So, I gather that, in order to avoid imbalances in muscle development leading to knackered posture and related injuries, it's usually a good idea to work out complementary muscle groups - e.g. bicep and tricep - equally. Being a big, compound exercise, is there potential for the weighted squat to cause problems if a complementary exercise is not performed? If so, what would the best choices of exercise be?
Deadlifts. Squats are a push, deadlifts are a pull. Not sure that rational works in this situation but if it gets you deadlifting it's a win. Squats work pretty much everything, and if they aren't you can adjust your stance or the positioning on the bar (front or back) to hit other areas better. You're not really creating an imbalance when all muscles are involved like when you do bench vs rows or bis vs. tris.
Damn, beat me to it Zaad! More squats, solid form, and, like Ero said, mix up front and back (low and high bar). And Deadlift. Also, I'm a big fan of 'primal' movement patterns (squat, bend, lunge, push, pull, twist, gait/combination), so as long as you cover those in your workout you should be fine (assuming no pre existing imbalances)
what they said. also, if you squat high-bar (which is your bog standard "throw the bar on top of your traps and squat" squat, so if you're not voluntarily doing low-bar, you're doing high bar ), squat ass-to-grass (proper ass-to-grass with a straight back, not as low as humanly possible just for the sake of squatting low and screw back posture), as that'll provide your hamstrings and glutes with a pretty decent loaded stretch at the bottom and help strengthen them further (in my case, my deadlift is and has always been WAY ahead of my squat, and squats still work my hamstrings better when i do them nice and low). aside from that, unless you have an actual imbalance that needs fixing right now, there's no specific need to work anything per se, but some lateral work is always useful (anything that contributes to being able to hold a side kick or roundhouse in the air will work fine), and hip flexor work/stretching is particularly nice to have, as those tend to be problematic if they get fubar (lunges and leg raises should do). also, overhead squats are probably the single best movement you can do for general posture, as they're one of the ones that allow (and develop) the most range of motion, as well as strengthening the shoulders and middle back, and will eventually be doable at a heavy enough weight that they'll help with leg strength even if you don't back squat (although of course that'll go at a snail's pace )
If you're already healthy, with no large imbalances, the biggest chance of injury or imbalance would be from overuse if you're continually using the same pattern. A quite nice recommendation I've heard is to do your choice of squat that you want to get good at for 2 cycles and then another pattern of squat for one more. This is a main movement, so you don't have to not do your choice of squat at all, just at a different intensity and volume. How you structure it exactly would be based on your specific goals though. This specific line of thinking tends to get people bogged down in the wrong details, I find it generally more useful to make sure there is a balance in the movements being performed rather than thinking about the muscles used. You should have at least as much upper body pulling as a pushing (even a bit more pulling than pushing is good for most populations), you should have some of each of vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling, etc.
So long as you are doing: Squatting Deadlifting Pulling (Weighted pull ups, or bent rows if you're a girl j/k) Pressing Overhead Loaded Carries Turkish Get Ups And you aren't experiencing any pains or restrictions... Crack on! Of course, I'd suggest getting Functional Movement Screened, but then I'm biased Accessory lifts for squats: Zercher Squats Front Squats Overhead Squats Back of steel (OH pressing at the bottom of a squat ) Deadlifts I'd get a coach to check your squat as well. I'm built to squat, but it wasn't until I was FMS'd that we noticed a slight core weakness (in the t-spine region). Fixing that increased my already, not girly , squat.
Necro - but I've found hanging knee raises really really good as an 'opposite' exercise to squats. Its also decompresses the spine nicely too. But no one will ever care how many you can do.
i think the OP would be comforted to know that the squat has no real antagonist as the hams and quads get a lot of decent work. I find keeping RDL in my programming keeps me feeling loose and healthy though, just a thought, it's a nice stretch on the hamies and builds a strong posterior chain. getting a FMS can be a godsend, finding someone who can actually do a decent one and interpret the data can be a challenge.
