My Top 3 Favorite Squat Variations

It’s become increasingly common to implement variations of the squat, bench press, and deadlift within training. Now revert back 20 years, and even now to an extent, conjugate reigned supreme and variation was a must. But around 2015 things started to shift towards hyper-specificity, and most people found low sustainability in that training style. Now we've seemed to find a happy medium between variation and specificity, in large part to an increased focus on prescribing variation with thoughtful intent and long term progression and sustainability. In my latest KZbin video, I start a 3 part series looking at my top 3 favorite variations in the squat, bench press, and deadlift, starting with squat in part 1. To set the framework for the series as a whole, I first breakdown the needs and benefits of variation, and cover the 7 primary reasons I implement any type of variation within a program. From there, I dive deep into my top 3 favorite squat variations. I look at the benefits they serve and why I like them so much. I show how to do them correctly to get their full benefit. I look at who these variations would benefit and under what scenarios I find these to be of most benefit. But also, I look at when not to program these variations and when they might not be the best fit. And then lastly for each one, I break down how and when I typically implement these within training.
#squat #squatvariations #powerlifting #pausesquat #safetybarsquat #barefootsquat #powerliftingprogramming #powerliftingtechnique #powerliftingform #bestsquatvariations #squattechnique #squatform #pausesquattechnique #safetybarsquattechnique #pausesquatform #safetybarsquatform
How To Program Variations: • How To Program Variations
How to Choose Variations In Powerlifting: prsontheplatform.com/2018/08/...
Pause Squat And Deadlifts For Deceleration: prsontheplatform.com/2020/07/...
Benefits Of Pause Squats That Are Overlooked: prsontheplatform.com/2019/12/...
4 Reasons To Do Safety Bar Squats: powerliftingtechnique.com/saf...
Benefits Of The Safety Bar Squat That Are Overlooked: prsontheplatform.com/2020/09/...
Comprehensive Guide To Foot Rooting: • Comprehensive Guide To...
When And Why You Should Try Squatting Barefoot: prsontheplatform.com/2019/01/...
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Website: prsontheplatform.com/

[@and0o]

Couldn’t click like fast enough, this man knows his stuff and has a knack for clear explanations.

[@PRsPerformance]

Thank you!

[@hypnos-7371]

Another really insightful one, keep throwing 1h videos at us we're READY

[@PRsPerformance]

More to come!

[@ClarkHuang]

Much love from a Canadian Powerlifter! Awesome stuff can’t wait for the Deadlift video! Would be cool if you could cover deadlift advice/variations to help lifters with shorter arms and longer torsos! Been struggling with deadlifts for years now!

[@PRsPerformance]

I'll keep that one in mind, thanks for the suggestion!

[@MatiasStrengthCoach]

Really good video man. I found a lot of quality content on your channel, great to see

[@PRsPerformance]

I appreciate that!

[@mustafaabd.7014]

The safety bar section is complete gold, I saw so much wrong with what I was doing and why I was never comfortable with it!

[@PRsPerformance]

Awesome, hopefully that helps make it a lot more beneficial for you!

[@MrRaheemfrank]

Swolefessor sent me here. He highly recommended you great video.

[@PRsPerformance]

Thanks to Marcellus!

[@biesman5]

Great video!! Just curious, do you have any idea when are you going to release "Top 3 Favorite Bench Variations" video?

[@PRsPerformance]

Probably within 3 weeks or so. I trying to be consistent of uploading once every 3 weeks right now.

[@micahgoff7631]

Dang it!! Now I need to remove reverse banded box squat with chains from my programming!! But really this is great content PS.: I may never remove tempo deficit Bulgarian split squats 😘

[@PRsPerformance]

Bulgarian Split Squats will always be my first love.

[@larryconway9303]

Awesome going to do some barefoot paused safety bar squats, just joking great video looking forward to trying out these variations. Thank you for the great content.

[@PRsPerformance]

I mean if you stack all 3, its the holy trinity haha!

[@fawzaanmohammad6782]

Hey man I was wondering if youd do a video of how to warm up for the big 3, especially sumo deadlift as I use to do a lot of static stretching for warmups but idk if that's great now becuase of what some people have said

[@PRsPerformance]

Noted, I will keep that in mind! I do think for most warming up tends to be individually based, but I could definitely put together like a top 5 warm-ups for upper and lower body in this same fashion!

[@fawzaanmohammad6782]

@@PRsPerformance I would absolutely love that thank you, been here since less than 100 subscribers

[@aminoweis3762]

For someone who's been suffering with knee tendinitis for more than 4 months now, after trying tempo squats they helped a lot with bare feet. In a hypertrophy phase would you say pause squats and tempo squats would be the go as primary and secondary day? (both high-bar)

[@PRsPerformance]

I'd lean more towards pause squats in a hypertrophy phase. Tempo becomes fairly self limiting and excruciatingly exhausting with higher reps, so I usually don't program too many tempo sets over 5 reps.

[@kb.gawlik]

As someone that struggles with knee pain for a long time and never went away from comp squats you got me thinking. So pause squatting (sth like 3@7 + sets of 5) on primary day and pause ssb squats on secondary (no top set, 4-6 reps?) would be a good place to start?

[@PRsPerformance]

So most knee pain seems to stem back from doing too high of workload compared to what you can recover from, but moving towards more self limiting variations is a form of workload reduction since absolute intensity decreases. So it definitely would be worth trying!

[@jeffriggins9106]

Gotta start paying attention to my braces and pelvis, front of my left hip has felt butchered lately.

[@PRsPerformance]

Check out the low bracing and setup video as well if you haven't already, that should definitely help!

[@jeffriggins9106]

@@PRsPerformance will do buddy, thanks

[@vidushbhartia8240]

Great Video! 1) General thoughts on high bar squats as a variation? 2) Does the SSB bar actually activate more quads than regular low bar squats?

[@PRsPerformance]

High bar is great, use it as a variation all the time.

[@ArtlantisDE]

Wouldn't SSBs be even better for hip-hinging squatters (e.g. with long femurs) to fix weaknesses in the knee extension/core?

[@PRsPerformance]

It can be, but it also could be a very demanding movement for someone who is disadvantaged leverage wise for SSB, so that could go both ways.

[@christopherbrady1394]

Front squats? Yes? No?

[@PRsPerformance]

Not a fan, due to the limiting factor of a front squat is holding the bar in place/abdominals.

[@snorlaxcom]

​@@PRsPerformanceIs it a useful bracing movement if abs are the stimulated muscle group? Don't have SSB available.