To The Coaches And PE Teachers - Squatting Is Bad For Your Knees?

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, 2011

Open Class 5:00pm

Baseball/Softball Class 6:30pm

Foothill Boy's Varsity Basketball 7:30pm

Dear Coaches and PE Teachers,

You understand as well as I do that we are in a magnificent position to impact young adults and teach them the correct ways fo doing things. On the other side of this however, if we do not continue our due diligence in keeping with current information, we have the ability to teach them the incorrect ways of doing things just as easily as we can the correct ways.

It is our job, our duty, our responsibility to these young adults to constantly search for relevant and current findings when it comes to matters that affect thier lives. This is what I take great pride in and what drives me to continually become better at accomphishing this goal.

I am consistently reminded and amazed on a daily basis at how much of the information that we teach our young, seemingly "space-cadet" audience of adults that they are actually listening to and retaining.

No longer does it suffice to assert something and hold it as correct and true just because it's what the masses popularly belive or it's what your PE teacher or coach taught you back when you went to school. Information is constantly changing every day and you took on the position that gives you the responsibility to keep up with this information. You are whom these young adults seek out for this information and giving them what you have, standing on the foundation of, "just because" or, "this is what I was told" or, "this is the way I've always done it/done it for years" or, "because they say so" is flat out empty and holds absolutely no merit.

With the body of information that is out there today there is utterly no excuse why you shouldn't be able to back up why you teach something the way you teach it with solid evidence and through, rational explanation. Even if it doesn't sing to the same tune as the one that I whistle, you should provide some sort of foundational platform from which to stand and back up why you teach something the way that you do. Heck, I don't even care if you invented something new yourself or changed the way that something has been done since its inception, but you'd better have a darn good reason why you did so and how it will benefit those who do it.

Here are several glaring examples (of the DOZENS, if not HUNDREDS) of what is apparently blindly taught today. None o fwhich have any credible foundation to stand on anymore, and that I have to deal with day-in and day-out.

1. Don't do deep squats, they're bad for your knees



2. Running/jogging long distances consistently is good for athletics and general fitness



3. Follow the USDA food pyramid/plate for good nutrition

In the circles kept by the very best strength and conditioning coaches and nutritionists on the face of the planet today, anyone who makes any of the previous 3 statements without having a strong, thorough explanation behind them is immediately discredited and not considered further as a contributor to the conversation about the subject. Don't let this be you!

Today I will give you the reason for why the first example, "Don't do deep squats, they're bad for your knees" is only true if you don't know how to coahc someone how to do a proper squat and is actually the complete opposite of the true statement of, "If you don't do deep squats it's bad for your knees". If you are teaching your athletes to "squat" and they are not getting their hip crease below the height of the top of their knee (below parallel/90degrees) you are responsible for thier future knee injuries. Here's why...

GOING DEEP BY MARK RIPPETOE

Tomorrow I will follow up on the misnomer why "running/jogging long distances consistently is good for athletics and general fitness". And, subsequently I am planning on delivering my best attempt at completely debunking the food pyramid/plate and anyone who still believes in and/or teaches it with a vast nutritional "blogging unit" beginning on Tuesday and spanning over the coming week(s).

Happy Squatting...TO FULL DEPTH!

Coach Justin
PerformanceQuestFitness@gmail.com