You Don’t Know Squat

August 13, 2017 – 

If we have been together and I have not asked you to squat… then I have done you a disservice. Because, I do know ‘squat’ and your movement of that action tells me what is happening to your skeletal systems reaction to the muscular systems contraction.

Yes, I said it. Your muscles are in charge of your bones. But, your nerves are in charge of your muscles … so like the chicken or the egg, what moves the body muscles or nerves? OK, thinking caps on!!

Let me tell you a story. A lady comes into F.I.T. Human Performance and tells me straight up “I’m a mess, I know it already.” We talked about previous injuries, experience, work, behavior, and goals. She tells me “just wait, you’ll see” and we walk into the gym and I asked her to put all 4 ball-and-socket joints into play with a very easy squatting movement. First, she rolled her eyes and then attempted the simple squat movement. She almost fell over … her hips went to the side in one direction and her knees went the other, and she was balancing on her toes. She was correct with her assessment … her body was a mess.

From the ground up, ankle dysfunction due to tight calves, knee dysfunction due to thigh muscle imbalances, hip dysfunction due to lack of gluteal strength and lack of core stabilization. All dysfunctions are fixable with proper stretching and effective strengthening of the body. Today, this lady in fact can perform a full squat, can balance, can stand flat-footed, and is without pain. I didn’t do it, she did.

With her dedication, homework completion, and functional strength training she stopped the problems before they became medical injuries requiring surgery, therapy, and a lot of uncomfortable and expensive months. My job was to retrain the brain to send the right signals to the right muscles at the right time to do the right thing. Thinking caps tell us that her neural pathways were a mess, that’s all.

So, how is your squat? Show me today!

In good health,

Bob

‘When you are having one of those days, and you feel like there is a weight on your shoulders …. Do SQUATS!’ – unknown