The Squat: King Of All Exercises - Part 1

‘If you ain’t got squat you ain’t got squat’ say's Gary Gray a leading Physical Therapist and considered the father of modern day thoughts on function.

‘First and foremost when it comes to squatting, if you can’t, you must!’ say's Paul Chek one of the leaders in Personal Training education
That’s pretty big talk, so why do we think the squat is the single most beneficial exercise known to humankind, and why do so many of the world’s elite personal trainers and strength trainers call the squat the ‘King of All Exercises’?

Function for life

The squat is one of the most fundamental human movement patterns. When we start training our bodies to function correctly for sporting excellence, rehabilitation from injury, for freedom of movement, injury prevention and wellbeing in day to day life, the squat is where we should start.

When we think about the squat, we generally think of the big guys down at the gym, or watching weightlifters at the Olympics. They have a bar over the back of their shoulders with lots of weights on it, bend their knees, flex their hips and ankles, ending in a position where the heels of their feet are almost touching their glutes.

The fact is though that we use squats every day – lifting, walking up and down the stairs, getting into and out of your car, sitting, standing up from being seated or lying, dancing, jumping, cycling, skiing, golfing and running all involve a partial squatting movement.

As you can see, if you can’t squat properly and with adequate strength, you’re in big trouble because at worst you won’t be able to perform this essential movement at all, and at best you’ll risk injury.
At the thin end of the wedge you’ll have to ask your other muscles and joints to compensate for that lack of proper squat movement, creating imbalances throughout your body and eventually leading to a minor or major injury.

So what is a squat?

A squat can be one or two legged. You’re performing a partial squat anytime you bend a knee (knee flexion), anytime you bend your upper body forwards (hip flexion), and anytime the angle between your foot and the front of your lower leg decreases (foot dorsiflexion). Generally you’ll do all three to some extent at the same time.

A squat can be performed with your body parts moving backwards or forwards (sagittal plane), to the side (frontal plane), or while twisting (transverse plane) – and it often involves all three!

A full squat in the classic sense is the one we’ve described above, where your feet are flat on the floor, the tops of your thighs touch your abdomen and your hamstrings rest against the back of your lower legs (calves).
You can see that squatting is fundamental to functional human movement.
Squatting and evolution

Before we had sofa’s at home, chairs at the office and seats in cars, we had the ground. We lived most of our lives there, eating, preparing food and cooking when we discovered how to make fire, harvesting food, working, socialising and going to the toilet (more on that later). Most of our tools and belongings lived on the ground too, so we spent most of our time there. The squat was essential to survival.

Anyone who has spent any time in Asia will see that the squat is alive and well in those countries of the world. In Western countries though, where we spend a great deal of time sitting, we hardly, if ever, squat anymore – it’s a great irony that in the modern West we now consider it an exercise.

That’s pretty bad, because it means an ill health epidemic: fatigue, poor digestion and elimination and the diseases that accompany it, obesity, spinal and postural imbalances among many others.

Squatting for weight loss & total body conditioning

We firmly believe that the full squat is the best single exercise you can perform to achieve weight loss and total body conditioning. Even when using just your own body weight or light to moderate weights, almost all of the muscles in your body will be activated.

As highly regarded health and fitness practitioner Paul Chek says:

‘Many respectable strength and conditioning experts feel that if they had to choose only one exercise to condition an athlete, the squat would provide the greatest overall benefit.
This is because the squat is a free body movement that requires use of every muscle in the body. Given enough load and/or intensity even small muscles in the face will contract.’
When pretty much every muscle in your body is getting a workout, a tremendous number of calories are burned. It also adds active tissue – muscle - all over your body, and as we know adding active tissue is essential to weight loss because muscle has a high energy requirement even when not working.

In short, it’s a fantastic exercise for anyone who wants to lose weight, tone up or just look and feel their best, it’s great for improved athletic and sporting performance, and as we’ll see it’s also amazing for overall health.
So why is the squat so good for digestion & elimination?

In Asian countries (at least outside of tourist hotels) you’ll rarely find a western style toilet. Instead you’ll find a toilet that is flat to the ground, with two foot spaces either side of a hole. Mostly these are made of porcelain but I’ve also seen many other variations (a single wooden plank over a huge pit being used by a whole village (not together) being the most interesting – you get a core stability and balance workout at the same time as great bowel function!).

