Well, that’s awkward! Having opted for an attention-grabbing title, I now find myself trying to combine two not-obviously-connected ideas: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the humble body squat. Here goes!

Abraham Maslow was a renowned humanistic psychologist. He believed that people tend to become more psychologically mature over time, provided the environment supports that. In contrast, squats are compound exercises. They are known to help people become more physically strong over time, provided they are done correctly.

So, there’s the common thread: development. One is focused on the psychological, the other on the physical. Let me start with the latter.

The despair of the injured

I’m a very keen runner. Unfortunately…nay, tragically, I’ve been injured for the past 3 months. My strained right calf muscle was an overuse injury I sustained during lockdown. The result of doing too much of good thing and overplaying my COVID coping strategy. Most runners hate being injured and I’m no different. In the space of a few days, I went from being on top of my game, to walking with a limp. So, it was off to the physio for me.

After 12 weeks of diligently following my rehab program, I’m now able to do some jogging. Nothing intense, just turning my legs over. And, because injuries are a waste of time if you don’t learn from them, I’ve recommitted to a few strength exercises I should never have stopped doing.

It was squat I had to do…(ha ha)

One of these exercises is the squat. Squats are great for running because they work all the major muscle groups simultaneously (e.g., glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves). Bulgarian split squats are even better. In this variation, the squats are done with a split stance, with the back foot elevated on a bench. Whilst squatting with one leg makes it harder to balance and control the movement, that’s what makes it beneficial.

Like all resistance exercises, it’s important to do the right exercise, and do the exercise right. Otherwise, you could pick up an injury.

Last week, annoyingly, I did just that! As best I can work out, it was the Bulgarians. Not the right exercise? Possibly. Not done right? Maybe. It’s hard to say. There were no signs of trouble during my Saturday session, just some knee pain the next day. Nothing major, just something to keep an eye on. Whilst this is all a bit of a nuisance, it did get me thinking about a few things. Like task execution, learning and growth.

Progressive overload, adaptation, and recovery

Studying exercise science over the last 3½ years has been a revelation to me in many ways. An area I’ve enjoyed learning about is the physical training process. Whilst the process is easy enough to understand (and most people seem to), it’s harder to work with in practice.

Progressive overload, adaptation and recovery are the technical terms used to describe the gradual increase in exercise workload (progressive overload) needed to stimulate strength, speed, or other desired physical gains (adaptations), separated by short periods inactivity (recovery). As the ancient Greek, Milo of Croton knew very well, a good fitness program = the right exercises + the right progressions + the right rest. When that happens people will generally end up being able to run faster, jump higher, throw further, or lift more than they could before they started.

Naturally, the “rightness” of a program depends on a person’s starting point. We’re all different.

The hierarchy of squats

It might interest you to know there are many ways to do squats. Whilst they work the same muscle groups, and seek similar adaptations, they offer different levels of challenge. Take, for example, a bilateral squat to a box. For a novice, with underdeveloped leg strength, this is a safe option because it uses both legs, whilst the box controls the depth of the squat and (if needed) can provide support.

If you can imagine a Maslovian-inspired hierarchy of squats, you’d find this one towards the bottom. A lower-level exercise that improves muscle strength and makes it possible to progress to more advanced, higher-level exercises (like a goblet squat, which is performed holding a dumbbell).

This is akin to what Maslow referred to as a “deficiency need”, which must be satisfied before other growth can occur. And if you looked towards the top of this squatting hierarchy, what would you find?

Without doubt you’d find a unilateral squat off a box. This is a very difficult movement pattern that is performed on one-leg, while standing on a box. As such, it is unsafe for anyone without sufficient leg strength, or the technical competence that comes from progressing through lower-level exercises. As you can probably tell, exercise hierarchies exist because injury prevention and client safety is important to exercise scientists, and they help with decision-making about how people can progress (if they have gained strength) or regress (if they have lost strength).

From the gym to the office

These training principles are not limited to life in the gym. They also have relevance to the development of psychosocial attributes needed for success in organisations and business.

Take the development of collaboration skills as an example. When a leader or employee adopts a professional goal like this, it is often supported by a line manager, executive coach, or HR person. One of the challenges they face in providing this support is working out how to be most useful.

This is not easy to do. Collaboration involves a complex array of skills and abilities, like being able to focus on shared goals, seeing mutual benefit, listening actively, being patient, displaying curiosity towards others, and taking multiple perspectives.

Not unlike an exercise scientist, the manager, coach, or HR person need to work out where the areas of strength and weakness exist.

This is where exercise scientists have an advantage. When they assess clients, they do it by gathering personal history, assessing movement competency, and observing clients while they train. This positions them well to make judgements about client needs, and how they’re best to proceed.

This is harder to do in organisational settings, where developmental needs are often identified using minimal personal history, unreliable assessment tools, and indirect performance feedback.

As such, it can be difficult to assess what the leader or employee needs to start working on and, the (metaphorical) question becomes, what type of squatting pattern would be best for them?

Selecting the best squatting patterns at work

This last question is an important one. For many professional people, development like this takes place in real time, amid real situations, and with real consequences if things don’t go well.

But when a person’s real level of need is unknown, efforts to support them would backfire badly. For example, whilst it might seem helpful to introduce a leader to a set of collaboration tools, their ability to use those tools could collapse if they listen poorly and become impatient in conflict situations.

Extending the metaphor, giving this leader collaboration tools is the psychosocial equivalent of asking them to do unilateral squats off-a-box. It is too difficult for them because they’ve yet to develop the underlying strength needed for true collaboration. So, they need to be doing something akin to bilateral squats, less complex activities that can help them become stronger active listeners, and better at managing challenging emotions.

But, shouldn’t we be encouraging people to aim high and surprise themselves? In general terms I think we should. However there are two downsides to encouraging people to do things that lack the underlying strength for.

First, there’s a risk of injury. If the attempt to collaborate comes unstuck, it might have interpersonal or commercial consequences. Second, there's a risk to motivation. If it doesn’t go well, the person may feel collaboration is too hard, and they lose energy for change.

Back to Maslow

The mere mention of motivation brings us back to Maslow and the idea – enshrined in his hierarchy of needs – that we are motivated by the lowest unsatisfied level of need. Whilst I’m not sure my fusion of Maslow and squats has been entirely successful (only you can know), it’s sure helped me work out what to do with my Bulgarians.

Once my knee is pain-free, I’ll start up again with squats. But not the same ones. I’ll drop down in the hierarchy to bilateral squats. Make sure my technique is good, and my strength adequate. Then I’ll add some instability (with a Bosu ball), and later some weight. After several weeks of that, I’ll bring back the Bulgarians and be in a better position (than I was) to get the most from them.

But, there’s no great hurry…just so long as I’m back running again!

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