Offset Squats

Is it a must everybody should squat? Why of course. Like you probably heard before, squatting is an everyday movement that you do many times a day without even realizing it. Getting up-and-down from your chair for instance.

The real question may be should everybody be barbell back squatting. This has been up for debate for years in the health and fitness community and I side on the stance that no it’s not a must. There are many other types of squat variations that are very beneficial. Depending on your fitness and mobility a barbell squat may actually be detrimental. Between the spinal compression of holding a heavy weight across your shoulders and misalignment it may throw your body into you could have a negative effect.

These are all reasons why you may have been seeing more people at the gym performing goblet squats with a dumbbell or kettlebell. With the goblet squat there’s no spinal compression, and it helps strengthen the muscles of the upper back and core in which most people need. It allows your body to stay in the more upright position since the weight counter balances your body when you sit into the squat movement. You can’t use as heavy a weight as you would with a barbell so it will not drain your central nervous system as much allowing you to perform the squat movement pattern on a more regular basis. This could be a benefit because usually most people need to train more volume with squats and not more weight.

One variation of the goblet squat I started to use more so with my own training is the offset squat. This is where you take a kettlebell or weighted apparatus and just hold it on one side. What this forces you to do is engage your abdominals and obliques, abductors and abductors of the legs all in order to not shift and get bent by the weight . Also if you have a weaker side it will help even out any imbalances from leg to leg. Whichever side the weight is on it’s natural to use that leg more so.

When attempting these start very light and make sure you can feel the core engagement. Do this in front of the mirror so you can see if your body is shifting too much to either side. From there making sure you keep a nice high chest, sink down to a comfortable depth in your squat and come back up. Performed 10 perfect reps per side and progress slowly.

To Your Health,

Mark Radio

Blog