Stress on Your Joints is Good

I don't feel like this should be a hot take, but it is.

When people say, "squats are bad for your knees", they're referring to squats causing wear and tear and damage over time to your joints.

Here's the thing: squats do cause stress on your joints, especially the knees. But do you know what else causes stress?

Tying your shoes stresses your spine and forces you to stress your hamstrings.

Standing up subjects you to the brutal forces of gravity, compressing your spine.

In other words, any movement requires work and therefore causes some level of stress on the body. But what you may already realize in your head is that the amount of stress is what's really important.

I wrote a social media post a while back comparing the effort of a powerlifting squat to a senior who is functionally incapable attempting to stand up from their own chair. The relative effort may be closer than you think. If you're in a weakened state, simply standing from a seated position can feel like a max effort squat.

See the full post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1KGLCoLNQX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Stress on your joints is what's going to prevent you from ever getting to that position.

We understand that the stresses of squatting and walking are different (even though they're both stresses). This should help us understand that not all stress is created equal, and while squatting is generally more stressful than walking around, the right amount of stress helps us adapt to handle more stress in the future.

That's the entire basis behind any training. Squat consistently and you'll get better at squatting. Practice skating, and your body will learn how to balance on ice. Run more often, and you'll be able to better handle the demands of running.

You can see how shallow the original statement now looks. "Squats are bad for your knees", ignores that your body can adapt. And once you're able to shift your mindset to accept stress on your joints as a good thing, you'll sooner be able to reap the benefits.

Too much stress too fast is obviously a bad thing, but gradual, consistent exposure to stress on your muscles and joints is encouraged and something you should actively seek out.

That is, if you want to avoid the situation of getting up from your couch feeling like a 1-rep max squat attempt.

To your good health,

Coach Stephen

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 Thanks for reading.

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