Mike Boyle |

I posted a couple of days ago about Mike Boyle’s claim that people shouldn’t do bilateral barbell (especially, back) squats anymore.

His reasoning is that the back is a bad “transducer” of force from the legs to the upper body.

While I disagree with this use of the word “tranducer,” we won’t go into that here.

Instead, let’s talk about what Coach Boyle wrote on his blog today. At the bottom, in the post script, it reads:

PS- We haven’t stopped doing bilateral exercises or, lifting heavy weights. We still Trap Bar Deadlift and Olympic lift. I also think that bilateral exercise is crucial for beginners. However, if you have experienced athletes and you want to keep them healthy and get them strong consider the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat.

Wait Coach Boyle…your athletes still do the Olympic Lifts and deadlifts?! But I thought the back was a bad “transducer” of force from lower to upper body – the limiting factor in people’s ability to move force with their legs!

What lift requires more “transduction” of power than the Olympic lifts?! What lift requires more transduction of force than the deadlift?

So you don’t do backsquats anymore, because the back is the limiting factor in gaining leg strength? So your athletes with weak backs go from their single-leg squats to deadlifts and O-lifts?

I’m confused.

For one thing, it’s potentially dangerous to have legs that are inordinately stronger than your back. The back is the place where force is transferred from legs to upper body.

As anyone knows, who ever watched “The Weakest Link” – the weakest link goes first!

In this case, the weakest link is Coach Boyle.

I have nothing against you Coach, but it’s this type of thoughtless sensationalist self-aggrandizing bullshit that’s destr0ying the physical training industry in this country and getting people hurt!

So STOP IT.

1. Stop the reductionism.
The body is not a bunch of independently moving limbs connected by “transducers.” The body is a single unit. Any effect to one part of it, effects all of the rest of it.

2. Stop the stupid/sensationalist claims for specific exercises.
There’s no “magic exercise” for any bodypart or for the body as a whole. The body cannot be pigeonholed, as much as you might like to do that. You have to work the whole thing, you have to do it all, you have to figure it out. You have to break it down and let it rebuild itself. Strictly “anaerobic” training (which is a misnomer anyway) will make you a fumbling oaf. Strictly “aerobic” training will make you a sickly Auschwitz-victim-looking ghost of a human being.

Stop pushing this bullshit information. Learn the basics. Practice the basics. Preach the basics.

In case you don’t know what I mean, I’ll give you a brief outline of what the basics are here:

Basic Human Anatomy/Physiology – learn it.

Basic Biomechanics – force-transfers

Basic Exercise Physiology – things like “progressive resistance,” allo-/homeo-stasis, overload, adaptation, etc.

Basic Dietary Facts – so simple that a child knows them naturally…

Basic Games, Basic Play – if you shut your chattering brain down for a few minutes, you’ll be able to remember these yourself…you don’t have to pay anyone or read anything.

Basic Psychology – Know Thyself.

Six things. Figure them out. Take a class. You can download/view/listen to most of that information for free on the internet (check out Wikipedia, and the iTunes University site).

I think that’s it. Is there anything else? Anyone out there in Readerland?

In all things, go to the source.

It’s extremely popular these days for people to treat symptoms of disease, or to address perceived causes of illness, without digging deeper to find out what the real source of the problem is.

Coach Mike Boyle recently posted about ditching back squats in athletic training programs in favor of single-leg squats (thanks, Aaron, for linking to this). His reasoning? The low back is the limiting factor for building strength in the legs of athletes.

While that sounds really good, it ignores an important point. THE LOW BACK IS THE PLACE WHERE LEG POWER TRANSFERS TO UPPER BODY POWER-EXPRESSION AND MOVEMENT.

Coach Boyle is saying that his athletes don’t back squat because it’s dangerous for their low backs, or that their low-backs can’t tolerate it.

Well, yes, if they’re substituting hip mobility for low-back mobility. Or if their thoracic spines are so inflexible that they can’t rack a bar on their traps properly. Or if their hamstrings are so tight that their hips dive under when they sit down.

Thing is, the problem could be any OR ALL of those. Or it could be calf/ankle ROM limitations. Or it could be that they just have poor motor-patterning. Etc. etc. etc.

Bypassing the back squat because an athlete has functional limitations is like staying away from vegetables because they’re hard to chew.

You aren’t solving the problem. If anything, you’re going to make it worse!

You have to address the problems before you start loading the body. You can’t slap load on a dysfunctional frame and expect it to iron itself out.

If anyone wants to know how to fix their dysfunctions, go get Pete Egoscue’s book “Pain Free” and read it and apply it to yourself. Or, go to an Egoscue clinic and get a e-cise menu from one of their practitioners. DO IT. It works.

I’m not saying single-leg exercises are bad. I think they’re great! Taking an athlete who is fully capable of deep (full) and heavy back, front, or overhead squats, and putting them through a rotation of single-leg squats, is a wonderful idea!

Just don’t try to shortcut dysfunction by creating new exercises and making dogmatic statements about “always” and “never.”

Tag Archives: mike boyle

Backpedaling and, The Death of Reason

Go to the source…