Squats?

What’s the hype about this basic move and why is it a staple? Read on.

We learn and practice the squat so much in our classes. Not only is it one of our primary movement patterns  it is a giant bang for buck exercise. It teaches us how to flex our hips, knees and ankles all while controlling the spine. It also strengthens all the muscles around those joints. 

That and the deadlift are the two fundamental lower body movements that we need to get really really comfortable with before we can progress to complex movements and patterns. 

We don’t look at the squat exercise as the end goal. We look at the squat exercise as a tool to restore function to a fundamental human movement we have use since our creation to:

Work 

Rest 

Birth 

And if you’ve ever been to a public bathroom outside of the US, you’ll see the squat is needed to attend to nature..haha!

So like all exercise, it is just the tool we use to get better at a movement, not the end goal. 

How to squat:

This one is tricky, because for many years we are told to only squat certain ways. But the reality is we must find what feels right for our unique anatomies and learn to squat that way. While the nuances of your unique squat are not going to be able to be discussed in a short blog, there are some basics that we look at. The two videos below is how we teach it at Uptown Movement. 

Bottom line:

Don’t let anyone tell you can’t squat. That’s tantamount to saying you can’t move. Learn what works for you presently and then build your range of motion and control over months, year and decades.