Squat is king!

There has been a long debate on what lift is the "king" of the lifts. What movement will provide the athlete with the most amount of benefit, Bang for your buck if you will.

As a powerlifter and having experimented with the main lifts myself and having done plenty of squats and plenty of deadlifts, it always seems to come down to these two lifts. The squat and the deadlift.

There are strong arguments for both lifts to be king, However in my opinion the squat is king for many reasons. Central nervous system activation, Muscle stimulation and growth, and psychological demand.

Central Nervous System Activation

When I mention squatting, I mean a squat that is full, Tops of the knees breaking the hip crease. That's a squat, anything else is not even close. This movement activates the nervous system like no other, where is my proof? well get under a max squat and tell me if you don't shake at some point during that lift. The shaking is your bodies nervous system firing and trying to understand this new load you just applied to it.

The nervous system is strength, by that I mean when one trains to be as strong as possible they

are training a movement not a muscle and the movement is a learned process through your bodies nervous system.

The more accustomed to heavy loads your nervous system the stronger the person will be. The reason why the squat is better than the deadlift at this is because the weight sits axially on the skeleton, the weight is literally on your shoulders. From your shoulders to your feet every single bit of the body feels the weight and has to stay tight and move with it any weakness in the system and a sure failure will occur.

Muscle Stimulation and Growth

Muscle stimulation and growth is what everyone now a day's wants to do. Everyone wants to look like a bodybuilder but no one wants to do the exercises that build the most amount of muscle. And squats are included in this area.

The squat (if done properly) is a full body movement, The Hands need to squeeze the bar hard, The arms need to be tight and most importantly the upper back needs to be tight so the bar has a shelf to sit on, Moving to the core, The abs needs to be tight during the entire movement and contracted fully, The erector muscles need to be isometrically contracted also or you're going to lose the bar. Then the obvious hips glutes legs and calves are working in the concentric and eccentric portion of the movement.

Muscle is built under tension and the entire upper body is under isometric contraction which means the muscles of the upper body are constantly tensed. Which intern will cause growth. The deadlift however is also a great muscle building exercise but doesn't allow for the same amount of isometric contraction as the squat, Also the squat requires full range of motion of the hips which causes a longer concentric and eccentric motion of the muscles where the deadlift has generally limited range of motion of the hips and knees.

Psychological Demand

Ever want to test your mental capacity? Then step under the bar and squat. There isn't a movement out there that provides a better mental workout. It takes a lot of mental fortitude and guts to get under serious weight and sit down until your face feels like it's going explode. A lot of athletes are afraid of squatting because of the pain of heavy weight on the shoulder.

It takes an immense amount of practise and time to learn to be confident in the squat, the fear of failing during a heavy single is real, in the deadlift if you cannot lift it then you simply just put it back down, but in the squat you better stand up with that weight of your going to be stapled.

Now this section isn't meant to deter anyone from squatting heavy, as a matter of fact it's quite the opposite, You want to build some character and some resilience then squat. My point is be careful but also do not be afraid of the lift or else what you fear will be realized. You must approach the bar with great mental resolve and extreme confidence!

Conclusion

The squat is the best exercise for overall strength development. If your squat gets stronger than its fair to say that the rest of your gym performance will increase exponentially. The movement requires a deep physiological demand from your head to your toes.

Everyone should be squatting in some form to develop full range of motion and improved overall health. But when it comes to getting strong and building maximal strength and size there is not a better exercise to choose from. If all else fails.... squat!