"Are squats bad for the knees?"

This is a question I got from a client the other day. When I asked him where he heard it from, he said "Oh, it's just something I've heard". This is the kind of blanket staement floating around gyms that really bothers me. Ask anyone where they got this evidence from and I'm sure not one person could come up with a legitimate answer. I have never come across any research that shows that squatting is bad for the knees. Squatting is a fundamental movement pattern that we learned as toddlers. But some how as we get older squatting is suppsoed to be bad for us? Usually anyone that tells you that squatting is bad for you, is one of two things. One, they are too lazy to learn how to squat with proper technique. Two, they are still lazy and will not squat because squatting done properly is not easy.

Are squats for everyone? No. There are some individuals that should not be squatting. But this doesn't apply to everyone. Plus, there are ways to modify a squat to fit fit to a particular indivivdual. You can: back squat, front squat, overhead squat, dumbbell squat, single leg squat and the list goes on and on.

But the real point of this post is not so much about squatting and it's effect on the knees. The real point is to not believe everything that you hear. There are still some ridiculous myths out there, which is an article of itself.