If you are not a powerlifter, stop training legs like one. Actually, stop training everything like one. That is the argument. It took me years to realize that I didn't need to keep on lifting more and more on squats, since my legs didn't change after anyway. lbs would go up, muscles would stay pretty much the same. And the rest of my body paid the bill, less volume on arms, core, chest... Due to the focus on maintaining strong squat numbers. The problem is that seriousness, exhaustion, and usefulness are not the same thing.
For most non-powerlifters, heavy barbell squats are a bad trade. They load the lower back hard, create a lot of system-wide fatigue, and make the rest of your week orbit one lift that sucks the will to live out of you. They tell themselves they are building athletic legs or general strength. Usually they are borrowing a powerlifting hierarchy because it makes you feel great to have your numbers go up.
TLDR
That is why I would rather make Bulgarian split squats the anchor for most ordinary lifters. Each leg has to work independently, imbalances are easy to spot, the legs get trained in a more comprehensive way, including quads, hamstrings and glute. The glutes get real work done, these squats won't let you sit, walk or lay down the next day. They will get you broken down. You can push the legs hard without turning the whole session into a lower-back event. Here's a video for the lazy ones, but honestly just search for "Bulgarian split squats". It's honestly not even too hard. I'd suggest going deeper than the guy in the video though.
It also forces honesty. In a bilateral squat, one side can hide behind the other for a long time, if your internal/external rotation is fucked on one side, you will shift and not even notice.. In split squats, the body tells on itself fast. Balance problems show up. Hip stability problems show up. The weak leg reveals itself.. For people who want legs that look good, work well, and do not drag a chain of compensation behind them, that is a better starting point than chasing a barbell number for the clout. I can bet most of you have hip shift and don't even notice.
And I do not mean fake-functional nonsense with baby weights and wobble-board theater. If you're a man, at least 50 lbs dumbells in each hand. Often, even with wrist straps, don't let the grip slow down your leg training.
Add to this a a hinge exercise (Romanian Deadlift), some hamstring work (there's not that many options, just curl or nordic), some lateral work for the adductors and add it all together with some balance and control. Some single-leg hip thrusts if you feel ambitious, and maybe pistol progressions if you can own them. You can do ALL those things if you don't do squats! If you don't have to rest 5-10 min in between squat series because someone told you "real men squat"
Look, barbell squats are not useless. They make sense for powerlifters, for some athletes, and for people who truly want that specific strength expression badly enough to organize recovery around it. Fine, that is ok. I am talking about the much larger population that is not judged on squat performance and still centers lower-body training on a lift that often costs more than it returns.
A lot of barbell squats are ego with lower-back fatigue attached. People confuse feeling destroyed with training well, and they confuse numbers with effectiveness.The better question is much simpler. What gives me stronger, more balanced, better-looking legs at the lowest long-term cost? If that is the question, Bulgarian split squats move a lot closer to the center and barbell squats move a lot closer to optional.