One More for the ATG Lore

In weightlifting, “ATG” is short for “ass to grass"

Indiana University just went 16-0 and won the college football championship.

This is widely regarded as the greatest team turnaround in the history of college football.

IU football is one of the losingest programs ever, and just two years ago they were 3-9.

However, this was NOT just a two-year project!

The IU team and culture were built in no small part by undervalued transfers from the much smaller James Madison University, where IU head coach Curt Cignetti was beforehand.

Among that culture brought over from JMU was strength coach Derek Owings, who has used ATG squats with control, with optional heel elevation, this entire time!

(The picture below on the left uses a ramp for heel elevation, and the picture on the right uses Olympic weightlifting shoes for heel elevation. If you’ve grown up in a chair-sitting society, you’ll likely feel best in a deep squat with some degree of heel elevation - and through a balanced regimen, many will wind up feeling great with or without it.)

In weightlifting, “ATG” is short for “ass to grass,” implying a full range of motion (and naturally resulting in the knees going over the toes).

Coach Owings regularly hashtags “ATG” for this reason.

A misunderstanding - without evidence - from the 1970s caused American universities to force belief in “no knee over toes” and “no full range of motion” for millions of students.

There are now abundant studies confirming that mistake, but few textbooks have been updated. There is no system to inform former students when newer, more accurate information is found.

When I was in college just 10 years ago, the exercise science textbooks I was reading explicitly forbade full squats.

Improving the ability of my knees through full range of motion was the number one difference that took me from failed high school player to D1 basketball scholarship - yet I still wasn’t going to be allowed to do the very exercises that got me there!

Long story short, I declined continuing college basketball on full scholarship in order to become a trainer, and I called my gym “ATG.” (“Athletic Truth Group” was the best business name I could come up with to fit that acronym, and while it sounds cheesy to me, we’ve done a darn good job of living up to that name.)

I had dozens of high school athletes earn college scholarships only to then be prevented from doing deep squats by their college strength coaches.

I’ll never forget a player visiting home from college and telling me how the strength coach berated him in front of the team simply for squatting deep. He asked me what he should say to the strength coach, and I didn’t know. I couldn’t help that athlete and I felt terrible for him.

I know this is still continuing at many colleges, because I was recently discussing this with an ATG knee success story who had to train privately in college because the strength coach “didn’t allow ATG.”

That’s why this article matters.

Now, to be clear: This is not a war on any other range of motion! I believe in having a high level of ability through your whole range.

I’m also a fan of regressions, and I’m not a fan of working through pain. For ATG squats, heel elevation and counterbalance consistently reduce pain and help athletes start making progress.

Above all, I’m not a fan of forcing young people to blindly believe and do things.

Truth, fairness and freedom matter a great deal to me, and the next time a college football player asks me what to say to a “no ATG” strength coach, I can at least send the player this article.

I’ll also remind such a player that their greatest purpose and happiness in sport may come from eventually helping others by becoming a coach and treating others as they wish they’d been treated.

Conclusion

If you’re a football player, you should not be forced to squat ATG-style, but you sure shouldn’t be prevented from it. If you are prevented from it, you should at least be aware that leaders of the greatest college football turnaround in history did train their full range of motion with incredible focus and consistency.

Yours in Solutions,

Ben

ATG Online Coaching (Affordable access to all my programs, with form coaching so you eventually get each movement as I would help you get it in-person.)

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