The Squat Variation You Likely Aren’t Doing

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

I’m a HUGE squat fan.  I love to squat with my athletes and patients.  It is a fundamental movement pattern that everyone should be able to do with at least some level of efficiency.  I like back squats, front squats, overhead squats, split squats, and on and on.  

One variation that most people aren’t doing is the offset squat.  With a heel-toe offset, it is actually more functional and sport specific than a squat or a lunge.  Let’s be honest, we rarely do anything in a symmetrical stance position or a full lunge position.  We live in the middle grounds.  But we rarely train in the middle.  And, I’m not sure why.  We get married to one or the other, but forget that there is room in the middle.

In the video below, I demonstrate the offset squat and talk about my reasons for using it.  It is operating in the gray zones of movement and exercise, which is what we do every day.