The Squat 30/30 challenge are you up for it?

                         

So the challenge is to sit in the deep squat position for a total of 30 minutes every day for a period of 30 days. Obviously one should not just stop doing this after 30 days but by successfully completing this challenge you can be guaranteed to have better mobility, movement and posture.

The challenge can be done by anyone and to join the official 30/30 Squat Challenge by Ido Portal then you should go to the Facebook group and request to join. Once you have been accepted you can then discuss progress and any other similar issues inside the Facebook group.

The Rule of the 30/30 Squat Challenge

Rules of thumb:

1. No REST days during the 30 days.

2. Relaxed spine – no need to try to remain erect or with neutral spine. Its a RESTING position.

3. Width between the feet – around shoulder width apart but should be individualized and experimented with – aim for maximal depth and relaxation.

4. How much feet should be turned out or should they be facing forward? Don’t let anyone sell you the idea of ONE perfect position – this should be individualized and experimented with – aim for maximal depth and relaxation.

5. Knee pain? Hip pain? stand up and move around. Resume the squat and work in small short bursts of squatting throughout the day.

6. Footwear? Best – barefoot. Second best – minimal footwear.

7. Keep your heels on the floor if possible. If impossible, try a small heel support until you gain the proper mobility to squat flat foot on the ground.

8. True sign of good squatting? When you get tired from STANDING – you squat and not vise versa! True story!

9. How deep should you squat? There is only one answer – DEEPER.

So if you have not quite perfect the unassisted deep squat position then it is highly advisable that you use the above tips in order to help you reach that natural deep squat and it is very important that you achieve this before diving straight into the 30/30 Squat Challenge.

You will be surprised how quickly your body will respond to your daily practice of the squat. In a matter of weeks depending on what squat ability you are starting from you will find that you will be able to naturally put yourself in the deep squat position without losing balance and without considerable pain, however it is something that you must commit yourself to do daily especially if you are intent on conditioning yourself to take on the 30/30 Squat Challenge. Just remember practice make perfect and I guarantee with practice your body will respond and you will be able to perform an unassisted deep squat before long.

Once you have been able to comfortably find yourself in the deep squat position you should then put emphasis on holding the correct deep squat. You see when we are young children we are born with the ability to hold a correct posture since our bodies have not yet been tainted by the pitfalls of Western society. So what we should do is take a leaf out of our children’s book by aiming to achieve the flexibility, mobility and posture that they possess. Have a look at the video above to get an idea of correct deep squat form.

Once you have progressed your way to being able to comfortably sit in the deep squat position you will want to then put your focus further and more advanced deep squat training. Luckily for you the guru himself Ido Portal has put together a great Squat Routine 2.0 video that you can follow in order to progress your deep squat. I personally follow this training video every day and it can takes around 10 to 15 minutes to complete properly – so what this mean for those of you taking up the 30/30 Squat Challenge is that after completing this training routine then you have completed half of your daily challenge. After this daily squat training routine you will only need to find approximately 15 more minutes in the day to sit in the deep squat and comfortable fill your daily 30 minute squat quota.

Simply go along to Facebook and do a groups search for “30/30 Squat Challenge” and request to the join the group as a member. You should be added to the group within a day or so and then you will be able to see all of the comments and discussions from all of the existing members. At this point in time there are almost 15,000 members in the group.

If you decide to take on the 30/30 Squat Challenge then you should take the initiative to comment on the Facebook group about your ongoing progress whilst undertaking the challenge. Everyone is encouraged to share their experiences, challenges, accomplishments and battles with other members in the group. It is also worth keeping a close eye on what everyone else has to say on the Facebook group because you will generally learn a lot from other people’s experiences.

If you want to go straight to the Facebook group from here then please click on this link – 30/30 Squat Challenge – Facebook Group

If you want to find out more about the movement lifestyle then check out the movement guru himself – Mr Ido Portal.

So once you have been able to accomplish the 30/30 Squat Challenge, which by the way will take quite a bit of practice and progression, after this you will be able to move towards a whole range of other exercises. Some of these other exercises and movements that you may want to explore more and consider training for can include:

Correct form air squats

Correct form free weight squats

Movement exercises

Box jumps

Floreio Art

Capoeira martial arts

The deep squat is such an important basic movement that should be performed regardless of how light or rigorous your training schedule is and this is because it is a fundamental movement and position that the human body should be able to perform at it’s most basic physical level.

Check out Ido page on:

http://placeofpersistence.com/30-30-squat-challenge-by-ido-portal/

Are Universal Squatting cues good for everyone?

                   

In Bob Takano’s blog, there was an in-depth series of discussions regarding the use of the extreme “knees out” technique when performing the squat.  For those of you not familiar with Bob Takano, he is a USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame inductee who has coached numerous champions at the national and international level.

The debates were sparked when a chiropractor and former USAW Sports Med Chair, Dr. Brendan Murray, emailed Takano about the reasoning behind why athletes (crossfitters specifically) were shoving their knees out forcefully outside of the foot and ankle during squatting and pulling movements.  Murray was finding an increased number of injuries in his clinic, which he thought was due to this technique.  This practice was quickly attributed to the teachings of Kelly Starrett, who’s side I will refer to as, “The Supple Leopard Camp”.  The fun ensued shortly after, as this became a hot topic in the rehab, crossfit, and olympic weightlifting worlds.  The 6-part series of debates can be found here:

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3269

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3272

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3276

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3280

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3286

http://www.takanoathletics.com/blog/?p=3289

To be honest, I was completely oblivious to the drama until I received a voicemail from one, Russell Berger of Crossfit HQ, asking my opinion on the subject as a PT and competitive weightlifter.  It was going to be the topic on some type of Crossfit TV show or something.  I then read the whole 6 part series in my car on my trusty Iphone.  I encourage you all to take a look at the arguments and formulate your own opinion.

