Why Can't Everyone Do the 'Asian Squat'?
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
I read this yesterday - “Every joint in our body has synovial fluid in it. This is the oil in our body that provides nutrition to the cartilage. Two things are required to produce that fluid: movement and compression. So if a joint doesn’t go through its full range—if the hips and knees never go past 90 degrees—the body says ‘I’m not being used’ and starts to degenerate and stops the production of synovial fluid.”
https://quartzy.qz.com/1121077/to-solve-problems-caused-by-s...
You don't need to squat to have your knees go past 90 degrees. This would only be an issue for people that are literally bed-ridden, for everyone else our joints move plenty while walking, sitting down and lying in bed at night. I'm sure stretching is good but you're making it sound like not squatting will lead to your joints degenerating.
I believe it will. Specifically, not squatting (or otherwise flexing it fully) will cause a person to lose the full range of motion in their ankles.
Of course, you may not care. You may have no NEED to flex your ankles past a certain point. But you ARE losing flexibility, just as you will lose the ability to do splits if you don't practice them regularly.
What I found was that while I can do a squat in, e.g., gym shorts, I simply can not do them with my jeans: the jeans constrain my movement substantially. And, the other thing I found, is that a bit of fat on the belly inhibits it as well.
I can't speak for everyone, but jeans and a bit of fat on the belly is sort of stereotypically "normal American" - and that can help explain it to me. Curious what sports scientists have to say here.
Look at the low stance of sumo wrestlers - belly fat doesn't prevent them, it's all in the hip and ankle mobility.
Apparently you used to get people wearing cut-off jeans shorts while squatting in the gym, because the tension provides an extra impetus out of the bottom of the movement. A bit like a weightlifting singlet I guess. I've never seen it in person though.
Some jeans (or other tight-fitting, inflexible pants) with particular cuts might, though.
At home I can squat for about 30 seconds or so before it starts to get uncomfortable. I can do it, but haven't built up the endurance as we never use those muscles!
Also, there is no good reason to squat in an office. I'm thinking of bolting a Gameboy to the floor so you have to squat to play Tetris.
But I recently discovered that they now make stretch denim, with spandex in the knit.
It sounds like an energy drink, but Lee Extreme Motion jeans look normal but feel like running tights. And they look great, perhaps better than normal jeans because they fit better. Levi 541 and stretch 514 are good too, but have half the spandex content of the Lee jeans.
Because squatting isn't 'common' for many people, it is experienced as more uncomfortable than it really is (even when it's done right - where there's no permanent tension from balance on your toes, for example).
Another example would be sitting cross-legged (or whatever that one leg over the other thing is called) as a man. I find that I and many guys I know naturally feel comfortable doing this, but we're taught from a young age that it's 'gay', so we learn not to do it.
I've noticed that people with autism spectrum disorder often have really odd ways of standing or sitting, and one particular thing I've noticed is that this often includes squatting, sitting cross-legged / yoga-style, or sitting on the couch with your legs folded up close to your body. In my case, these are things I often consciously avoid doing when other people are around, because it's perceived as odd or childish (or at least I think it is).
It would make sense that people with asd might just not care about or know these things, and do what's naturally comfortable/efficient.
Yes, it's pretty uncommon seeing people in public do it (sometimes on the floor or on ledges), but there are not many opportunities.
As a relatively big guy, I absolutely envy some of my smaller colleagues (yeah, mostly women) who can sit cross-legged in their office chairs - I'd absolutely do it, but I'm just too big, and just crossing one leg under the other often leads to numbness after a while.
I can confirm that the former is considered effeminate by some in the UK. The latter perhaps childish.
There is a third - sitting in a chair with just your right ankle/calf (rather than the entire leg) resting on your left knee. I'm in the US and sit like this often, and see other guys sitting like that often as well. For me, and I would imagine most other males due to the male anatomy, it's just far more comfortable than having the other leg fully crossed. I have a feeling that this "anatomy issue" is why it's very uncommon to see males sitting that way, but seen very commonly in females, and as a result that's why it's considered effeminate when you see the rare male sitting that way.
That’s weird, because no one has ever mentioned anything of the sort to me. Were they particularly small-c conservative?
I'm working on unloaded squats now. I can get down comfortably with my heels on the ground. But, my back isn't great, it rounds.
Whereas I can easily get off the ground cross legged, as I've been doing that motion sonce childhood. Squatting, I only tried a few years ago.
I trained in Olympic weightlifting for a bit (non-competitively) and this is how they started inflexible people and noobs in general, and as someone who's taught many to squat, I've never seen it done as smoothly and have adopted this method of teaching.
It should be the first thing anyone learns IMHO. It teaches flexibility, balance, a great range of motion, and to your point it feels really amazing. You almost never see anyone at the gym doing it though. Its definitely way underrated. My squat, vertical jump, and single leg strength went way up doing this. Not to mention it teaches great form for cleans and snatches.
