09/09/2024
The physio community is a bit slow, but finally recognition that squats are great 😄
Just published 🔥
The Use of Free Weight Squats in Sports🏋️♀️: A Narrative Review-Squatting Movements, Adaptation, and Sports Performance: Physiological
📘 Stone et al. (2024), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39072660/
👉 This paper provides an extensive review of the use of free weight squats in sports, emphasizing the physiological adaptations and performance benefits of squat exercises. Squats and their variations are highlighted as fundamental exercises for athletes due to their impact on strength development, injury prevention, and rehabilitation.
* 🔑 *Key Points:
1. *💪*Strength Development**: Squats are crucial for enhancing lower-body strength. Training with full or parallel squats over a period of 10-12 weeks can result in significant increases in maximum strength, as measured by 1RM (one-repetition maximum). The squat's ability to develop strength has been linked to improvements in athletic performance, particularly in sports requiring jumping and sprinting. Based on the current body of research, it seems that approximately 25–75% of the variance in the countermovement vertical jump performance can be explained by the athlete’s absolute back squat strength (http://dx.doi.org/10.1054/ptsp.2001.0102).
2. * ⛹️♂️ *Sports Performance**:
* 🤾♂️ *Jumping Performance**: There is a strong correlation between squat strength and vertical jump performance. Both absolute and relative squat strength (squat strength relative to body mass) have been shown to influence jumping ability, which is critical in many sports. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15320676/,https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9617729/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18438251/)
* 🏃 *Sprinting Performance**: Squat strength is also linked to sprinting performance. Strong correlations have been found between relative squat strength and sprint times across various distances, highlighting the importance of squats in developing acceleration and speed. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22446666/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22310512/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20139780/)
3. * 🏋️♂️ *Squatting Depth**: The review discusses the effects of different squat depths (full, half, and quarter squats) on performance. Full squats are found to produce greater strength and performance benefits compared to partial squats, particularly in vertical jump performance. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22344055/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23604798/)
4. * 🤕 *Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation**:
- * 🦶 *Muscle and Tendon Adaptations**: Squats contribute to muscle hypertrophy, particularly in the quadriceps and gluteus maximus (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/, https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/2023/02000/a_brief_review_on_the_effects_of_the_squat.6.aspx), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32132843/, , and enhance tendon stiffness (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34772900/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22266546/), which can reduce the risk of injuries. The paper also discusses the role of squats in rehabilitating injuries, particularly those involving immobilization or reduced use of body parts.
- * 🦴 *Bone Health**: Squats are effective in increasing bone mineral density, especially in the spine and femoral neck, which is crucial for reducing the risk of fractures and supporting overall bone health.( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23287836/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12611764/, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11071047/)
5. * 💡 *Practical Applications**: The authors conclude that squats, when properly programmed, are essential for athletes due to their ability to induce mechanical and morphological adaptations in tendons, muscles, and bones. They also play a critical role in injury prevention and rehabilitation, making them a key component of athletic training programs.
📷Picture: https://www.instagram.com/f.dueregger.photography/
