Description
Most squat progression charts don’t make sense. The problem is they confuse exercise variation with progression.
A different squat variation isn’t automatically a progression.
For example, a 65-lb goblet squat isn’t a regression from a 45-lb back squat. Yet many squat progression charts place goblet squats below barbell squats without ever mentioning the load being used.
That’s because these charts are usually organized around exercise categories, not real-world training practice.
The lower body doesn’t know whether the load is being held in a goblet position, front rack position, or back position. It responds primarily to the amount of force it must produce.
In other words, progression is mainly driven by loading demands, not by exercise variation itself.
There’s another problem.
Most squat progression charts stay entirely within bilateral squat variations because it looks neat and organized on paper:
Bodyweight Squat → Goblet Squat → Front Squat → Back Squat
But that’s exercise classification, not progression.
A true exercise progression should do at least one of two things:
1️⃣ Increase loading demands.
2️⃣ Build the prerequisite abilities needed for the next exercise.
If it doesn’t do either of those things, it’s just a variation.
That’s why my squat progression doesn’t simply move through different bilateral squat variations.
It’s organized around progressively increasing lower-body loading demands and the prerequisite abilities needed to handle them.
Each exercise:
• Increases relative loading demands (primarily by increasing single-leg contribution)
• Builds the strength, balance, stability, and coordination needed for the next exercise
In other words, each exercise prepares you for the next one.
That’s what a real progression is.
Not a collection of exercises that fit neatly into the same category to look good on a chart. It’s a strategic sequence of exercises that progressively increase demands while systematically building the abilities required to handle them.