The squat is one of the most essential movements for everyday life. We squat to get out of bed, out of our chairs, and even off the toilet. With proper squat technique we can keep our hips, knees, and back functioning well into our senior years.
The bottom of the squat is our natural sitting position. Most communities around the world sit in the bottom of a squat rather than chairs. Meals, weddings, social gatherings, etc. Only in industrialized countries do we find the need for chairs, couches, etc. These seats do not allow for proper range of motion for the knees and hips which contributes to the pain most people experience.
There is a technique to squatting, but most adults have lost the neurological pathways to squat properly. If you’ve ever watched a toddler squat you will notice a few things:
- Their heels stay on the ground
- Their back is straight and chest is up
- Their knees are inline with their toes
- Their hips can go lower than their knees
We see most lose the ability to squat properly around 1st grade, which is when we start to sit for 8+ hours a day.
Learning to squat can be simple. Start with a target to sit to, keep lowering the target until you can squat with good technique.
How to squat
- Start with your feet shoulder width apart, chest up, and shoulders back
- Next, hips move back and down to initiate the squat
- Knees track inline with toes
- Keep your chest up and heels down
- Hips go below the knees
Squatting is really that simple, however its not that easy for most.
Luckily, we can help🙂 You can click here to start!