How to Build a Stronger Back Squat in Program Design
A big back squat is not only about leg strength. It can raise athletic potential, make daily movement feel easier, and give clients a kind of confidence that shows up far outside the gym.
That was the main message from OPEX coaches Brandon Gallagher and Daniel Persson. Their approach was simple, clear, and useful for coaches, first respect the person in front of you, then build the squat in a way that fits their training age, movement skill, and goals.
Why the back squat matters far beyond the squat rack
"There's not many better feelings than hitting a big squat."
That line captures part of the appeal. A heavy squat session has a way of making hard work feel tangible. You know what you lifted. You know what it took. You also know, almost right away, whether the work is building something real.
But the coaches made a bigger point than that. The back squat helps build potential across the whole strength-speed spectrum. In simple terms, if you get stronger, you raise your ceiling for speed and force. That matters for sprinters, field sport athletes, fighters, Olympic lifters, and anyone else who needs to create force quickly.
For endurance athletes, the benefit looks different but still matters. When your squat strength goes up, each leg drive on the bike or each push into the ground takes a smaller percentage of your total strength. That lowers the relative effort of the task. In other words, stronger legs can make repeat effort feel cheaper.
Then there's the piece many people overlook, confidence.
Confidence from getting strong is one of the biggest arguments for strength work.
That applies to athletes and general population clients alike. One athlete may want more speed and more power. Another client may simply want to stop feeling nervous walking down the stairs. Both benefit from strength.
The coaches also pointed out that the squat is one of the clearest ways to express strength through the body. It asks a lot from the hips, spine, shoulders, feet, and trunk. When someone learns to squat well and squat strong, the lift becomes a sign that many other things are working together.
For more coaching ideas from the presenters, you can follow Brandon Gallagher on Instagram and Daniel Persson on Instagram.
The squat pattern is a skill before it becomes a max lift
One of the strongest ideas from this session was that the squat is not only a strength exercise, it's also a skill.
That matters because many people jump straight to load. They want a bigger back squat, so they assume the answer is more plates. Sometimes it is. Often, it isn't. First, the athlete or client has to show that they can organize the movement.
The coaches framed squats, deadlifts, and similar lifts as expressions of function. If the body can move well, control positions, and handle load in the right places, the squat becomes possible. If not, the lift shows you what still needs work.
That's why the squat pattern is very important. It teaches someone how to move through space, how to brace, how to control the pelvis and spine, and how to create force from the ground up.
The process usually moves through a few stages:
Motor control, where the client learns the movement pattern.
Muscular endurance, where they can repeat that pattern under more fatigue.
Max contraction, where they can express real strength.
A coach has to know where the client sits on that path. Training age matters more than biological age here. A beginner may be young, coordinated, and motivated, but still have no real ability to express max contraction in a squat. Their limit is often skill before strength.
That changes programming. For a newer lifter, using percentages can be misleading because their "max" may reflect shaky mechanics, poor confidence, or lack of experience under load. An 80 percent set for a new trainee does not feel the same as 80 percent for an experienced powerlifter.
So before chasing numbers, the coach needs to answer a basic question, can this person perform the movement well enough to earn the next step?
How to prioritize the back squat inside a session
Start by getting warm, not tired
The coaches kept the warm-up simple and practical. The goal is not to crush the client before the main lift. The goal is to raise body temperature, check movement quality, and prepare the positions needed for the squat.
Daniel likes starting with 5 to 10 minutes of cyclical work, such as a bike, rower, or SkiErg. His cue was easy to remember, move until you feel warm enough that you could take off your sweatshirt. It is not precise on paper, but it works well in real life because it matches the purpose of the warm-up.
After that, the warm-up can move into drills that restore positions and improve awareness. Brandon mentioned working from the ground up, starting with the feet, then the hips, then the trunk, and then the upper body. He also made a great point that many lifters forget shoulder prep. A back squat is still an upper-body position. If someone cannot get into a solid bar position, the squat becomes harder before it even begins.
A sample warm-up might include:
5 to 10 minutes of cyclical work
Thoracic flow to move through spinal positions
Heel walks and toe walks
RDLs and hip airplanes
Band pull-aparts
Air squats
Side planks or carries for trunk activation
One small coaching detail stood out here, write warm-up pieces for quality when needed. That phrase changes behavior. It tells the client to slow down, pay attention, and move well instead of racing through reps.
The coaches also liked using the same equipment early when possible. In a busy gym, that helps clients settle into the space and stay focused on the main lift instead of wandering around looking for tools.
Put speed work first, then squat
Once the warm-up is done, the order of the session matters.
If the back squat is the top priority, it should show up early. In a normal strength session with no speed-based squatting work, that means putting it right after the warm-up. Fatigue only makes it harder to express quality and strength, so the lift should happen while the client is fresh.
However, if the athlete has a more speed-dependent movement in the session, that may come first. Daniel used Olympic lifting as the example. A snatch or clean relies on speed and timing, so those lifts may need to happen before the back squat. In that case, the squat still matters, but it is no longer the first expression of the day.
This ties directly into a common athlete fear, the idea that strength work makes people slow.
The coaches pushed back on that hard. Fighters, soccer players, and basketball players often worry that more strength training will ruin their speed or make them stiff. Yet the opposite is often true. Strength is one of the main drivers behind speed, stability, and force production.
If you want to move fast, you need enough strength to create that speed in the first place.
That does not mean every athlete should train like a powerlifter. It means they need enough strength to support the demands of their sport. A soccer player may need to add some mass and strength without losing quickness. A fighter may need to stop thinking of strength training as bodybuilding. A tall basketball player may need a squat variation that fits long femurs and a tricky lever system.
