As it was pointed out to me earlier this week, I haven't posted anything for a very long while. My excuse was that I wanted the flyers for the upcoming HKC and Athletic Development Workshops to stay at the top of the page, but if you haven't seen them by now and don't have the dates on your calander will seeing them one more time change anything?
So here is my question today: If the squat is as simple as it looks (triple flexion) then 1) why do so many people struggle to squat correctly and 2)why do so many instructors struggle to fix it / teach it?
My opinion -which in my opinion is correct- is that the squat is much more complicated than it looks. Two questions that come to my mind when I see someone that can't squat is can they / how do they touch their toes and can they / how do they roll over? Another question - how do we originally learn to squat (with no instructions mind you)? From the ground up, but only after we have rolled over, crawled, and pulled up. Miss one of those steps and squatting won't happen. But yet as adults, when we come across someone that can't squat how do we typically try to fix it? MORE SQUAT's or a different type of squat. Here is an experiment - hit your hand with a hammer. Remember how it feels and then drop that same hammer from 12" onto your hand. Feel any different? Probably not. If someone can't squat they can't squat. Period, it doesn't matter what variation they do. Squatting more won't fix a bad squat, it will just make them more efficient.
Back to how we learn initially - from the ground up. Roll them, then once they have that down forward bend them (unloaded RDL) emphasizing pushing the hips back. If they still have problems, time for an FMS.
Also, try this work out: 8 minutes and 30 seconds of turkish get ups. Under control and using perfect form, attempt as many as you can with a light/moderate load. I told 2 kids I work with that I do 32 get ups every morning in 8 1/2 minutes instead of drinking coffee. They didn't buy it , but I finally convinced them.
I decided to try it this AM for my get up practice. Turns out, they might have been right - but I wasn't wrong, just not motivated enough.