The full squat compresses your lower abdomen with the right thigh pushing faeces uphill along the ascending colon and into the transverse colon, while your left thigh compresses the descending colon, eventually moving everything into your rectum.(1)

A full squat powerfully facilitates evacuation of the colon, helping to prevent constipation and toxic build-up in the bowels. This in turn also helps digestion and absorption of nutrients – when your intestinal system is backed up your stomach has to hold on to its contents longer than usual, meaning poor digestion as well as reflux and heartburn.(1)
The longer faeces are kept in your colon, the more they putrefy, creating a cess pool inside you. Of course there are a range of other measures needed for healthy bowel movements, such as a good intake of fibre and maintaining your good bacteria, but the squat is another weapon in the fight against foul faeces.

Squatting also helps to pump blood, and gives a good massage not only to your intestines but also to a number of other organs. It stimulates the movement of essential bodily fluids, helps nutrient absorption and facilitates removal of waste products and toxic substances in your body.

Squatting, overall health, relaxation and energy gain

The benefits of squatting go far beyond weight loss, conditioning, digestion and elimination. It’s also great for overall health, vitality, energy and spinal health.

The legendary Chi Gung master Mantak Chia writes:

‘One of the most wonderful Tan Tien Chi Kung exercises undoubtedly is squatting.

More than any other posture, squatting opens the lower lumbar vertebrae and thereby prevents hernia. It also activates the latent motor force of the pelvis, opens the groin, flexes the hip joints, induces downward pressure and release of waste, gases and toxins, and reactivates the colon. By gravity pull it provokes, it stirs the earth Chi current to move and bounce upward to the perineum, awakening the spinal fluids in the sacrum, and opening and elongating the spine. This action rebalances the vertebrae and eases the Chi current upward to the crown.

Additionally, the squatting posture massages the lungs and heart. The lower Tan Tien helps the heart by facilitating the Chi and blood flow.

Of particular importance is the role of squatting in lengthening the psoas, the muscles in the groin area that rotate the hip joint and flex the spine.
By relaxing the psoas, unity between the lower and upper parts of the body is promoted. A flexible psoas makes it possible for the Chi to flow freely upward, connecting the lower lumbar with the lower part of the groin.’(2)

Breathing squats can be used to relax your mind and build energy throughout your body, especially for those who have high stress lifestyles. Your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS – also known as the digestive or anabolic nervous system) regulates the ‘rest and relax’ activities of your body, in contrast to the ‘fight or flight’ response that the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) regulates.(1)

If you lead a high pressure lifestyle or just need to chill out, breathing squats are for you. They will help the PNS to calm your mind, re-balance your hormones and build positive energy throughout your body.

To perform a breathing squat, exhale fully on your way down, pausing briefly before inhaling on the way up into a standing position. Let your arms rest either by your sides or on your knees, your hands finishing close to your feet.

Just don’t try to make the movement too rigorous – remember, it’s a relaxation technique! Feel your breath move into and out of your body, counting the breaths.

We recommend doing as many as you can throughout the day when you have a quiet moment – try 30 to 100 per day if you can. You’ll soon feel calmer, more energised, flexible and less stressed.

Squatting is for everyone

Squatting is not only essential to human function, great for your digestion and elimination, and easy to perform anytime anywhere, it’s also an exercise that everyone can do and that is beneficial to everyone, whether you’re a full time homemaker, desk bound office worker, casual football player or Olympic athlete.

You’ll prime your body for everyday life, avoid injury, eliminate waste, relax your mind and body, develop muscle, say goodbye to muscular and skeletal imbalances and start to move more freely.

The squat really is the ‘King of All Exercises’ - as our favourite physical therapist Gary Gray says: ‘If you ain’t got squat you ain’t got squat’.

In Part 2 we’ll look at practical considerations when squatting as part of your workout - what makes a good squat, squatting technique, common muscular restrictions, and progressions if you’re currently unable to perform a full squat – all illustrated with photo’s so you can see for yourself how to integrate the squat into your workout and into your life.