Your number one New Year's Resolution should be learning how to squat with grace and power, to squat with thoughtless ease, to squat as well as the average eighteen month old child.
Read on and learn why.
...data show that squats are excellent for building strength, power and mobility. Full squats can help counteract many of the chronic musculo-skeletal problems we face today, such as weak glutes, hunched back, weak torso, etc.
If a person can perform a full depth squat with their own bodyweight, they’re probably a fairly fit person.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-the-squat
I like to think of the squat as your ticket away from the nursing home. In other words, a person that can perform ten full depth squats will not ever be so immobile or incapable that they will be unable to care for themselves. Squatting demands and develops the capacity for healthy knees, hips and back, as well as the ability to use them together to generate force. As the Precision Nutrition article points out, about the only muscle not engaged in a simple "air squat" is the eyebrows - although you can get some eyebrow action going if you desire to do so, and high rep squatting will likely get enough of a pain induced scowl that you can take the eyebrows off the list of ignored muscles.
That said, some squats are better than others. Conceptually, learn to see the squat as a hip movement vice a leg or knee movement. Start the movement by moving your hips back - as if you have an armload of groceries and you need to close the car door with your backside. There are many details involved in learning to squat - and typing is not a great way to communicate them.
If you are new to squatting, start with a chair or box, perhaps around 12" tall - a $15 plastic electrical junction box from a big box home improvement store works perfectly. Put a stack of books or pads on top until the surface is approximately 18" high. Sit on this "squat box".
-push your knees out
-raise your hands as high as you can reach
-VERY slowly, lean forward until your center of gravity is over your heels; then stand.
If you can do this from the 18" box, take an inch or so off, and repeat. Over time, you should develop the ability squat to full depth, glutes to heels.
When you can squat as effortlessly and deep as an 18 month old child, consider yourself an expert.
Teaching yourself, or someone else, to squat is not a "one and done" proposition. Watch videos from CrossFit.com, Elite FTS, and keep learning about squatting. This effort will be well rewarded because there's nothing else I know that has more potential to positively affect your physical capacity for work and movement than mastery of the squat - with the possible exception of the deadlift. (BTW, the above referenced link has a treasure trove of links to further your understanding and practice of the squat).
I squat to keep my knees healthy, and the left one in particular is significantly damaged. I squat to keep my back functional and strong - this has been an issue for me since I was 18. I squat to sustain proper hip function - and the squat's propensity for building hip function is, I believe, why the squat is so good for those with knee issues, because the squat can be used to learn how to use hip/hamstring levers vice the inferior levers of the quads, to significantly reduce knee stressors.
It is the commonest of common sense to use to body's largest levers and strongest muscles to move yourself - but most of the people I see every day have no idea how to do that and don't even know they are not doing it. This is one of the reasons why we live longer today but not better.
Your paleolithic ancestors "squatted like you read about." They were delivered to this earth by a squatting mother, squatted for life's other essential functions, and probably ate and rested in a squat. The squat was a ubiquitous element of human life - until we became neolithic, chair building, house living, inflexible and weak.
If you can't squat - you should consider yourself defective, disfunctional and unhealthy. This is not bad news, because for most of us, defective, disfunctional and unhealthy can be converted to functional and healthy with minutes per day devoted to learning and practicing the squat.
So assess yourself today, set a goal for squatting brilliance and let me know how you are doing through the year!
PS - I'm available for online coaching for the squat, call me!
Read on and learn why.
...data show that squats are excellent for building strength, power and mobility. Full squats can help counteract many of the chronic musculo-skeletal problems we face today, such as weak glutes, hunched back, weak torso, etc.
If a person can perform a full depth squat with their own bodyweight, they’re probably a fairly fit person.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-the-squat
I like to think of the squat as your ticket away from the nursing home. In other words, a person that can perform ten full depth squats will not ever be so immobile or incapable that they will be unable to care for themselves. Squatting demands and develops the capacity for healthy knees, hips and back, as well as the ability to use them together to generate force. As the Precision Nutrition article points out, about the only muscle not engaged in a simple "air squat" is the eyebrows - although you can get some eyebrow action going if you desire to do so, and high rep squatting will likely get enough of a pain induced scowl that you can take the eyebrows off the list of ignored muscles.
That said, some squats are better than others. Conceptually, learn to see the squat as a hip movement vice a leg or knee movement. Start the movement by moving your hips back - as if you have an armload of groceries and you need to close the car door with your backside. There are many details involved in learning to squat - and typing is not a great way to communicate them.
If you are new to squatting, start with a chair or box, perhaps around 12" tall - a $15 plastic electrical junction box from a big box home improvement store works perfectly. Put a stack of books or pads on top until the surface is approximately 18" high. Sit on this "squat box".
-push your knees out
-raise your hands as high as you can reach
-VERY slowly, lean forward until your center of gravity is over your heels; then stand.
If you can do this from the 18" box, take an inch or so off, and repeat. Over time, you should develop the ability squat to full depth, glutes to heels.
When you can squat as effortlessly and deep as an 18 month old child, consider yourself an expert.
Teaching yourself, or someone else, to squat is not a "one and done" proposition. Watch videos from CrossFit.com, Elite FTS, and keep learning about squatting. This effort will be well rewarded because there's nothing else I know that has more potential to positively affect your physical capacity for work and movement than mastery of the squat - with the possible exception of the deadlift. (BTW, the above referenced link has a treasure trove of links to further your understanding and practice of the squat).
I squat to keep my knees healthy, and the left one in particular is significantly damaged. I squat to keep my back functional and strong - this has been an issue for me since I was 18. I squat to sustain proper hip function - and the squat's propensity for building hip function is, I believe, why the squat is so good for those with knee issues, because the squat can be used to learn how to use hip/hamstring levers vice the inferior levers of the quads, to significantly reduce knee stressors.
It is the commonest of common sense to use to body's largest levers and strongest muscles to move yourself - but most of the people I see every day have no idea how to do that and don't even know they are not doing it. This is one of the reasons why we live longer today but not better.
Your paleolithic ancestors "squatted like you read about." They were delivered to this earth by a squatting mother, squatted for life's other essential functions, and probably ate and rested in a squat. The squat was a ubiquitous element of human life - until we became neolithic, chair building, house living, inflexible and weak.
If you can't squat - you should consider yourself defective, disfunctional and unhealthy. This is not bad news, because for most of us, defective, disfunctional and unhealthy can be converted to functional and healthy with minutes per day devoted to learning and practicing the squat.
So assess yourself today, set a goal for squatting brilliance and let me know how you are doing through the year!
PS - I'm available for online coaching for the squat, call me!
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