The Most Important Movement to Give an Athlete

If you have one gift for your athletes or students, give them a squat!

When I went through university the movement police were still trying to enforce no knees over toes. For this reason I don’t know anyone who I went through uni with that was able to rest in a squat position like a China man, or a man from just about any place, at just about any time in history apart from in western culture in the 21st century.

Before we work to the highest standard of squat, twice body weight front squat for 1 rep, we should first be able to rest in a squat.

Bodyweight Squat

Why rest squat?

1. Ankle, knee, hip, back health

2. Digestive wellness

3. It will help you get into better positions in lifting and also in sports / life / dance etc.

4. Your back will stop hurting so much

5. You’re born to do it, just do it and know that you’re operating according to the grand plan

For many people to be able to squat you will just need to squat. If your version of the squat looks nothing like your 3 year old niece or grandson then you might need to elevate your heels a little. A great tip that I received recently at an Ido Portal event was to squat on a broom stick or dowel rod to elevate the heels a little. This will help most people maintain their balance and a more upright trunk position. While most people think this means the ankles are to blame for all squat mobility issues this is far from the truth.

With mobile hips and lower back a full squat is possible even with very stiff ankles.

“I still think it’s my ankles..” I can hear you saying. Well lets isolate the ankle with a knee to wall test. Stand with your toes a few centimetres away from the wall, keep your heel on the ground and push the knee to the wall. Depending on tibia length and your sport 8-12cm is usually a healthy range, surgery has destroyed many ankles but most people can get to this score or greater. If you’re feeling pain at the front of the ankle then you’re less likely to get more range than if the restriction is in the calf or achilles.

Squat, either on a stick or with heels slightly elevated initially or with nothing.

The idea is to incorporate this position into daily life so that it becomes always accessible without a warm-up or need for bikram heat lamps.

5 ways to squat more:

1. Squatty potty: People are full of shit, it’s partly because we don’t squat to defecate. Squatting to defecate could be a double win. If you don’t have a hole in the ground asian-style toilet then a $60 squatty potty could work (other people put phone books or similar under their feet or stand on the seat but neither of these are great options in my eyes.)

2. Play with kids: Kids can be a cover just about anything crazy you want to do. People don’t look twice when they see you’re attempting to amuse a baby.

3. Eat / Drink: Trying to take chair time out of your life systematically and replacing some of it with squat time will help you rebuild your body in the image it was created. Squat and have your coffee / tea and cake for once.

4. Working or waiting + computer time: On a phone call, waiting for someone / thing use your squat position to rest from standing. Set-up your laptop on a chair or bench and squat in front of it to work. Stand-up desks can be great, I use one but unless you’re the queens guard you don’t want to be standing on one spot all day. Circulation is life. Every position you use your body is adapting to 24 hours / day. You may only last 1-2 mins in this position at first. You might not even get any work done there because it’s uncomfortable but take it as a marker. One day you will squat to work for 5-10 mins and then lay down on the floor in another position.

5. Rest between sets: “Rest” is used loosely here because if you’re working hard it’s going to allow limited recovery sitting in a squat between sets. If you want to test this out in the style of Odelia Goldschmidt do wall runs, 30 seconds on, 45 seconds in the squat position, 10 rounds. Let me know if you make it, I didn’t.

Checkout the Ido Portal squat document for some more stuff you can do in the squat and the 30 minute challenge. If you don’t know Ido Portal you should. I flew to see him the day after winning the 2013 grand final to intern with him and his team for 5 days. I’ve now spent almost 2 weeks with him attending various events and workshops. Popularising the resting squat position is one

Coming Soon - PART 2:

When resting in the squat isn’t an option / doesn’t work. For some NRL players the tension is immense. A chisel will not do, only a sledge hammer will do. We’ll work through those progressions and start talking strength in part 2.

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