 The dealings with CrossfitHQ have not panned out, as of yet; so I will have to put my TV star aspirations on hold.  Regardless, I want to share my thoughts on the subject, because I am encountering many of the same issues in clinical practice.

My goal for this article is to be as objective as possible, and by no means is this meant to be some personal attack or internet jab at Kelly Starrett or his Supple Leopard camp.  Starrett was a big influence in my decision to go to PT school, and his work has continued to influence my practice up to this point; though, my philosophies have evolved greatly over the past 3 years.  Also, I do not intend this article to be an argument for whether shoving your knees out past your feet is right or wrong.  I simply want to address specific statements that were made, because I believe they may contribute to the issues and misconceptions (key word) I see clinically.   Here go’s…

Opening Statements

“Knees out is not the same as driving hips into ground And we seem to solve knee problems.  And back problems.  In everyone.  And help set American records. And world records.” –Kelly Starrett

This was K star’s entire contribution to the discussion.  Basically, I took this to mean,  ‘I’ve got a plane to catch and don’t have time for this shit’.  I cannot imagine how much of this he deals with on a daily basis.  So I’ll leave this one alone.  But c’mon man… You solveeveryone’s knee and back problems?  That’s a damn good percentage.  I can’t wait for that data to hit the peer reviewed literature.

From this point, the minions from the Supple Leopard Camp take over the debating responsibilities.

“Let’s establish one thing, with any movement the goal is to produce the most amount of torque and not allow any torsion [to] occur on a compression/loaded body.  This directly also creates positions that get rid of every single injury we have ever seen in all our athletes/non-athletes.”

–Supple Leopard Camp

The first sentence will be addressed later.  However, the proclamation that this technique, “gets rid of EVERY single injury we have EVER seen in ALL our athletes”, irritates me to the core.  Again, please publish these incredible outcomes.  There is no faster way to lose credibility than to say your shit works for everyone all the time, without data to back it up (I’m trying to stay objective, I promise).

Regarding The Creation Of Torque In The Hips

“Let’s establish one thing, with any movement the goal is to produce the most amount of torque and not allow any torsion [to] occur on a compression/loaded body.”  -Supple Leopard Camp

and

  “During Oly- or Power-lifting the goal again is to set yourself up to produce the most amount of torque to get the bar from point A to point B.”–Supple Leopard Camp

 This idea of “torque” that the Supple Leopard Camp continued to refer to is in reference to Starrett’s book, where he frequently refers to the ‘Laws of Torque’ at the hip and shoulder.

In human biomechanics, internal torque is (Muscle Force) X (Moment Arm).  The product of these two produces a force that acts on something – in this case the femur when squatting.  I have not seen any evidence that suggests pushing your knees outside your feet alters internal torque in the hip in a favorable way, as it is explained in KStar’s book  (which is not a peer reviewed source, nor does it contain any references).  This is also a very difficult thing to quantify because below 90 degrees of hip flexion, the functions of many of the muscles that cross the hip are altered – some of the external rotators becoming internal rotators for example.1  It is fine to use these terms anecdotally, but to say the goals of weightlifting and powerlifting is to produce the most amount of torque is ambiguous at best.

Regarding Stability Of The Hip And Spine When Squatting

“If we want to speak anatomically/biomechanically/physiologically then we know that the hip is the most congruent at 90 degrees of flexion in moderate amounts of abduction and external rotation.  Since Oly lifting requires more depth (Ass to Ankles) then we have to get more external rotation and abduction to maintain this congruent (minimal passive tension) to maintain the stable spine and vertical torso.”  -Supple Leopard Camp

 and

 “Athletes that are squatting with toes out and knees tracking over the feet will have to find stability elsewhere (since it is not coming from the hip)”–Supple Leopard Camp

 I found no evidence suggestion that “getting more” external rotation and abduction when squatting past 90 degrees maintains congruency and minimizes passive tension.  In fact, by shoving your knees out maximally, you would actually increase ligamentous (passive) tension, and limit your ability to attain more hip flexion.  It is shown that full hip flexion (≥120°) decreases passive tension of the capsular ligaments, and increases tension in the glute max.  Full hip flexion also mechanically prepares the adductors to help with hip extension.2  So, if you are limiting hip flexion in any way, you are limiting the rubber band effect of glute max and adductors.  Where I come from, the goal of a squat is to stand up, so maximally loading the muscles that help you do that is probably a good idea

I found nothing to suggest that letting your knees track over your ankles and squatting straight down creates instability in the hip or spine.  The athlete should be able to continue flexing at the hip, while maintaining a neutral pelvis.  If they cannot, I don’t believe the answer is to tell them to shove their knees out in order to compensate (clinical opinion).

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/11/15/supple-leopard-vs-world/

Perhaps the most important reason for you to SQUAT.

At Bulletproofbodies we are always harping on about the importance of being able to perform a squat as part of normal functional movement.

The squat has always been associated with strength & conditioning but its relationship with toileting is often forgotten about.

In Western society we have gotten use to sitting on the porcelain throne and have forgotten the way in which out bodies go to the toilet best, that of the deep squat position.

                   

The "Squatty Potty" is a simple addition to your bathroom that allows you to correct the "ano-rectal" angle.

The Pubo-rectalis muscle maintains the ano-rectal angle and sitting at 90 degrees only partially relaxes this muscle.

Sitting at 90 degrees means the colon is still kinked and is sub-optimal for toileting.

By simply raising the feet this then flexes the hips into a position that mimics normal squatting and allows the colon to fully open.

So the message is simple, if in doubt, SQUAT!

You can purchase yours today from the Bulletproofbodies Blogspot today.

Alternatively, 

Check out their website:

https://www.squattypotty.com/