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Fit & Well
Fit & Well
Health
Maddy Biddulph

Why bodyweight squats are the “wrong exercise” for runners to build stronger quads, and what a run coach says to do instead

Woman in sportswear performs a squat in an underground parking lot.

Anyone who wants to run regularly without injury (especially knee injuries), or improve their performance, could benefit from stronger quads. It stands to reason that squats will help you achieve this, but a physical therapist and certified running coach has taken to Instagram to say there are more effective exercises to use instead.

Richelle Weeks posted that unweighted squats, or even squats with a light dumbbell, aren’t challenging enough to help runners get stronger quads.

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