About this time last year, before the world lost its collective mind, I was on a tropical island with a bunch of friends learning from the inimitable Tim Anderson. Tim took us through a bunch of movements related to Original Strength and taught us the 21s that found their way into his new book, Discovering You. One of those movements from the 21s has found its way into our class programming on a regular basis because of all the good things that it does for the body. You guessed it! It’s the wave squat!

Here are some of the reasons that I love the wave squat and why it’s probably the best squat variation you’re not doing:

It develops wonderful motor control. You can’t move through those ranges of motion without finding gaps initially, and then, as you practice the movement in both directions, those gaps seem to disappear, giving you greater control of how you move your hips, knees, ankles, and even your neck and head!
Strengthens both halves of the body. As you wave squat, you will hit all the points on the compass with your hips. As the hips go backward, they create a significant response in the hamstrings and the stabilisers in your shins; as they come forward, they create a significant response in your quads and abs, as well the musculature in and around your feet. It’s a super comprehensive activity!
Teaches the relationship between head and hip position. If you’re wave squatting and you want to get a good range of motion, you quickly learn that your hips need a counterbalance as they go through ranges of motion. In learning how your head and neck relate to your hips and legs, there is great potential for improved athleticism and stability.
Unusual ranges of motion. This has kind of been addressed in the first three but deserves its own spot. The wave squat uses unusual ranges of motion for our hips, knees, ankles, and cervical spine. This offers rich proprioceptive feedback and a lovely movement challenge. I think using unusual ranges periodically to build up general resilience has great value (even if the individual movement isn’t excessively valuable in and of itself). In expanding our movement map, we help to create fewer opportunities for surprisingly problematic situations outside of the gym because we are both used to more things and better at problem-solving.

That’s a brief overview of why I like the wave squat. If you’ve done it before, do you like it or loathe it? What’s the best or worst part about the wave squat? If it also sounds like the kind of training you’d like to know more about, come along to our next Original Strength Pressing RESET workshop to learn about one of the most underrated movement systems around.

The Best Squat Variation You're Not Doing