I've seen my fair share of folks pick up Olympic lifting. While many eventually "get" it, the overhead squat does not force good form. People lean forward, or pick up their heels. After shoulders, hips, and ankles eventually gain flexibility, then, yeah, the overhead squat ensures good form because you can't support much weight on the bar otherwise. If you can overhead squat a solid amount of weight, you must have good form. A kind of survivorship bias :)
For me, I have flexibility issues. I've been lifting from years now. I can "Asian squat" now and I can back squat well over 300lbs, but I can only overhead squat 125lbs once, and then I'm tore up for days.
If you've ever spent a couple evenings trying to teach someone proper back squat form, you may know the struggles involved. In my experience a quick lesson on overhead squats speeds this process up greatly. And just to be clear, I'm not advocating anyone try weighted overhead squats, I just thought I'd share what I felt was a great intro/supplement into this "Asian" squatting.
Also, 125 is a solid overhead squat!
Just to be clear I wasn't intending my comment above to be used as a stepping stone for weighted overhead squats. I just find that keeping a bar overhead forces proper shoulder, spine and hip posture that enables one to squat properly down the road. For some, it causes that "aha" moment when it comes to squatting properly.
⇒ it is harder for people with relatively long legs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872302/#!po=27..., section 7.1 (SES = socioeconomic status)
”The table provides only a few studies, of which there are dozens. What is important to note is that regardless of the specific leg measure taken, longer LL is associated with better environments, better nutrition, higher SES, and better general health, overall.”
⇒ people in richer nations, on average, have longer legs.
Combining the two, it seems logical more people have problems doing this in richer nations.
That paper also mentions other factors, though, in particular that people in warmer climates have longer legs. That seems an argument against that. Asia is cold in places, but in general, it’s quite hot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-8gsWZqDBM
In complete seriousness, anyone can do this. Honest. It is something anyone can learn with even a bare minimum of practice. And despite the joking nature of the video I linked, it is quite accurate in that once you know how, it is quite a comfortable position to hold for whatever length of time you feel like.
When I started my knees and feet twisted outward as I went down. I couldn't go down all the way without pain.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/08/05/undo-the-damage-of...
I believe squatting toilets aren't so common anymore in developed asian countries.
I only noticed the difference when my western wife pointed it out. In the west people barely ever take up this position.
You should try it, there's something very comfy about being all scrunched up. If you can't balance, try doing it in the corner of a sofa or with some other support.
https://www.google.com/search?q=slav+squat&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS5...
Which, while probably also being technically incorrect, does make the slightly more correct observation that it isn't something to do with "asian" countries and cultures specifically, but there seems to be some correlation between finding the position difficult/impossible, and living in western Europe/the anglosphere...
Having long tibia and short femurs help getting the angle right, but that's really only important for olympic weightlifting (smaller angles to change => faster transitions between the pull and the catch).
tl; dr - most of us westerners are fat and lazy and could do the 3rd world squat if we didn't prefer chairs.
That's faulty logic. Toddlers' bones and cartilage aren't fully developed and as a result their skeletal system is more pliable. They have more bones than an adult (270 vs. 206 per wikipedia) with areas of cartilage in between that allow for flexibility which diminishes when the maturing bones fuse in place.
That was funny :)
Before that I don't think I could have done this, heck I don't think I could have squatted 95lbs. These days I can hold a squat like that nearly permanently, plus lots of other things you wouldn't expect from strength training like it's much easier for me to fall and than prevent myself from hitting the ground by re-balancing myself if I skip on ice or something like that.
Build might mess up the physics a bit, but I'd guess 99.99% of humans in good physical condition can do this.
MAN... 7.75 is big?
My head is enormous. I never knew.
Anybody know where I can buy a hat?
(For context, my left low back and my right heel both have lower range of motion from injuries. Presumably that can be improved.)
Update: I have a preliminary answer to my own question: squat more. I just read more hacker news while squatting, and the front of my ankles quickly became tired.
Range of motion can be improved with training, but everyone has a limit. Where that limit is, depends on the person. If you practice every day for 6 months, then you can probably safely say that you've hit your limit.
I grew up where the Eastern toilet was the only available choice. Now, having lived in the west for over a decade, I struggle to squat on eastern toilets, often fall backwards!
Also, if your injuries involve tendons, ligaments or cartilage, you can feed those tissues with gelatine. You can buy plain gelatine and add hot water, stir vigorously and add a little apple juice for flavor and to cool it to drinking temperature. Consume rapidly before the goo starts solidifying in the cup.
I did this daily for a year or two to help heal old injuries. My impairment improved substantially and was never so bad again.
A friend had a daughter recently and it always surprised me to see her squat casually by herself. It's a very natural motion for human beings
It's a very natural and stable position to be in. Yesterday, I saw my almost one year old, who cannot walk, just falling into the squat position.