A Three-Step Return to Lifting, Training Variables and the Squat

The approach starts with education: reframe the risks of lifting against the risks of deconditioning, teach people to scale their own training and explain that some movements need tolerance built first. Sonia's three steps are to identify baselines for spinal movements and the target lifts, expose the person to the hardest variation they tolerate, and build capacity with progressive overload, retesting along the way. Basic exercises can sit in warm-ups or accessories rather than replacing training. The five variables are intensity, including load placement, volume, range of motion, speed and the movement itself. She argues that technique has no proven link to injury and varies widely even among elite powerlifters. For the squat she compares front, high-bar and low-bar positions, suggests unilateral loading and box or target squats, and explains that butt wink is a physiological movement not linked to injury. She warns against forcing a wide, externally rotated stance and notes that slower is not always easier.