Does your back hurt?  Of course it does.  You’re an American.

Kidding, of course, but the statistics are ridiculous.  80% of Americans will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives.  You can blame this fact on our mostly sedentary society, the prevalence of desk jobs, being overweight, etc.  Yet, once you get past the fact the people HAVE back pain, things get a bit more interesting.

Can you guess the sport that will injure over 60% of its participants?

Nope, not football.  Nor is it extreme dodgeball.  In fact, it’s running.

I’m always surprised at the lackof good information on the internet concerning women and lifting weights. (Note: if you’d like to know what I’m talking about, trying googling anythingwith Tracy Anderson.  Seriously, what in the world is THIS!?) Further, I’ve written in previousblog posts that women need to lift weights, but I haven’t really touched onwhy. 

Well for starters, the health benefits areenormous.  In fact, there's probably too many benefits to list in a singlepost, but one of the more important ones is that it decreases your risk of bonedensity loss in your later years. Yet, many women fear lifting weights becausea) they’re intimidated, or b) they fear that coming within a two foot radius ofa weight larger than 20 lbs will “put on too much muscle.”  While I don'tthink any single blog post will quell the former, the latter is just an excusethat has no scientific merit.

I’ve made it no secret that squats are probably one of my 5 favorite things about life.  While you probably think that’s pretty sad, I’d counter by saying that it’s much better than spending any amount of time watching E! or “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”

Anyway, since Monday is always bench day, that means Tuesday or Wednesday should be squat day.  To help avoid the skinny legged bros hogging the squat rack and using a barbell for their “all biceps all day” routine, I wanted to post some of my favorite squat variations.