21 Comments
User's avatar
Marshall R Peterson's avatar

I love/hate this one. I’ve tried to implement this one way or another for more years than I’m willing to admit. Maybe now. I did have to laugh when you said you can do this from the “comfort” of your home. This drill makes home, or anywhere else, distinctly uncomfortable.

Game on!

Expand full comment
Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

I also laugh at that sentence

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂👊🏻

Expand full comment
Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

I’m not a squat novice but there’s room for improvement. I’ve been doing a 30 second squat as part of my yoga, and prying goblet squats with a 20 lb kettlebell, but no long holds.

Questions.

All the squat exercises I’ve done never mention getting the feet pointed ahead, so I’ve never even worried about that. What should be the goal with the direction of the feet, straight? This means knees are more under the body than I have been practicing so far.

The yoga position had me with back straight. Is rounded better in this case?

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

I think there’s a place for both but knees and toes forward encourage flexibility and mobility in a different plane than knees and toes splayed. If you want full range of motion in the plane that is most effective when moving forward, best to train it with that form in mind.

There is also room for both with back straight and bent. Back bent allows your head to come over your base to encourage balance and center of gravity while resting in his position. It also elongates the lower back further when compared to keeping it straight in this position.

Expand full comment
Marshall R Peterson's avatar

I’ve been doing prying goblet squats also. I picked that up from Pavel Tsatsouline. It does help me with hip mobility but so far not enough. I do 3 sets of 5 reps to include curls with the kettlebell at the bottom. The curls are nice because I can wipe the tears away at the top of the curl.

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂😂😂 strategic reps. Nice

Expand full comment
Tim Ebl 🇨🇦's avatar

lol. I got them from the same place. Simple and Sinister

Expand full comment
Enda Harte (The Irish Stoic)'s avatar

Every evening we do this one for mobility after sitting for a good portion of the day. Amongst others, its' a game changer!

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

Love it

Expand full comment
Genevieve's avatar

Though I love the whole post, what I am most impressed by is the casual quotation of Dem Bones 😂💀

I am low key obsessed with Kelly Starrett, he has such solid advice! 👊🏻

Lucky for me I did a ton of yoga as a teen and can do deep squats all day long. 😂

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

So casual

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂😂👊🏻

Expand full comment
Jesse C. McEntee's avatar

Low back pain is ubiquitous. I'm starting to think it's because we live too long (dark humor) 😂.

Seriously, though, thank you for this, Kyle. Helpful as usual. Action backed by reason is a powerful thing!

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

😂 dark humor is the best humor for me. Appreciate you brother

Expand full comment
Anne, RD & Avery, CHC's avatar

So funny you posted this today -- been adding to my routine the last few weeks to encourage knee flexibility. Started with banded assistance, and now I'm squatting on my own for a minute or two. Now I'm inspired to work up to 10 minutes, thank you for this post!

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

❤️👊🏻

Expand full comment
Marshall R Peterson's avatar

Could you expand on the progression phase when those of us who are squat challenged are using props? You suggest we use blocks or a stool and stay for a minute or two. You mentioned be comfortable but I suspect you want some level of discomfort because we’re pushing our limits. Also am I correct in assuming that you want most of our weight on our feet and not on our butt?

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

You are correct, however, that slight discomfort is key. If most of your weight is initially on your butt while the feet are still on the ground, that’s a good starting point. Holding a KB/weight of some kind can encourage extra gravity to keep that butt down as you start to shift weight toward the feet.

Be systematic with it. Start with anything lower than your normal base comfort like a chair. Once assisted at a given height becomes comfortable, switch to unassisted at that level. Once comfortable, progress down further in same way.

Expand full comment
Adam PT's avatar

I also love/hate this one.

So I must do it.

Expand full comment
Kyle Shepard's avatar

Haha I love it

Expand full comment