Exercise & Fitness

Squats and Deadlifts Are Not Useless — The Evidence for Strength Training Transfer

In this episode of What the Fitness, Layne Norton refutes Naudi Aguilar's claim that squats and deadlifts are ineffective for athletic performance. Norton argues that demanding arbitrarily long studies for traditional lifts while providing zero evidence for alternative cable-based movements is intellectually dishonest. He cites multiple meta-analyses demonstrating that resistance training improves strength, jumping, sprinting, agility, and sport-specific performance in athletes. A randomized trial showed 10 weeks of deadlift training improved rapid torque production and vertical jump height. Critically, strength training is associated with dramatically lower injury rates — one meta-analysis found it reduced sports injuries to less than one-third of control rates. Norton concludes that squats and deadlifts are effective tools, not mandatory dogma, and that exercise selection should be guided by anatomy, goals, and evidence — not aesthetic bias.