I have to disagree.
Do people who shouldn't deadlift / squat exist? Sure. But these people are avery small subset of the population. And they probably know it before they'd even consider posting for advice. But if you are an adult male who can walk, run, air squat, jump or swim, you can probably do the barbell lifts.
Part of the beauty of a linear progression or a well designed program is that it forces adaptation in very moderate, calculated increments. You can start with the empty bar and go up from there. A well designed program will never have you do something you are not adapted to. It will never have you squat 400lb when you can barely squat 225lb. It will never have you squat 225lb when you can barely squat 135lb. The adaptation is always programed so that, by the time a trainee is squatting 225lb, he then jumps to 230lb. Such a minute difference will not be enough to injure him, but it will be enough to disrupt homeostasis just a bit and drive adaptation an inch further.
Do squats and deadlifts "stress" the spine? Well, yes; that's sort of the point. But we are not just dry skeletons loading heavy things on our spines waiting for them to shatter like porcelain; strength training doesn't only strengthen the muscles: ligaments, tendons and bones are living tissue as well, and they will adapt to the training. A strong back is a very desirable thing to have in life, and nothing will give you that like squats and deadlifts.
I'm pretty sure that the bad rap squats and deadlifts have are due to the idiocy displayed by many gymgoers. They lift with their ego, moving weights that are beyond their capacity, and with terrible form to boot. There's a dude at my gym who loads up the bar with 365lb, and then 1/8th squats it. That's an injury waiting to happen. The guy could probably not squat 185lb to depth. He hasn't earned the 365lb. He is not adapted to it. But for someone who has trained to get to a legit 405lb squat, a 365lb squat is nothing. It's barely more than a warmup. Another guy used to do shrugs with 405lb. He was a showoff. He probably couldn't have deadlifted 275lb on a good day. That's what imprudence looks like. That's why people get injured. I'd be willing to bet that 99% of injuries related to the lifts have to do with bad form performed over a very short range of motion with very heavy weights. In other words: idiots. "Look brah! I can do a 1/5th of an inch leg press with 1400lb u mirin?...*crack*" <-- Hernia.
The current fitness industry tends to foster a "special snowflake" kind of attitude. I hate that. Most people are not special. Most people need to get off their asses and start training instead of just "working out". When I started squatting about 2 years ago, my knees hurt really bad the next day (and it was just the empty bar). That's what 30 years of being sedentary do to you; my joints were probably bubble gum. I went to an orthopedist and he told me I had bad knees, and that I should never ever squat ever again in my life. I disregarded his advice. I didn't train through the pain, but I waited 3 weeks for the pain to subside, and worked on my mobility, form and studied the mechanics of the squat and knee anatomy extensively. I refused to believe I had bad knees. 2 years later I'm squatting in the mid 300s and my knees haven't hurt since that first session. In fact it's the first time in my life I haven't had nagging knee aches.
The reason we recommend SS is because it works; because it's safe; because it's well designed, well thought out and it's accompanied by a book that contains the most complete, well written, well researched, well documented source of information on barbell lifts in probably the whole history of sports. We are not recommending people to go out and load 315lb on a bar and try to squat it while yelling at them for being such pussies; everyone should start light and work on form and go up from there; gradually, diligently, intelligently. An empty bar is not going to injure anyone who wasn't going to get injured just from picking up grocery bags anyway.
Also thanks for not plastering my pictures everywhere!
