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WE SH IP TO ALGERI A VIE W D E TAILS

7 Legit Reasons You Should Never Squat

Just say NO to squats. Learn why you should avoid this "king" of
all exercises, and how you can build more muscle using the
Smith machine, quarter squats & leg extensions.

It has been said countless times that "squats are king." Quite frankly, I am tired of hearing
this nonsense. Not only are barbell squats the most dangerous exercise on the planet,
but they also don't hold a candle to leg presses for overall leg mass. We all know this.

With this reality in mind, let's take a look at 7 other reasons why you should never squat.

Reason #1 - The Smith machine is more efficient

The Smith machine allows you to squat in a straight line. Barbell squats do not follow a
fixed path. Why is this important? Simple:

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Nothing more needs to be said. It's geometry and science! Smith machines are
scientifically proven to be more efficient.

When an exercise is more efficient, it's more effective and safer. Simple.

Reason #2 - No one cares about lower body size anyway

Really, no one cares about leg size. Hang your arms out the window of a car and
everyone notices. Hang your legs out the window, and well...you just look like an idiot.
Have you ever seen a "welcome to the wheel show" t-shirt? Nope, and you never will.
Welcome to the gun show, bro!

Tom Platz aside, leg size is simply not cool. Who wants their quads to balloon up while
they maintain the same size waist? This makes it darn near impossible to find jeans and
pants that fit. You know how it goes...you have to purchase pants to fit your legs, but they
end up being 3 sizes too large for your waist.

The result? Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground. Looking like a fool with your
pants on the ground.

Welcome to the Gun Show

Reason #3 - You can't text while squatting

You can't text while squatting, but on leg extensions you can. Bro, what good is a
workout if you can't instantly post updates of your epic, 17 minute sets on Facebook?

Heck, I've seen dudes sit at the leg extension station for an entire hour texting...and
texting...and texting, all the while performing 2,000 reps with "only" 10 pounds. Not only
is this a great workout, but you can also multitask and chat on Facebook.

Even though this is an insanely low weight, the amount of volume you are performing is
intense. Think about it: 2,000 reps multiplied by 10 pounds equals 20,000 total pounds
of work. That's crazy, bro! Crazy!

You would have to perform nearly 150 reps of squats using 135 pounds each to reach
that volume level. No one in their right mind would try this. It's way too much work.

Reason #4 - Quarter squats are more impressive

Forget deep squats. Quarter squats allow you to utilize more weight.

In addition, quarter squats are anterior chain dominant. For those of you keeping score
at home, this means that they work the front side of your body more heavily. Duh! Isn't
this what you want from a quads exercise anyway?

You aren't squatting to build a bigger posterior chain. Who wants massive hamstrings
and a big old butt anyway? I sure don't.

A leg exercise should...well...work your quads. If you're going to squat at all, avoid deep
squats and stress your quads with some anterior-heavy quarter squats. Gainz!

Reason #5 - Squats reduce libido

There is this notion that squats do everything from cure cancer to spike your testosterone
levels. This is false. We all know what happens after a brutal squat session. All we want
to do is eat and sleep.

This urge to rest is a sign of a bigger problem. If you have lost all desire to...well...do
"other things," it's almost a given that your testosterone levels and libido have sunk like
the Titanic.

Reason #6 - No spot, no squat

It's hard enough to find someone at the gym that actually knows how to deep squat. With
that said, do you really want half-squatters and quarter-squatters spotting you when you
are trying to go ass to grass?

No, and no.

Squats are dangerous enough without adding an inept spotter into the equation. You are
already risking your knee, lower back and spine health. If this isn't bad enough, you are
asking for more trouble by allowing a "newb" to spot you. Do you want to worry that a
rookie spotter might potentially touch the bar as you try to lock out that 185 pound squat
PR. No way.

Reason #7 - Squats make you slow

Lower body mass makes you bulky and slow. We all know that.

Being muscle bound is a good thing if you have no interest in being athletic. Do any of
us really want to slow down with age? I certainly don't.

Add to this equation a withering lower back and knees, and you have become a human
turtle.

Conclusion
April Fools! If you've read this far and thought these were legit reasons, sorry. We were
messing with you.

Squat on!

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About The Author

Steve Shaw
Steve Shaw is an experienced raw masters powerlifter with over 31 years of
iron game experience. His best competition lifts are a 602.5 pound squat, a
672.5 pound deadlift, and a 382.5 pound bench press. Steve is also known
as a powerbuilder. His goal is to help others build as much muscle and
strength as humanly possible.
View all by Steve Shaw »

61 Comments + Post Comment

No
Posted Fri, 09/04/2015 - 12:46 LIKE 14
Profile
Pic Heather Bartholomew
 Omg I was going to say holy cow are they nuts or what lol! I called BS after the first sentence
lol!

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No
Posted Tue, 12/09/2014 - 13:49 LIKE 18
Profile
Pic Joey Mc
I was so sad for a long time, then I read the bullshit about quarter squats and I was like "Either
M&S let the WORST gym kid ever make articles or.... yep it's a joke" lol, good one.

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No
Posted Tue, 08/05/2014 - 15:33 LIKE 15
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Pic Chris
It's not even april and I just got done by this article haha.

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No
Posted Tue, 07/01/2014 - 15:23 LIKE 18
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Pic mk
mmmmm lol

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No
Posted Tue, 04/22/2014 - 11:30 LIKE 22
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Pic Sophia Kopasakis
I actually can't do squats because the hurt the shit out of my knees. Same with leg presses.
But I can do absolutely anything else with no knee pain what so ever. All my life my back and
my knees have just hated squats.

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No
Posted Wed, 04/09/2014 - 23:12 LIKE 20
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Pic Danny D
There's 5 minutes I will never get back.