The point is not to force the same squat on everybody. The point is to place the right version of the squat in the right part of the session, with a reason behind it.
How to progress the squat for different training ages
Build complexity one step at a time
A client does not earn the back squat because they want it. They earn it because the pattern is ready for it.
That was one of the clearest coaching themes in the session. If someone struggles with an unloaded squat, throwing a barbell on their back is not a smart next step. It skips the work that makes later strength possible.
The progression can stay simple:
ProgressionWhat it helps withWhen it makes senseBox squat or assisted squatTeaches basic squat shape and confidenceWhen even an air squat is hardAir squatBuilds pattern awareness and controlEarly motor learningCounterbalance squatImproves depth and balanceWhen the client needs help finding positionGoblet squatAdds load while keeping the torso more uprightGreat bridge to barbell squatsFront squat variationBuilds more trunk demand and loaded controlFor clients ready for more complexityBack squatFull expression of the pattern under loadWhen the client can own the movement
Brandon explained why counterbalance work helps so much. Holding a plate or kettlebell in front gives the client leverage against gravity. That often lets them reach better depth and feel the pattern more clearly.
Each step also adds new demands. An air squat may expose hip and knee issues. A goblet squat adds trunk control under load. A back squat adds the need for a strong shoulder shelf, better thoracic positioning, and more organized bracing.
So progression is not only about adding weight. It is also about adding layers.
Use rep ranges to auto-regulate load
When it comes to loading the back squat, Daniel likes rep ranges because they build auto-regulation into the program.
A simple example is 2 to 4 reps for 5 sets. That gives the client a clear target without locking them into one exact number. If they can hit 4 strong reps, the load may be too light and can go up. If they cannot reach 2, it is too heavy and should come down.
That same idea works for accessories too. If the program says 8 to 10 reps, the goal is not to casually choose 8 every time. The client should work toward the top of the range, then increase load once they own it.
This does two useful things. First, it teaches decision-making. Second, it helps clients stop depending on the coach for every load choice. The rep range already gives them the answer if they understand the intent.
That last part matters. The coaches both pointed out that if clients keep asking what weight to use, the issue may not be the client. It may be a communication gap. Good design still needs clear explanation.
For newer lifters, this approach often works better than percentages because their output changes with confidence, skill, and day-to-day comfort in the movement. Rep ranges leave room for growth while still keeping the work focused.
Progressive overload still drives the bus here. Over time, the client needs more challenge, more load, more reps, better execution, or some mix of the three. The method is simple, but the coach has to match it to the person.
When the back squat is not enough on its own
The coaches made a smart distinction here. Sometimes the back squat is the main lift, but not the best way to fully train the legs.
That is especially true when skill, fear, mobility limits, or torso stability cap performance before the legs are truly challenged. In those cases, you can keep practicing the back squat while pairing it with a lower-skill movement that lets the client express more leg strength.
A good example is back squat first, then leg press second.
The back squat asks the client to control the weight with their own body. The leg press removes many of those limiting factors. The setup supports the body, so the client can focus more directly on driving through the legs. That can be useful when someone is still learning the squat, still nervous under the bar, or simply unable to load the pattern heavily yet.
The same idea can work with a sled. If the client leaves some reps in the tank during the squat, a sled can add more leg work without demanding the same level of skill. That makes it a strong option for clients coming back from injury, or for those who still hesitate when the bar gets heavy.
The coaches also discussed dropping complexity inside a set or sequence. For example, a client might start with back squats, then move to goblet squats, then finish with a dumbbell front squat. That is similar to a drop set, except instead of only lowering weight, you also lower skill.
This is why context matters so much. A partial squat is not bad. A box squat is not bad. A leg press is not bad. Each one can be the right call when matched to the right client, goal, and stage of development.
The wrong move is tying your identity to one exercise and forcing everyone into it.
Making movement cost less in real life
One of the best ideas in the whole discussion was the phrase Sam Smith often uses, make movement cost less.
That gets to the heart of why strength matters for normal life. If each stair step takes a high percentage of your available strength, stairs feel hard. If each pedal stroke on a bike takes too much effort, endurance work falls apart sooner. When strength improves, the same task costs less.
That is why some people do not need more cardio first. They need more strength first.
The coaches used a simple example. Someone may get out of breath on the stairs and assume they need more conditioning. Sometimes the better answer is that they need stronger legs. Once that changes, daily tasks become easier because every contraction takes less out of them.
There is also a useful myth to clear up here. Strength training does not automatically turn someone into a bulky bodybuilder. Brandon made that point with fighters, and Daniel made it with smaller lifters who are still extremely strong. Strength and size overlap, but they are not the same thing.
For many clients, the biggest win is not a number on the bar. It is the feeling that life is less threatening. Daniel shared a story about a client who said she was no longer afraid to walk down the stairs. That is not a small result. That is the kind of result that changes how someone moves through the day.
Build the back squat with patience and intent
A stronger back squat starts with a simple idea, meet the client where they are, then build from there. That means respecting training age, teaching the pattern, placing the lift in the right part of the session, and using progressions that make sense for the individual.
If you want a deeper look at the coaching system behind this approach, check out the CoachRx free trial for program design software and the OPEX Method Mentorship details. The coaches also noted that the next part of this series covers accessories, common faults, and fixes, which is the natural next step once the main lift is in place.
The best takeaway is simple, get people stronger in a way they can own. When that happens, performance improves, movement gets easier, and confidence tends to rise with it.
Connect with the coaches
Brandon Gallagher:Brandon’s Instagram (@bgperform_)
Daniel Persson:Daniel’s Instagram (@danielcapersson)
Join us live on Tuesdays mornings 11:30am EST on the OPEX YouTube Channel
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