Squat like a baby
Over the past three months you’ve been:
- Making time to get to know the body and different ways to open up muscle tissue
- Going over different types of stretching: static + dynamic
- Adding self-tissue release to your routine to take your mobility to the next level
This month we’re going to focus on your one thing….Squat like a baby
One of the most functional movements your body was designed for is the squat. You need to pick stuff up and YOU are going to do it with your legs, hips, and back. Don’t be that guy/girl who “throws their back out” picking up something with just their upper body. To help with being able to get in and use this position properly, we need to restore the flexibility you had as a child. So….
Your homework this month is to accumulate 10 minutes a day in a deep squat position.
For some of you this will be easy, for some…30 seconds will be brutal.
But probably for most of you, this will be uncomfortable; you may feel tightness in your ankles, hip flexors, inner thighs, and lower back. If this is challenging, I suggest holding onto something (pole, couch, table…whatever) to assist you getting into position. At first, 15-30 seconds may be a challenge. You can get into the squat position, hold for a little bit, and come out when it’s too uncomfortable, shake it out, stretch tight areas, rinse and repeat. Accumulate 10 minutes total daily. Do it while watching TV, talking on the phone, reading this newsletter, etc. Attack the areas that feel tight in this position with stretching/mobility tools to help you. (That’s the point of all this stuff, isn’t it?)
What’s a good Squat position:
We want to have our weight on our heels, knees tracking with the toes, feet just outside of shoulder-width apart, neutral spine and neck.
Opening up the hips and ankles in this position allow for greater range of motion in the squat, and improve what our bodies were designed for: Picking stuff up easily without pain.
When coming out of this position we want to develop good habits so bring your shins to perpendicular before coming out of the squat. Butt Back-Chest Tall
You knock down 30 days of 10 minutes and I can guarantee you will see and feel a change in your postures and body dynamics.
A healthy squat = a more functional body
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Comment and post about how your squats are progressing through the month
To Your Health,
Scott
Scott Isley
NSCA, NESTA CPT.
Courses in Diet and Exercise Physiology and Human Anatomy at UCLA
Scott has worked as a Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach for the past 10 years accumulating 8,000 hours helping clients get healthy. He currently runs his business out of Carlsbad, CA in San Diego. You can find out more by visiting:
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