The world falls into four camps: people who have no interest in leg strength and therefore no interest in squats (you are excused), people want leg strength but fear squats because they have seen too many crippled power-lifters, and people who swear by squats and believe the risks of working them into your routine are outweighed by the benefits they provide. And, finally, our camp: those who don’t trust what they’ve been told about the risk-reward, but are tempted anyway.

 

Google “old knees squats” and you’ll get a thumbnail sketch of the internet in all its earnest, not-thoroughly-trustworthy, information-spewing glory. There are sites that sound truly knowledgeable and professional and sites that sound like every conversation you’ve ever had in an airport bar. You hear a voice that takes you back to a bunch of teenagers in a garage, hefting homemade cement-and-rebar weights, so you’re sure this is not very substantiated–and then you find a dozen citations from what look to be academic journals.

 

If you have worries about squats, you’ll note the number of articles that talk about “squat myths” which says this is highly debated, with plenty of conflicting information being bandied about. And you, rookie, will have trouble separating the good info from the bad. There are also many articles that refer to problems that come from “poor technique,” which tells you that there’s a good way and a bad way to do squats…and you, rookie, should be careful.

 

You will also find videos, which are a mixed blessing. You can learn how to do many things watching videos online, but (a) some things are harder than others and (b) you want to learn from a video from someone who knows what he or she is talking about.

 

Go to Livestrong. Yes, Livestrong is operating under something of a cloud these days. A gigantic, Old Testament thunderhead. But the site does have good, clearly stated articles. If you’re thinking about adding squats to your workout, take a look at the site’s article on potential knee problems. (It won’t necessarily discourage you, but I can’t help but point out the following sentence: “Squatting can be hard on the knees even if you have good technique.”)

 

Then, take a look at the New York Times’ Gretchen Reynolds. In a recent piece on old knees and squats, she quotes a University of Virginia professor of kinesiology who says the exercise is “quite good for the knees if you you do the squats correctly.” (Emphasis added.) There’s also a a video.
Bottom line (for me): This is a great exercise for strengthening the muscles around the knee…and it comes with a pretty good chance of messing up the knees you were trying to preserve. Squats would be an essential component of a good workout if there were no alternatives, but there are. There are plenty of exercises and machines that can strengthen the muscles around the knee. As Livestrong points out: “Leg presses are functionally similar to squats, but you can move your feet around on the pad to take pressure off the knees and transfer it to the hips or hamstrings.”
Know that you aren’t alone in looking for a way to dodge squats. Glute exercises were among the top ten exercises searched last year, possibly (MSN speculates) because people hoped “that a less-painful alternative to squats had been devised.” (The top exercise search was for abs, which is a subject for another day.)

 

Photo: Rehabilitation of British Soldiers From Normandy- the work of the Robert Jones and Dame Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, UK, 1944.  “A wounded man is helped with his squatting exercises by a nurse at the the Robert Jones and Dame Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Oswestry. These exercises are designed to strengthen his leg muscles, which have been weakened through injury.” Via Wikimedia Commons.