Just Squat

[Ciarán Maher]

Hey Rip, I’m sure that many moons ago I read an article or post where you said that if a person were to only do one of the 5 main lifts that the squat is the one you would tell them to do. I am interested in reading it again, I have trawled the forum and can’t find it. I have a feeling it was from the Squat chapter in SSBBT2. I gave that book to a friend and bought the 3rd edition. I can’t see it in there though. Do you have a link to where I might read it again online please?

[Mark Rippetoe]

You have the same Google-Fu that I do.

[Ciarán Maher]

You have the same Google-Fu that I do.

Yeah but I can't find it in the forum or on google either. No problem and thanks for your response anyway.

[Giri Kotte]

Hey Rip, I’m sure that many moons ago I read an article or post where you said that if a person were to only do one of the 5 main lifts that the squat is the one you would tell them to do. I am interested in reading it again, I have trawled the forum and can’t find it. I have a feeling it was from the Squat chapter in SSBBT2. I gave that book to a friend and bought the 3rd edition. I can’t see it in there though. Do you have a link to where I might read it again online please?

I was said in an interview. Possibly an episode of #AskRip

[Chad Mynhier]

If you want the answer to this question, look at the layout of the book. The order of the exercises in the book are squat, press, deadlift, bench press and power clean.

If, for whatever silly, hypothetical reason that's not actually a physical constraint, you could only one exercise, squat.
If you could only do two, squat and press.
Three? Squat, press and deadlift.
And so on.

[Ciarán Maher]

If you want the answer to this question, look at the layout of the book. The order of the exercises in the book are squat, press, deadlift, bench press and power clean.

If, for whatever silly, hypothetical reason that's not actually a physical constraint, you could only one exercise, squat.
If you could only do two, squat and press.
Three? Squat, press and deadlift.
And so on.

Thanks,

I know this is how the exercises are laid out in the book, it was the specific quote I was looking for though. I've gone throught about 18 pages of google results and haven't found it. I'm pretty sure the reason Rip gives is because the Squat uses the most muscle mass across the longest range of motion. This fact coupled with the highest CNS activity of the 5 lifts make the squat more important to do than the deadlift, even though the deadlift will build greater "raw" strength and higher numbers compared to the squat. It was something along those lines, I'd just love to read/hear it again.

[Scaldrew]

“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”

Got it written down in on the first page of my second lifting log. You can find it on goodreads, alongside the following:

“People seem to have acquired the idea that they have the inalienable right to stroll through life without either having sweated, picked up anything heavy, worked hard, or eaten less than they wanted at every meal. This approach is, of course, wrong. And it has resulted in a lot of expensive, unattractive, and entirely preventable problems amongst people who seem puzzled about why things aren't going well.”

[Pluripotent]

“There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”

Got it written down in on the first page of my second lifting log. You can find it on goodreads, alongside the following:

Not sure why anyone would "just do one exercise." Anyone who will go through all the trouble of squatting will probably be willing to do at least a few other exercises. Plus, squats are the most brutal. Once you're done with them, everything else is cake, so you'd really be cheating yourself to stop there.

“People seem to have acquired the idea that they have the inalienable right to stroll through life without either having sweated, picked up anything heavy, worked hard, or eaten less than they wanted at every meal. This approach is, of course, wrong. And it has resulted in a lot of expensive, unattractive, and entirely preventable problems amongst people who seem puzzled about why things aren't going well.”

As long as we're listing the results of not training, let's not forget pain. I can tell you that you won't like what happens to you if you don't squat. You will come to understand the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch from a first hand perspective, however.

[Scaldrew]

Not sure why anyone would "just do one exercise." Anyone who will go through all the trouble of squatting will probably be willing to do at least a few other exercises. Plus, squats are the most brutal. Once you're done with them, everything else is cake, so you'd really be cheating yourself to stop there.

As long as we're listing the results of not training, let's not forget pain. I can tell you that you won't like what happens to you if you don't squat. You will come to understand the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch from a first hand perspective, however.

Interesting how you came up with those responses to quotes that aren't mine. I also don't think squatting is the end of your workout, but the beginning. Next comes the pressing exercise, which is going to kick your ass if you let it. Finally comes the pulling exercise which is going to kick your ass if you let it. My workouts are never marked with a sense of ease or performed in a state of relax, so I can't say I'm ever "glad the hard part is over", end scare quote.

Pain is the reason why I started lifting weights and the one driving and guiding force over the years. I know exactly what'll happen when I stop squatting. And I don't know why Bosch is relevant at all.

I think we generally agree, tho: lift weights and don't not lift weights. And art is pretty neat.

[ExpertOrBust]

..You will come to understand the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch from a first hand perspective, however.

Now I know the inspiration for the cover art of Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy .