Beach Walk Blog 46 - Squats…Are NOT a Runners’ Friend!

Squats are massively over prescribed by PTs Personal Trainers and running coaches in general. They’re also over prescribed by fitness magazines and online fitness entities.
Most people think that squats “train” the hamstrings, when the research really shows they don’t. They really don’t even work the hamstrings much at all.
So let’s dive into this in depth.

[@gwm5415]

It’s good to see someone challenging our accepted wisdom on training. I agree that squats are overrated.
One thing you said i’d question though…..you said running is mainly a horizontal force.
If you didn’t need the vertical force required in running, ie the force needed to keep our bodies from smashing into the ground, running would be so much easier. See what happens when we ride a bike; the need for vertical force is removed and very little force is subsequently required (horizontally) to keep up with our mate, working his arse off,running beside us.
I’d argue that most of our force production when running therefore is doing what the bike does for the cyclist … keeping us off the ground
I’ll watch more of your videos.Running is too often oversimplified…it’s not an engine turning a driveshaft connected to a set of wheels and you seem to get that.

[@theslingmethod]

A bike will stay upright as long as it has horizontal velocity. A human has a skeleton, muscles, fascia and a nervous system to hold it up. The force applied to a body to create and sustain forward motion is horizontal torque, in a rotational fashion. The muscular system tenses the fascial system which is wrapped in a diagonal format (spiral line) which creates a torque applied directly to the skeletal system creating horizontal force into the ground. The fascial system (like a spring being pulled on and lengthened and loaded under tension) is what gets loaded by gravity when we land and load “down”. The isometric muscle tension holds the fascia so it can mechanically load.
The vertical force we get in running does not need to be over trained in the gym, as that’s not how it occurs in the way we encounter it in running. We see how easy it is to deal with vertical force by watching kids run who have never trained with weights. Remember running is simply using bodyweight at speed on one leg. Force is mass X acceleration or power = mass X Velocity/Time.
We are encountering velocity of mass and application of our own force at the same time. There’s way more going on than just force and the structures in the body which encounter it are not just muscles.
If I squat with 100lbs or 10,000lbs on my shoulders, meaning no matter how strong I become in a vertical orientation, is completely irrelevant as it does not produce horizontal force or create locomotion.
Pro runners have MASSIVE stride lengths, they also cannot squat much weight as it’s irrelevant in stride length. The stride is a scissor action, nothing to do with squatting or how strong the quads or glutes are.
I hope that all makes sense. I’d suggest watching more of my beach walk blogs and also following The Sling Method Facebook group page for more info. 👍