Dr. Layne Norton

Anybody who can lift heavy, I'll tell you.

If you can lift heavy and you don't have pain, it's fun.

I haven't come across one person yet who doesn't like loading up a big squat for them, hitting it, and doesn't get excited.

Yeah.

It's going to be similar.

It's hard to know because, one, it depends on how we define functional, right?

Like how we test it.

If we're talking about preventing falls, and that's a great point that you bring up because a lot of people get so focused on bone density, bones, and we don't want to break bones.

Well, if they didn't fall in the first place – and by the way, the best thing you can do for bone density is lift weights.

Like anything you can do nutritionally pales in comparison as to what lifting weights does for bone density.

It has a massive effect on bone density.

So –

What I would say is probably all things being equal, the free weight will probably be better.

I'm not aware of any data that actually assesses this.

But if we have a 65-year-old woman who's never put a barbell on her back before, that's a big ask.

Squats feel really weird if you've never done it before.

Seeing a well-executed squat now, like after having gone through it so much, and I'm sure you too, you realize, wow, that's actually a very technical lift.

Like that is a thing of beauty to do that well.

And so I think a lot of times if I, if I really wanted to get somebody doing that, I'm probably going to start with them like doing like a goblet squat or something like that to a box or, you know, something that they can execute with relative confidence to start.

Because if I just put them on a barbell squat, it's going to feel weird.