BOSU Ball Bunk

Most of you have seen this going on in your gym way too often than you should.

A trainer has their client squatting away on a BOSU ball or some other unstable device. Of course, the client is using a ridiculously light weight, and they no doubt, have skinny legs. Unless that client is a circus performer, the trainer is obviously going about this the wrong way, as research from Norway concludes.

Researchers from Sogn og Fjordane University College (Sogndal, Norway) had male subjects with about 5 years of weight-training experience (including the squat) do squats either on the floor, or on three different unstable surfaces:

a power board, a BOSU ball, or a balance cone. They measured their force output (strength), as well as the muscle activity of the subjects' vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and rectus femoris (three of the major quadriceps muscles); biceps femoris (major hamstring muscle); rectus abdominis and external obliques (midsection muscles); soleus (deep calf muscle); and erector spinae (lower/mid back muscles) during each of the four different variations of the squat.

They reported in a 2013 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that the subjects had the highest strength when they squatted with their feet on the stable floor.

The power board led to an almost 10% reduction in their strength, the BOSU ball reduced their strength by 20%, and the balance cone reduced strength by 25%. When they squatted with their feet on the floor they also had significantly higher muscle activity of the three major quadriceps muscles measured and the erector spinae muscle compared to the unstable surfaces.

Jim's take-home point:

I am pretty sure that I do not have to explain much about this one, as you likely already knew all of this. However, as this research study, and several before it show, squatting with both feet on the floor and not using an unstable device is definitely the best way to go for building bigger, stronger legs. After all, the squat is already one of the most functional exercises you can perform, and it is also one of, if not THE best exercises for building leg strength and muscle mass, as well as core strength.

The only equipment you really need for squats is a power rack or squat rack, a good Olympic bar and a lot of 45-pound plates. Save the unstable devices for the circus performers, or the "know-it-all" trainers who think that they need to train all of their clients like circus performers.

Reference:

Saeterbakken, A. H., et al. Muscle force output and electromyographic activity in squats with various unstable surfaces. J Strength Cond Res. 27(1):130-136, 2013.

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