Quote:
Originally Posted by quoss
baloney, if your knee gives out or you overbalance, the squat, with heavy weight on the bar, can destroy your back, forever, quite easily. It often blows out knees, people. That's why guys wear knee wraps (and b ack braces) while they squat.
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The idea that squats blow out knees most likely comes from a study the U.S. Army did back in the early 1960s. There were some fundamental flaws with the study from the onset, however. The Army used jump school students as the test group because they were generally more fit than those soldiers selected for the control group. Right away we have a flaw, as the test group had a distinction from the control group other than the actual test. Secondly, (and this is a major no-brainer) jump school students suffer a higher rate of knee injuries. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand why this is. However, the results of this study are most likely the origins of the belief that squats are an unsafe exercise.
For a long time I considered them not unsafe, but too easy to do wrong. But the truth is any exercise done wrong is not safe. I am getting knee surgery in a month, but once I recover and get through rehab I plan on doing squats as part of my strength training. It's been years since I've used squats as an exercise, substituting leg press for it. Leg press is not an exact substitute but it is also a pretty solid exercise in its own right.
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