The pin squat or Anderson squat can take your training to the next level, helping you reach new, previously unthought of, heights.
This devastatingly effective exercise allows you to handle enormous weight loads beyond your best squat.
In turn, this will help you handle heavier weight loads in the traditional back squat as well as improve your athletic prowess by taking your vertical jump and explosive power to a whole new level.
In fact, the Anderson squat or pin squat is what enabled me to squat 5 plates for the very first time, just after programming it into my workouts for 4 weeks.
But this incredible exercise does follow a law of diminishing marginal returns as it is taxing on the Central Nervous System (CNS) and connective tissue, and ideally, the Anderson Squat or Pin Squat should only really be deployed when you’re stuck in a rut or a bad plateau.
1. Why You Should do The Anderson Squat/Pin Squat: Increase Your Squat Numbers
The Anderson Squat/Pin Squat will help you raise your squat total if you’re plateauing.
But this will require careful programming and it can’t be done for too long — as I’ve already explained, it can be taxing on the CNS and connective tissue because you’re handling supramaximal loads, far above what you can train with normally.
When I first squatted 220kg, I could Anderson Squat or Pin Squat around 230kg halfway. Within a month, I was up to 270kg and it enabled my first five-plate squat to fly up.
Don’t forget, strength is a skill, and this exercise will help you build up that skill.
Moreover, the Anderson or Pin Squat will help develop the following:
- Confidence
- Stability
- Execution
- Psychological Strength
2. Improve Your Athleticism
The Anderson Squat or Pin Squat is a superior leg exercise to the traditional back squat as an athletic movement.
There… I said it.
The reason for this is twofold: first, it eliminates the stretch-reflex cycle and forces you to abruptly switch on the motor units required to complete the lift, and two, the range of motion used more closely resembles a wider range of athletic movements such as jumping or sprinting.
3. Build More Muscle in Your Legs
Now, while the Anderson squat/Pin Squat alone might not build up your legs as effectively as the traditional back squat, by strengthening your legs, you will be able to handle heavier loads more comfortably when you revert back to squatting.
By squatting heavier loads, you will afford your legs more training stimulus than before.
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