Dr. Keith Hartman, Dick Conner, Dave Maurice and Rich Rydin have
noted the dangers of squatting with your heels on a board. All this advice,
and much more related to safety, has been published in .. If there were only risky exercises, and it was either those or nothing, then
there would be a case for using them. But the fact is that the risky exercises
offer nothing positive that the intrinsically safer alternative exercises cannot
provide. So why take a chance on the risky exercises?. I have been promoting the merits of the big basic exercises, in print, since
. I have been one of the staunchest champions of the squat and dead-
lift. But where I differ with most patrons of those exercises is that I do not
give a blanket promotion. Done improperly, or done by people who are not
structurally suited for training intensively on them, the squat and deadlift
are among the most dangerous exercises around.. Such is my commitment to these exercises that I devoted pages to dead-
lift variations in ’ - -
. And I devoted pages to the squat. My support
of these exercises is not just rhetoric.Exercise selection
. e exercises explained in ’ -
- can be divided into two categories:
major compound movements, and important accessory exercises. It is from
these exercises that you should select the exercises for each training pro-
gram you design. You must prudently select from the list while adhering to
the tenets of abbreviated and basics-first training. If you cannot build an
impressive physique by selecting from these exercises, you will not be able to
build an impressive physique by selecting from any other pool of exercises.
In such a case it would not be the exercises that would be limiting you, but
what you are doing with the exercises, i.e., the program design, level of effort,
and progression scheme you are using.. Stick to the safe forms of exercises as described in ’ -
- , protect your
joints, and then you will be able to train consistently over the long term.
Being able to train consistently over the long term should be your priority,
because without being able to do so you will never achieve your physique
and strength potential.