Hi everyone, Let's presume you do both of these without added weight. The wall squats are done with a balance ball. You roll your back down the balance ball until you are in the squat position and then come back up. Normal squats are just that, normal body weight squats without any outside support. Would these two exercises use different muscles preferentially? Would either one be better or worse for developing balance, core strength, quad strength, and work stabilizer muscles? Background - I need to build up strength and balance in my legs for knee rehabilitation and it's been suggested to do the wall squats with balance ball, but I am wondering if normal squats may be a better idea. I don't have any problems doing either exercise.
No. Not ideally. However... after watching quite literally dozens and dozens of PT's running your average de-conditioned client through their paces... I've seen that far to many of the PT's didn't watch carefully enough. Many people doing wall squats tend to lean back on the ball for a bit of support. This is a bad habit to build into your movement pattern. So wall squats are fine and I use them from time to time for teaching people how to get proper squat form... but then again... most times I will just show my client a proper bodyweight squat first... both front on... and side on. Key that they see it from the side. I show them how bad squat form looks and what postures to avoid... then I let them go through it at bodyweight. In general no one is going to blow out a knee at bodyweight (previous knee injuries excepted) so usually even if someone starts out with poor form on the first few bodyweight squats I can correct them and get them to the proper form in short order. I would generally go for just the good old fashioned squat. Bodyweight. No need to complicate it with any other equipment. Sometimes using the wall ball squat can make a client feel like they are really 'getting into it' ... hahaha... yes some clients like to be in amongst it all and use a bit of kit for every movement even if they can do all the same movements sans kit. I would say give them both a try. See what feels better for you. If you've been advised by a physio to hit the wall ball squats I'd say try them. Just be aware of the tendency to lean back and be supported by the balance ball. Just so you know... the squat with a wall ball is a classic physio type exercise... they will rarely if ever recommend regular squats or squats with weight. My thoughts would be if you can get away with standard bodyweight squats then do so. Also I would start to look at some other types of exercises. Deadlifts- Have more to do with the knee than what people expect. I'm still doing my research on this particular issue... but if we start to look at the origin and insertion points of the two heads of the hamstrings I think I'm going to find they have a lot more to do with the knee than what is commonly thought of. The hamstrings are biarticular - meaning they cross two joints... in the hamstrings case this is the hip joint and the knee joint... so I suspect they're rather involved in knee issues... especially given how many people are lacking in good posterior chain strength or utilization. Lunges - So many variations on this single movement. Lateral lunges, back lunges, weighted lunges, lunged with overhead single sided press, lunge with torso twist, lunge onto round side of Bosu etc. Bosu ball squats- Adding instability to a movement like a squat is a great way to get the most out of the exercise. You can do it many ways but the most common would be to do squats on the round side of a Bosu. You can then progress the instability by using the flat side of the Bosu (round side down). Similar progressions can be used for the lunge as well. Ok long post.. lol. Hope that helps.
Yeah, as Slip said, the ball against the wall may lead to a tendency to lean against it for support, thereby not working your musculature fully to support yourself. The wall squat AFAIK comes from TCMA conditioning drills, the point being to maintain a central axis while increasing the range of motion in the lower body and maintaining balance in order to support the central axis. The following vid shows what must be going on in your lower body to maintain the central axis when squatting. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gzQHDRU3E8"]馬æ¥çš„èƒ¯å‹ - YouTube[/ame] P.S. The central axis is of importance in TCMA as it allows for better power generation/energy transfer. Also, in a squat, if the central axis is maintained, it balances out the weight/forces acting on the front and back of your body, so as neither is overloaded and more likely to be injured i.e. knees, lower back etc.
By 'PT' do you mean physiotherapist or personal trainer? All in all it's good to hear. I actually thought the whole purpose of the ball was to lean against, and it makes you work more for balance compared to using just the wall. I was thinking using the wall would somehow decrease strain on the knees and that's why people are suggesting them. I'd prefer to do normal squats. I don't have a problem with form, I can do them anywhere without equipment and it's easier to add weight to.
Ah... as I was using it in the above passage I meant 'personal trainer'. If you can normal squats at no detriment to your knee then by all means have at it. As always they key points apply... from the knee down you want your shins perpendicular to the ground... that is at 90 degrees - knees don't creep out over the shoe laces and toes. If you do it begins to stress the knees... not as much at bodyweight... as humans we normally have this range of motion anyhow... but at load it becomes a fair bit for the knee to deal with and you're at risk of injury. You also want the lower back straight and chest out and eyes looking upward.
