Should We All Be Squatting More?

I was recently on a vacation with a friend that involved a great deal of walking around a new city. During a moment of respite, I noticed she dropped into a deep squatting position, rather than plopping down on a nearby bench like I did. When I asked why she wasn’t sitting, she joked, “I’m trying out the Slav squat.”

The pervasive “Squatting Slav” or “Slav Squat” meme refers to images of Slavic-appearing men wearing tracksuits and hanging out together in a deep squatting position with their heels flat on the ground. Searches for this meme often direct people to the notion of the “Asian Squat” as well ― a nod to the ubiquity of deep squats in many Asian cultures. 

But in the U.S., squatting is considerably less common (such that in my informal poll of friends, only about half were even able to assume this position without holding onto something). 

“We squat as children and in our teens, but as we in the Western world get older we completely stop deep squatting in our daily lives unless we intentionally do it as a form of exercise or in yoga,” said Bahram Jam, a physical therapist at Athlete’s Care Clinic in Toronto. “A true sign of aging is the inability to squat or sit on the floor and be able to get up independently again.”

But should we be hanging out in a deep squat for prolonged periods of time? What’s the optimal approach to the squat? Below, Jam and other experts break it down. 

What does squatting do for your body?

“When you squat, your joints are at the end range of motion ― ankle, knee and hip,” noted Bryan Ausinheiler, a physical therapist, personal trainer and nutritionist who’s developed an interest in the deep squat and the cultural differences in how people move their bodies. 

Maintaining a deep squat resting position with heels on the ground requires a good amount of balance. 

“Think of it like a Slinky, folding over and aligning your weight,” said Justin C. Lin, a physical therapist and executive director of Rehab and Revive Pain and Wellness Center in Tustin, California. “You’re trying to line up your center of balance, so you can kind of crumple down like an aluminum can. It’s this little balance game.”

This balance game, as Lin called it, targets multiple muscle groups, stretching your back, hips, knees and ankles. 

“The ankles, knees, hips and back move into their full rage of flexion, loading the joint and the cartilage which is necessary for maintaining good cartilage health,” Jam said. 

For some people, getting into a deep squat position with their heels on the ground is difficult or may even feel impossible. This is often the result of compromised ankle dorsiflexion ― basically the ability to bend your ankle and move your foot toward your shin. 

“Full ankle dorsiflexion is needed to keep the heels down during a squat,” Jam explained. “If people have stiff ankles either due to genetics or due to an old ankle injury, keeping the heels down will not be possible. The modification is to simply hold on to a doorway or a bar and go into a deep squat.”

Ausinheiler noted that 45 degrees is the optimal ankle range of motion for achieving a deep squat and that people with less than 35 degrees will likely struggle to get into the position. 

“When my babies were born, I measured their range of motion at about 75 degrees,” he explained. “That’s why it’s so easy for toddlers to squat. They have the body proportions of a chimp, so their shins might even be totally vertical.”

As children grow, their body proportions change, and their limbs get longer. Squatting thus becomes more difficult.

“Short people have proportionally shorter limbs in general, so squatting will be easier for them,” Ausinheiler explained. “The people who break world records in squatting are usually short.”

Many kids don’t use their full range of ankle motion, so it decreases over time. Ausinheiler believes children should be encouraged to squat more to help maintain a 45-degree range of motion. 

“The range you use as a child will determine your capacity to squat, even more so than your height,” he explained. “I think kids shouldn’t be using chairs and desks at school until second grade. We should have them on the floor more to maintain that range of motion.”