You don't need to add variations of main lifts

@Oblivian

What's your take on the effect of squatting on knees?

I've followed the career of Ricky Lundell for some years now. He's now pushing the idea that squatting max weight daily 7 days/week with proper technique heals knees and backs. He's putting up some serious numbers these days and says he has never felt better. Ricky Lundell strikes me as the type of person who could convince the masses to buy pet rocks instead of barbie dolls so I'd like your expert opinion.
Claiming that squatting 7 days a week with maximal load is necessarily a cure for knee and back ailments is at best ignorant.

Take 100 different people at random and have them squat 7 days a week with high load for a long time and you'll see various different outcomes. A minority would thrive, many would falter and a good deal would probably sustain more pain and injury. Why? Because we are different. Our tissue adapts differently to stressors, we don't have the same injury history, we don't have the same biomechanics and we have different lifestyles.

I just looked the guy up. He's 5'9, 175lbs with incredible flexibility and probably great genetics. His claim is, apparently, that in a few years he started lifting and is now one of the strongest at his weight class. That's not ordinary:


There's no doubt that strength training is great for injury prevention and recovery. That's born out in the evidence as well as in practice. However, anyone who works with people in a clinical setting know that the best program is something that's molded to the individual, and that we don't respond the same to load, intensity and exercise choices.

In short, it's rubbish.
 
Last edited:
Disagree. My banded 3 board close grip football bar presses are making my bench press explode
 
@Oblivian

I agree. My joints are fine, no back issues, and my GPP is never more than a few weeks out of being able to compete in competitive sports. I see a lot of over 40's like me complaining about back and knees.
 
Back
Top