have one thing to say to that SQUAT!! Now I would be a hypocrite if I were to say I wasn't like that once because I have been like that my entire life, but about 2 months ago i began squating and I have to say it's not only my hardest workout but it is now my favorite. When I first started squating i could only do 205 10 times and now 2 months later I'm doing 295 10 times and that's after doing leg press consistantly for a while. Now before I started squating I didnt have "chicken" legs because I still did do leg press.
First and most obvious reason why you should squat is the reason i just stated. You don't want chicken legs!! Having a large upper body looks awsome and badass but without a good pair of wheels you will look stupid! The bigger your upper body gets the dumber you are going to look. I don't know about you guys but when I look in the mirror and see my pretty large upper body and small legs I feel embarrased and even depressed. If you think people are looking at you and talking about how disproportional you are because you have such a large upper body and small legs then they probably are. I hear most of the people in my gym talking about the body builders who don't work their legs all the time. Bottom line is having a nice pair of legs will make you look like an all around monster!
For those of you who work out all natural this one is for you. It's a proven fact that working larger muscles helps your body release more hormones. More hormones = more muscle growth and when your legs take up a large portion of your body why wouldnt you take advantage of this? I once talked to a huge bodybuilder at my gym and I told him I was at a peak on bench press and I wanted to know how to get past that peak. He asked me "Do you work legs?" I replied "No not often" and he said "Start working your legs harder and you will pass your peak on bench.
Squat over Leg Press: Now I'm not dogging on leg press here, they did get my legs pretty big but Squats are king! Doing leg press over Squats are like doing the Machine Bench over Barbell Bench. Leg press only does so much for your legs while squats pretty much hit everything on your legs full blast. Im 6'3 and am now to the point where i do past 90% squats and not to sound like a girl here but it's really helped out my glutes which i was always ashamed of. I always kind of had a flabby ass lol and now I have the glutes of a champion. Take it from me girls love nice firm butts. If your only doing leg press and now squats then you arent hitting your glutes very much!! You will hit your Quadriceps very well but not the glutes. You can do leg press all day and trust me you will not notice anything in your glutes. Also after doing a set of leg press my legs are very sore but nothing compared to an intense set of squats. Squats give you a full range of motion enabling you to hit your entire glutes and entire Quadriceps. I actually do both leg press and squats which helps me really kill my legs.
Knee problems/Back problems? Bullshit grow a pair of nuts and squat! It took me a while to grow a pair and I'm so glad i did. I have dislocated my left knee cap twice and have mnoderate skoliosis in my back. I uses to have very weak knees and a weak back but these problems are easily solved.
Back Problems: Ok come on people there is so many different things you can do to fix this. For one the best thing you can do is deadlift! I'm 6'3 with skoliosis and deadlift 485. When i was in highschool squating killed my back but now that i have a back of steel from deadlifting squats don't hurt my back at all. If you don't want to lift heavy weights for deadlifts then stick to sets of 8-10 reps once a week on back days. With proper form and hard work you will notice a difference in no time. Another simple fix for back problems is wear a belt! I wear a belt for just about every lift I do (Chest, Shoulders, Back, etc). Even with a weak back you will still have no problem squating.
Knee Problems: Once again this is a simple fix. You can wrap your knees which will give you a tremendious amount of support and prevent injuries. Personally I dont do this because as you get in the routine of squating your knees WILL become stronger. 2 months ago my knees felt like they were going to tear and now I have no problems with them at all. An easy way to avoid knee injuries is to keep the reps high. If you have serious knee problems like I do then keep the reps 10-15 for every set. Within a month or 2 you WILL notice your knee strength increase and they will be sore less often. Even with stronger knees i still keep my reps around 10 to avoid future injuries. Doing heavy weight is what causes knee injuries so try and avoid low reps.
Now I'm not claiming to be the master of squats because I'm no where near that. 295x10 is warm up for alot of people. This thread is for people like me who have knee, back problems, are unproportional and are stuck at a peak on a certain lift. I also managed to put on alot of weight from squating so much and it feels good. There are so many different benefits from squats idk why anyone would avoid them.
I hope this helps motivate some people to start squating.
-masta
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Originally Posted by LawMan018
lol
