Deep squatting as sitting page

[Drlove]

Hey,

At the moment, if I attempt to deep squat (as in the asian sit squat), I get a little sore, and my back rounds.
I understand I need to do mobility work and stretching. What I wanted to ask was, would it be beneficial to try and deep squat, trying to keep my back straight and hold this position for as long as possible?, would it increase my flexibility and mobility overtime?

Thanks in advance.

[Catrin]

Are your heels elevated when you do this? I've found that, for now, I MUST elevate my heels to do a proper deep squat of any kind. They don't have to be elevated much - a fraction of an inch will do - but they must be elevated.

My trainer has given me a corrective where I reach down and grab my toes, then I go in as deep a squat as possible. Then, still holding onto my toes, I very slowly raise up until my legs are straight - I count to five while raising my rear end. Then, not letting go of my toes, I do it again, 10 times total. This has/is really helping my flexibility and the depth of my squats. For whatever reason this is proving more helpful to me than simply holding a deep squat - that I do that as well.

[jakey]

hey, if there's no weight on your back, rounding during a squat is not an issue.

[Owly]

What Jakey said. You don't have to keep a totally straight back if you don't have a load on it. Do you always keep a straight back when you sit any other way? There's a difference between the squat as an exercise and the "Asian squat" for sitting/resting. When I do a resting squat, my back is rounder (not hunched, but not fully straight) and my weight is more distributed through the foot than for a weightlifting squat, where back position matters for safety and stability and the heel drive is important.

You want to move away from lifting the heel for a resting squat, though. You can't stay in a crouch like that for nearly as long as you can stay in the Asian squat with practice. When I've travelled in places like India, people spend much more time squatting than we do, and their feet are always flat unless they are leaning forward for something.

If you can't stay down in the bottom with flat feet for very long, then do it as long as is comfortable, then take a break, try it again, etc. Like anything else, you have to train your body to do it comfortably, and a lot of North Americans are very inflexible in the lower body because we never squat, so it takes work to be able to do it properly and comfortably.

[Drlove]

Are your heels elevated when you do this? I've found that, for now, I MUST elevate my heels to do a proper deep squat of any kind. They don't have to be elevated much - a fraction of an inch will do - but they must be elevated.

My trainer has given me a corrective where I reach down and grab my toes, then I go in as deep a squat as possible. Then, still holding onto my toes, I very slowly raise up until my legs are straight - I count to five while raising my rear end. Then, not letting go of my toes, I do it again, 10 times total. This has/is really helping my flexibility and the depth of my squats. For whatever reason this is proving more helpful to me than simply holding a deep squat - that I do that as well.

Thanks!, might try that one next time I want to squat.

hey, if there's no weight on your back, rounding during a squat is not an issue.

Good to know, I thought it might be a little problematic.

What Jakey said. You don't have to keep a totally straight back if you don't have a load on it. Do you always keep a straight back when you sit any other way? There's a difference between the squat as an exercise and the "Asian squat" for sitting/resting. When I do a resting squat, my back is rounder (not hunched, but not fully straight) and my weight is more distributed through the foot than for a weightlifting squat, where back position matters for safety and stability and the heel drive is important.

You want to move away from lifting the heel for a resting squat, though. You can't stay in a crouch like that for nearly as long as you can stay in the Asian squat with practice. When I've travelled in places like India, people spend much more time squatting than we do, and their feet are always flat unless they are leaning forward for something.

If you can't stay down in the bottom with flat feet for very long, then do it as long as is comfortable, then take a break, try it again, etc. Like anything else, you have to train your body to do it comfortably, and a lot of North Americans are very inflexible in the lower body because we never squat, so it takes work to be able to do it properly and comfortably.

Thanks, that also answers my question regarding the practice of the sitting squat.