Should High School Athletes Squat?

Should High School Athletes Squat?

Note: Doug Jackson interviewed his friend and colleague Jeremy Hartman, a world-ranked powerlifter and top high school strength coach, for this Q and A about how important squatting is for athletes.

Question from Doug to Jeremy: Hey, gotta question for you: I just finished up working with a pretty athletic kid that is going to be playing some small college football. I had him squatting all summer.His last workout with me he told me that his college coach told him to stop squatting. He also mentioned that the University of Miami isn't squatting heavy anymore. He's a good kid so I know he's not trying to be lazy. Is there a trend to back away from traditional heavy squatting right now?Looking forward to your feedback on this,

Answer from Jeremy: That is a very difficult question to answer and I have to constantly remind myself that I am training athletes, and not power/weightlifters. Some College Strength Coaches, such as Ethan Reeves at Wakeforest, and Joe Kenn at Arizona State, just set standards that they want each of their players to achieve. Reeves wants all his linemen to be able to single arm dumbbell bench 125lbs. for 6-8 reps, at least bench 365, and squat 550. Those are just standards that they try and set, he's got a lot of guys squatting 600+ easy, and a couple of 500lbs. + benchers.

Since the kid that you are training probably doesn't have the athletic skills or the size that those BIG colleges have, I would squat him heavy and try to get him as strong as possible. I don't care if he did have the athletic ability, he should still be squatting and working up heavy during his annual training cycle. Parallel squatting is the most important exercise any athlete, especially football players, should be able to perform to a substantual degree and lift heavy. At the very least, I would have him box squatting using the dymanic method (speed for 60-70% of his 1-rep max). Usually as his speed gets better using those weights, his max will ultimately go up as well (developing speed-strength).

***All in all, I would continue to have him squat and not worry about it!

Here is a good article on Football Weight Training that includes authors Jim Wendler (asst. football strength coach at UK) and Sal Alosi (Head Strength Coach of Atlanta Falcons) all mentioning squatting in their most important exercise index for football.

Here is a good article by Joe Kenn at Arizona State about using a TON OF SQUAT VARIATIONS IN HIS WORKOUTS (JOE WAS THE NATIONAL STRENGTH COACH OF THE YEAR RECENTLY)

OTHER STRENGTH COACH QUOTES ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SQUATTING