Why stop wearing high heels when you can squat…..

So ladies (and those males who keep asking why), if you’ve been wearing shoes and sitting in chairs your entire life, there is a strong chance that your body cannot squat correctly (right now) in a way that doesn’t create excessive pressure or pain. Which is why squat prep exercises are needed and more important than jumping straight into the squat itself. Do not underestimate the amount of time you need to do the Calf Stretch. If you’ve been wearing normal shoes for, say, 3 decades or more, you will need to do the calf stretch for at least 27 years. Each day Every day ! You need to stretch your calves twenty-seven years a day. The point I’m making is ‘you’re probably not stretching them enough.’

When it comes to squatting, the tighter the calves, the more keeping your heels down while squatting is a challenge. Not-really-permanent, but-taking-a-loooooooong-time-to-undo tendon changes in response to positive-heeled shoes means that your calf muscles are always causing your ankle to lift (plantar flex) pushing your toes into the floor, adding extra stress to your knees and not using your Glute muscles (bum muscles) properly.

All squat lovers should first be lovers of the Calf Stretch.

But, this stretch only gets one chunk of the muscles knocking you back, so, you should also do this other calf stretch too (note the bent knee):

Add a pelvis-untucking lunge. A pelvic tuck basically means your hips / pelvis is not in its natural position, it is either tilted backwards or (more likely) tilted forward. This can facilitate the lengthening of the front leg’s hamstring — in the way it would need to lengthen during an un-tucked squat — only here, you can practice unloaded and one leg at a time. In this lunge’s case, you’re trying to line up the pelvis with the front thigh. Also, try to have the front shin verticle.

We want to recruit the glute muscles to work during the squat, trying to line up the rest of our lower body is important. To get a squat to move from the front of the body (think quads) to the back (think glutes) we can manipulate the shin position. The more vertical the shin (that’s the knee joint stacked over the ankle joint) and the more untucked the pelvis, the more glutes you’ll use. The more the knees are in front of the ankle and the more tucked the pelvis, the less glutes you’ll use.
A vertically positioned shin is impossible to jump straight into. It takes joint mobility untinged by modern living AND the strength that you would have had, had you had that mobility and moved at more natural quantities. Babies are probably the only individuals who can squat easily as the have very little tight or inflexible muscles. (watch one and see how easily they squat and how all the joints are lined up)
An easy way to get more glute activated in your squat is to hold onto something and use that to help you get deeper into the squat. Stand holding a door handle until your arms are extended; then, move your knees back, until they’re aligned with your ankles, which should help untuck your pelvis.

Initially you will be doing a lot of work with your arms, but this is supportive as your backside gets strong enough to hold you here with muscular force. And, the good news is, it’s still very beneficial, even with the arms working. In this picture we have the heel raised (placing a ½ foam roller under the heels) to assist with the squat.

There are many ways to approach improved squatting; you can also start with vertical shins and see how far you can go down before the knees have to move. THAT POINT is where you currently are strength and mobility wise. You can work from the bottom, squatting with forward knees and trying to untuck while you’re down; and you can work from the top — only going down as far as you are strong enough to support. Most people will find the range of motion of their ‘glute squat’ to be fairly small. It will improve over time, especially if you’re working on changing the flexibility and strength of your lower body muscles and your posture in general. One of the reasons why it is advised to try get up and move around for 5 minutes every hour isn’t just to give the eyes a rest from the pc screen.

Do you need to do 200 squats a day? No. In fact, if you’re currently doing zero, it’s better to do only a few squats (and a lot of squat-prep stretching.) It’s the mobility and flexibility that will help you position your hips and pelvis so that your glutes are working while you’re walking around doing other stuff. If you’re only working your muscles for that 20-60 minutes a day, it’s not enough. If you have a desk job (or go to the bathroom a lot!) think about how you stand up and sit down – correct squat technique anyone??

What part of the squat is valuable, The Whole Thing. The down part. The up part. And the part in the middle. Gluteal action is primarily used on the way up. However, lingering in a squat helps the muscles and involved joints change their tension patterns. Should I ever avoid squatting? Possibly if either post-pelvic floor surgery or when you’re realllllllly pregnant you will be advised to not squat. The problem here is not the exercise it is when we don’t have the strength to do something, we’ll often create momentum to try complete a movement.

Most people don’t know when they have exceeded the boundaries of their strength. Major joint displacements (i.e. poor movement such as the knee needing to go way forward during the squat) are a sure sign that your glutes aren’t strong enough to get you up. Investing in guided sessions with people who really understand loads and alignment is also beneficial, as these people will design a specific progression with steps from preparation to full squat as needed.

What if I’m pregnant and my stomach it too big to squat with? Yes, you can widen your knees. But, that doesn’t automatically mean that you have to turn the feet out. Turning the feet out is a way to take the calf tension out of the equation. (Which is why everyone can squat better when they turn out.) If you check out your arch when you squat with feet turned out, you’re likely to see that you’re actually rotating your shank, typically losing the arch in the foot.

Which means your knee isn’t hinging like you think it is. Turnout is just a way to bypass the work to be done in the lower leg. And, since you’re going to squat, you might as well work on foot and knee health too. Get your movement assessed first, then put a plan in place to prepare your body to be able to move correctly throughout the movement: the benefits of squatting are enough reason to be able to complete the exercise.