Here’s the situation:
People all over the world don’t bend their knees and straight their legs much. Most people don’t sit in a squat to relieve their bowels and cannot imagine doing so. And this alone gets the ball/bowels rolling in the wrong direction.
If you cannot easily squat and lift something that is light off the ground, you’re headed for trouble. If you dare not clean up a mess on the floor from a deep bent-knee position, then you better be doing something to fix this weakness, otherwise you’ll become one of those who wonders why you hurt your back picking a paperclip off the floor.
It’s tragic and true. When you stop squatting, your legs deteriorate. You lose strength and flexibility and the skill to easily do simple tasks.
Last week I put up a photo on social media of myself sitting in a squat with my hands around the culm of a giant bamboo I’m growing in my yard. Someone asked, “Who rakes the leaves?” I replied that no one rakes the leaves. I pick them up by hand, one squat at a time.
There are days when hundreds of leaves are on the ground around the bamboo trees. It would be easy to grab a rake to reel them in. But the leaves give me an opportunity to get my daily squats in while staying in touch with nature.
Sometimes I am in a squat for a few minutes as I twist and turn and duckwalk to latch onto leaves. Then I bounce off the ground, toss the leaves I have into the pit and go back to work. It’s a primitive way to get the job done, but the alternative doesn’t give me legs that kick ass and take names at any age.
There’s an old saying: “Use it or lose it.” When it comes to bending your knees and squatting, this is most definitely spot on.
If you get started immediately, if you get started before you reach the point of no return, you increase your chances of being able to squat with full mobility and strength for the rest of your life – or damn close. But if you ignore bodyweight squats, then all bets are off.
You’ll find many squatting options in Combat Conditioning, as well as my advanced program, Gama Fitness.
And for those who are truly “game,” there is even more variety for members of my elite inner circle.
Come get some. Then come get some more.
Best,
Matt Furey
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