The Squat

We will start our instructional series with the squat. The squat is the most fundamental of all of the functional movements. The ability to continue to squat throughout life correlates highly to quality of life. As children we have a naturally perfect squat. Watch any toddler pick something up off of the floor and you will see a model of hip and hamstring flexibility leading to a perfect squat. As we get older and spend more and more time in a supported, seated, position, which you are probably in right now, our muscles no longer need the length and flexibility to reach the bottom of an anatomically correct squat. So they tighten up. In response to that, instead of using exercises and stretches(which take time and effort)to loosen our muscles and achieve full range of motion and strong core muscles, we come up with things like chairs that lift us out of our seat, or higher toilets, or handles everywhere so we can use less of the musculature and further decrease our range of motion. Do you see the pattern?


I have students come to me all the time with doctors notes that say so and so has strained their knee and cannot squat for 2 weeks. My standard response is, "Did you ask your Dr. how to take a dump? Because without squatting, that is going to be messy." I am, of course, joking but it hammers home the point that without the ability to squat many of lifes' daily functions become much more difficult. The other common knock against squatting is that it is bad for the knees. I often hear I can't squat, I have bad knees. My response, "You have bad knees, because you don't squat." I will concede that squatting incorrectly could eventually be harmful to the knees, but a correctly performed squat does not hurt the knee it actually makes the whole knee complex stronger. Lets take a look at how to perform a perfect squat.


Start with the feet. They should be a little bit wider than your shoulders with your feet turned out slightly. From here you let instinct take over. I use a toilet analogy a lot because everyone can relate. Imagine you are about to sit on the toilet you will naturally start the downward motion by internally rotating the pelvis, and flexing the hips. This is mumbo jumbo for pushing your hips back. Here is a picture of the starting position.

And here is the internal rotation and flexion of the hip. This is the correct way to start a squat. Note that there is little to no movement of the knees.

For whatever reason, if you are not thinking about the toilet and I ask you to squat most people will start the squat by bending the knees forward. Like this


Once you have gotten the hang of starting the squat with the hips and not the knees. Continue to push your hips back and down. As you are doing this you want to check to be sure that your knees are tracking out over top of your toes and not caving in inside of them.


The above picture is a good start but is still an immature squat. Many people get stuck at this point because of flexibility issues. A mature squat is one where the crease of the hip is below the crease of the knee as in the picture below.



A few points of performance to look for when performing the squat.
Hips back and down
weight on your heels the whole time
Stomach and lower back tight

Get up off of your duff right now and see if you can perform a perfect squat.

Movement and Decripitude

I heard an interesting stat on the radio about today's baby boomers. They are being forced into assisted living at a much younger age than the generation before them. This has been directly related to loss of mobility brought on by muscular atrophy, and limited joint range of motion, from their sedentary lifestyle. One of the best things you can do, no matter your age is to learn how to move correctly. Moving correctly will allow you to take your body through a full range of motion without the risk of injury.

Dawn and I see movement dysfunction in every person we have worked with. Whats even more scary is that we are both trying to work through our own issues with proper movement. It is not easy to change a lifetime of improper movement. It takes time and a lot of work, but if you want a strong, healthy back and functioning hips we are here to help. Our next few posts will focus on three functional strength movements; the squat, the press, and the dead lift. We will also introduce you to supporting flexibility movements to help you perform these three movements correctly. A foundation of solid form in these three movements will help ensure a strong back and mobile hips. This foundation combined with your nutritional knowledge will have you living a long and functional life.

Stay Tuned

God Speed Jason

As most of you know my older brother Jason recently completed Army Basic Training and Infantry School. At 37 years old, that is no small feat.

Before Jason left for Basic, he worked out with us a couple of times to try to get ready to compete with the 18 year olds he would be training with. He rarely finished a workout and scaled down the ones that he did, lying to himself about how he was going to workout next week or later on that day. He worked out with us this past weekend and while he admitted that CrossFit workouts are much harder than basic training, he never quit. He finished every rep of every workout no matter how hard it was. That ability to be honest with himself and keep going, speaks volumes about who he has become in a short time and what the future holds for him.

He left this morning to Viseck Germany for training and, as his orders stand now, on to Afghanistan some time this spring. It was weird saying goodbye last night knowing that it might be a few years before I will see him again. There were a few things I wanted to tell him, but just didn't so I figured I would use the courage that hiding behind a blog provides to say now what I wanted to last night(I used to use beer for that!). First of all Thanks! Thanks for leading the way as we grew up. Mom gave us a lot of freedom to explore and figure out the world on our own. It was a lot easier for me to take the chances I did, knowing that I always had you looking out for me. Thanks for not giving up. We all knew what a good person you are, but bad decisions have a way of compounding on themselves and making life turn in ways we never thought they would. It takes courage to face your mistakes and take the long, hard road to fix them and that is what you are doing. It makes me proud to tell people that my brother is heading off to defend my family and our country. Dawn, Kylie, Will, and I pray for you every night and they know that their uncle is a soldier and a hero.

What I wanted to say before you left Jason, was thank you and I am proud of you. Good Luck and come home safe,
Paul

Lucy's Fitness Friday Recap

The turn out was less than we would have hoped for Friday night at Lucy's but we had a great time! The staff was incredible and jumped right in on our workout. Looking at the above pics from the bottom up you can see the progression of Lisa's squat. Dawn was able to help her move her hips correctly so that she could reach the bottom of the squat and avoid any future knee and back pain. This will also transition into better mobility in the future. We enjoy getting the chance to help people move correctly and look forward to more Fitness Friday's this spring.