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No
Posted Mon, 04/07/2014 - 00:20 LIKE 17
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Pic cam
These reasons suck i squat 315 as a freshmen i get complimented on my legs all the time
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No
Posted Sun, 04/06/2014 - 13:56 LIKE 17
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Pic Wajeeha
This was a good one! ROTFLMAO!! Smith machine better!!

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No
Posted Thu, 04/03/2014 - 19:38 LIKE 19
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Pic nick
That scared me for a second! lmao

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 21:33 LIKE 17
Profile
Pic Enrique Alicea
Man!!!! And I thought this would get me out of squatting, which my son is great at!!!!! He keeps
cracking up at me at the squat rack :)

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 09:49 LIKE 21
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Pic josh
I was on the verge of protesting this site

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 09:36 LIKE 22
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Pic Ivan
I was gonna say, what an idiot!

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 09:29 LIKE 23
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Pic Salvador
I was about to post about how much I disagree with you until I seen reason #3. Then I was
pretty sure this had to be a joke. LOL good article.

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 No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 06:55 LIKE 24
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Pic Reza
already knew it ever since i read the titlle :)

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 05:32 LIKE 27
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Pic Rini
I was shattered there for a while

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 05:18 LIKE 23
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Pic Jeff
I'm so glad I got to the end! I almost didn't! All I could think was "What half-ass new guy did
they let get ahold of their computers?" All credibility would have been lost lol. Congratulations,
nobody else has managed to actually get me with an April Fool's joke this year. Good times!

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 04:15 LIKE 26
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Pic Matt
O god I thought the world was ending

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No
Posted Wed, 04/02/2014 - 03:28 LIKE 25
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Pic Somy
First time on this site and i thought you are serious... :)

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 22:47 LIKE 22
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Pic Gabriel Uribe
U had me going ! Lol

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 21:25 LIKE 25
Profile
Pic Kwaks Jr
You cant squat with your phone. Cracked me up lmao!
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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 21:04 LIKE 25
Profile
Pic ken
oh shit,i got prank actually=.=

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 19:52 LIKE 19
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Pic Samuel X
LOL i'm almost believe om u :v Aaaaaarrrrggggghhhhhhh, Go on Squat :p

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 19:15 LIKE 28
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Pic pow
Yall got me I was hoping is true cuz I have back pain

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 19:05 LIKE 24
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Pic eddie
Ha! I was getting a lil ticked off reading this. Got me good.

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 19:01 LIKE 29
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Pic David
You got me good. I was like, "WTF is this guy talking about??? What a d bag." Lol. Thanks for
the laugh.

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 18:35 LIKE 25
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Pic Sam
I was getting furious for a sec. This was the best joke of the day by far

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 No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 18:34 LIKE 22
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Pic Sue
You fooled me! Glad it's a joke. :)

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 18:34 LIKE 23
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Pic Sue
You fooled me! Glad it's a joke. :)

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 18:09 LIKE 24
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Pic Justin
I read number 2 and was like yeaaa im gonna go to the bottom this has to be april fools joke
haha

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 18:00 LIKE 23
Profile
Pic james b
i waa getting ready to angrily troll and trash talk but then i loled when i saw it was a joke...got
me

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:57 LIKE 25
Profile
Pic Mohamed Said
For me I squat on smith cause I have some problems with my middle back and lower spine
but I started to feel something is not correct in the FB part and the leg out of window but a
nice try and by the way Steve I like your workouts very much

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No
Posted Tue, 04/08/2014 - 07:19 LIKE 23
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Pic Neil
You probably have a bad back because you squat in the smith machine. It certainly
won't help.

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 No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:55 LIKE 20
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Pic trevor richard ...
Its all the truth

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:54 LIKE 28
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Pic trevor richard ...
Its the truth

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:52 LIKE 24
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Pic Carlos Leon
Nice one got me good_scare :-)

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:32 LIKE 29
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Pic fadi
well f*** u... u guys got me n reason 5 really shakes me badly :D

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:25 LIKE 28
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Pic Cody
Ohhhh I ...just ....wow lol the whole thing I'm like ummmmmmmmmmmm

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:08 LIKE 26
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Pic Victor
Do squats really make you slower? LOL

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:55 LIKE 24
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Pic dominique
My face was priceless as I was reading

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 No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:53 LIKE 30
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Pic Shailesh Yankanchi
Smith Machine was fine but rest made me believe I need to leave this website soon :P
Nice one though !!

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:51 LIKE 24
Profile
Pic Joseph "Thing" ...
LMAO "Bro" you had me going there pretty good. I started to get kind of irritated reading it
until you smacked with the "hey ya dummie, we gotcha!"

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:43 LIKE 23
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Pic Brandon Jacobson
LOL I was like who the hell wrote this bullshit hahahahhaha

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:42 LIKE 23
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Pic Daniel
I do sissy squats on smith machines

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:40 LIKE 28
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Pic Elijah
who wants leg size anyway?! much rather just text during my entire workout. selfies on the leg
press , selfies selfies selfies

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:32 LIKE 19
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Pic Jacquie
I understood the smith machine- but everything else was kinda funny

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 No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 16:30 LIKE 22
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Pic George
You guys suck..

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 17:05 LIKE 21
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Pic George
Ohhhhh just noticed the joke...Xaxaxaxaxaaaxa scared me for a while...LMFAO!!!!

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 15:35 LIKE 22
Profile
Pic Piotr Story
hahahahaaa that's what I thought so after no.3 ...
good one

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 14:29 LIKE 23
Profile
Pic Pro
This keeps getting better every year and as last year this made me laugh out. I keep
wondering what peoples responses would have been if the conclusion had been skipped.
Anyway keep up the good work

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No
Posted Tue, 04/01/2014 - 13:01 LIKE 21
Profile
Pic denny
Good one

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