We all had those days off. You look at your workout routine and barbell squats are on the menu. rmally, you can't get enough of leg day, but on this particular training day, you feel a twinge in your shoulder or knee after the night's basketball game. w, squats have gotten scarier than usual, so you'll have to struggle to find a strength exercise to swap out for squats that still hit all the right muscles without aggravating your minor aches and pains.
When your knee hurts, it's difficult to get in the mood to squat. You'll think about it, and it can upset you. Sometimes this can be solved with box squats, sometimes not. But when your shoulder hurts, it makes it difficult to put a barbell on your back. Your shoulder needs some external rotation and mobility to place a barbell there.
And if one of these is missing, getting a barbell comfortably on your back will be a problem. Yes, you can fight your way through if you want, but why when there are squat swap outs that allow you to go hard and heavy without pain? Rather than train in pain (of course, if it's an injury, get it checked out by a doctor), bypass it with these four squat swap outs and live to squat for a day again.
4 Squat Swap Outs so you never have to skip leg day
These four exercises will train the squat movement hard and heavy without stressing your shoulders, knees, or lower back.
