Lumberjack squat

Squats are the all-time best exercise and one for which people tend to have a love/hate relationship because they can completely exhaust you and make you feel a bit pukey, but in such a great way, and there is absolutely nothing better than the feeling after a good legs workout. There is no drug that can touch that feeling.

There are many varieties of squats, but my current favorite is the lumberjack squat. Intertestingly, I have never seen anyone else at any of the gyms I've belonged to do it, and I have guys asking me about it all the time. Anyone know why it's not commonly seen/done or does anyone else do them?

It's really quite simple.

Put a towel against the wall, and one end of an olympic bar against the towel. Load your weight on the opposite side. Grasp the end with the plates in both hands, starting at chin level. With your feet a little more than shoulder-width apart, chest out and lower back arched, and squat down as low as you can go, ideally with your elbows between your knees. Push up with your weight on your heels. You want to keep the barbell in the same position, unless you do a squat and press, which I typically do and can be seen here:

You can also vary it by squatting down, coming back only half way up, squatting all the way down again, and then bringing it all the way up. Any time I do anything like that, it reminds me of 21s, which is another exercise I love. Doing this version kills me in the best of ways.

randi morse, randi.morse@gmail.com, newton, ma