When you need to get down to the floor, should you deep squat or lunge?

Ben PatrickNo credential claimed · founder of Athletic Truth Group, self-taught knee and joint coach

Deep squat, loaded. Being able to hold a kettlebell and squat all the way down without pain is a common-sense standard for an adult.

What it rests onHis argument is from the task, not the joint: "I have to get down and pick up one kid, two kids, I got a third kid on the way. I have to squat down because if you've got to pick up two toddlers, you can't just bend your back over." He separates the standard from the sport: "Saying everyone has to barbell squat, that's just not true, but I do think it would be a common sense goal for everyone to be able to hold a kettlebell and squat all the way down without pain." Elsewhere he calls the deep squat the single best overall knee injury preventer he has seen in sixteen years.

Stuart McGillPhD · spine biomechanist, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo

Lunge. Reaching the floor by deep squatting overloads the back, and a lunge does not bend the discs.

What it rests onHis sentence sits in a paragraph about movement strategy rather than about squatting as an exercise: "For example observe the client who transitions to laying on the floor by using a deep squat, this overloads their back. Squatting is appropriate for getting off a toilet or chair but not for dropping to the floor. Instead a lunge that does not bend the spinal discs is a much more appropriate choice." The surrounding argument is that removing the movement flaws causing back trouble through the day is what makes training possible, and the paragraph opens by criticising "bend the knees and keep the back straight" as an inadequate rule.