One of the biggest problems that I face when I come into a school is convincing the stubborn power lifters that squats do not make you faster. Some people are shocked that we don’t squat or do power cleans. They just don’t comprehend that they’ve been misled for all of these years. Eventually, when they take the field and see the results, they realize that they were, maybe, not as open-minded as they could have been. Although, my favorite accusation so far is that for any games that the team loses it is my fault. People can get pretty nasty. But, anyway, now I have proof.

Recently, some of my ex-athletes have come back to train because they have felt like they have regressed. They are Div 1 and 1-AA football players. The programs that they have been through are focused on doing heavy squats and power cleans. They do little sprinting and some American plyometrics- jump onto a box. At one time the athletes shown were some of the fastest sprinters in the state. I will show before and after videos and then some stills to show what squatting does to the athlete.

Here is a training session his senior year.	Here is a recent training session.
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Now let’s break this down to see why Racer A was a 6.2 55m, 10.5 100m guy in high school and now nowhere near that. I will start with the positives of his earlier clip. In the first still, (Al good sp 1) Racer A has good plantar flexion and his foot strike is underneath his chin. A good position even though his leg could be straighter. In the second still, ( Al good sp 2) his leg is pretty straight and it looks as though he is going to pull through this position. In the next two stills (Al good sp 3 & 4), we can see that he is pulling through and is starting into some good hip extension. From this year, his best fly 10 time was .97 seconds.

Al good sp 1	Al good sp 2	Al good sp 3	Al good sp 4

We will review the more recent clip. In the first frame (Al bad sp 1), Racer A is about to heel strike which is a sure sign of everything bad in a sprinter, weak feet and hamstrings and the desire to push the run. If you want to verify this statement, just look at the last clip (Al bad sp 2). He is about to do a mini-squat to push his body down the track. Also watch the two videos (above). In the first he is smooth. His body does not bounce when tracked on the fence rail. In the second clip, his body bounces down the street. His fly 10 time upon returning was 1.13 seconds. That's a huge decrease in speed for a 10 meter split, folks!

Al bad sp 1	Al bad sp 2

Let’s look at his start. Beginning with his first step( Al good st 9), he has good extension and his hips have come forward. I also like the straight line from his head to his heal. Now look at his first step in his recent start ( Al bad st 8 and Al bad st 1). No hip extension!

Al good st 9	Al bad st 8	Al bad st 1

In his drive from the first step, racer A again has good lines and his plantar flexion strength is outstanding (Al good start 1). Again in his recent start, Racer A has lost his plantar flexion strength ( Al bad st 2). Racer A is now driving out. Great body angles and great hip extension ( Al good start 3). Now look at his recent hip extension (Al bad start 3). His hip extension is gone. He looks average. Then to complete his run to mediocrity (Al bad st 4), he is pushing his run with his quads.

Al good st 1	Al bad st 2	Al good st 3	Al bad st 3	Al bad st 4

How did he get to this point? I asked what kind of workouts he has been doing or what his strength coach has been having him do. His response was that he does a lot of heavy squats and power cleans. They start with the 3x10 reps and pyramid their way down to lower reps and heavier weight. The same goes with the power cleans. I asked about hamstring work. He said they did 3x10 leg curls. I asked about his sprint workouts. He said they don’t sprint! His friend, a Big Ten player, said his running workouts would prepare him for a cross-country team. (Maybe this is why the Big Ten can’t beat SEC and ACC schools--hmm?) He was also forced to be a big squatter because supposedly big squats and power cleans make you fast, according to most strength coaches. This is why they always recruit speed over skill. They can’t build speed. They can only take it away. If you don’t believe me, I have a bunch of other cases on file that all show the same thing! Can your "squat coach" say that?! I didn't think so.