Why Squatting Matters for Your Health (And How to Get Yours Back)
If you want to improve your squat, start with mobility, not more weight.
Watch a toddler pick up a toy. Feet flat. Hips low. Back straight. No effort at all.
Now watch most adults do the same thing. They bend at the waist, reach with one arm, and push off a knee to get back up.
Same task. Very different body.
Somewhere between age 3 and 40, most of us lose the squat. It didn’t get harder. We just stopped doing it.
That matters, because the squat isn’t a gym move. It’s how we get out of a chair. Off the toilet. Up from the floor. It’s how we lift the laundry basket, the groceries, and the kid who fell asleep in the car. We do it dozens of times a day without a second thought.
How well we squat shapes how easily we move through every one of those moments.
In one study of more than 2,000 adults, the ability to sit down on the floor and get back up without using your hands was linked to how long people live.
