I have removed heavy back squats from my routine. "Why?" You might ask. "Isn't this the king of all exercises?" The problem of heavy back squats is that they take away more than they give. Yes they are undoubtedly the best strength building exercise there is out there... if your goal is one rep maximum strength. However for functional strength, which is what is important to the majority of people, the one-rep max back squat strength is largely irrelevant.
Instead - I have found that all the best bits with minimal drawbacks can be achieved with goblet squats and high repetition back squats. If you have to do heavy squats for low reps - do front squats. This exercise engages the anterior core muscles (the muscles on the front of your body) and the posterior muscles in your upper back. The front squat, for heavy lifting, is a far superior exercise if functional strength is your interest.
Goblet squats are really the ultimate beginner exercise for squatting. It is the foundation. It is for this reason that it should continually be revisited throughout your life. Anybody can learn how to goblet squat. Just the other day my friend who has recently started lifting weights is now knocking out perfect goblet squat form on only his third gym session. This is the beauty of the exercise. The goblet squat forces you to use your core to a great degree, a heavy dumbell or kettlebell feels like twice as heavy. Doing goblet squats with 40kg feels as hard as doing back squats with 80kg. I firmly believe that the goblet squat offers the greatest functional benefit of all the squatting variants.
High repetition back squats are different to heavy back squats. By high rep I mean anything over 10 reps. Usually this is in the region of 20-30 but can be up to 50 reps. The weight used is comparatively lighter and as a result it is easier to maintain good form. I have found that this is an excellent exercise to do at the end of a session. The time under load is the secret benefit of the high rep back squat. It simply builds muscle. It is cardio intensive and a single set can take minutes. It's not uncommon to struggle to walk immediately after a set of high rep back squats. If you want to develop grit, throw in a set or two of high rep back squats at the end of your session.
The goblet squat fits well into the warmup. A complex which I have used extensively and benefited from goes as follows:
8x swings
8x presses
8x goblet squats
6x swings
6x presses
6x goblet squats
4x swings
4x presses
4x goblet squats
This can be just a warmup, or it can be a workout. For a warmup I use a single 16kg kettlebell. This means that I do 8 swings on my left hand and then 8 on my right, and so on with the presses. The same complex can be done with two kettlebells. I have worked up to doing this with two 24kg kettlebells and it is a fantastic workout. Deadlifts done after this complex compliment it well.
Putting it all together a brutal workout for all around functional strength might look something like this:
The complex workout with a single 24kg kettlebell
Deadlift - building up to a couple of heavy sets of 5. I might do 130kg and then 140kg for 5 reps each.
High rep back squats, one set of 30 with 60kg.
Stretch.
Go home.
