In Too Deep: Squat

GM🦁 Hey folks. This is Andrew's Apples, the tiny health email for who want the shot, not an entire beer. Ok, bottoms up.

🏘️ Squatting ain’t low status. Only in the Western world do we look down on squatting. All across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East people prefer the squat to sitting. And for good reason. Osteopath and author Phillip Beach calls the squat - among a few other body positions - an “archetypal posture” due to its congruence with how our bodies are built. Yogis are quite familiar with two others: the cross-legged seat and kneeling flat on the floor. The body “fits” together in these positions and is associated with improved bowel movement, production of key fluid in the key joints (hips, knees), and heightened communication between brain and muscle groups. To be clear, this “deep squat” is only achieved when the hamstrings touch the calf muscles. This is both how someone should be squatting at the gym with added weight/resistance AND how someone should rest while reading a book or watching tv. 🍎Andrew's Take. I know some folks who have taken this practice to a radical level by eliminating all chairs in their home. I don’t want you to lose all of your friends right away so take baby steps, people. Physical therapist Bahram Jam adds that “A true sign of aging is the inability to squat or sit on the floor and be able to get up independently again.“ Think about how common it is for grandpa (or even dad) to say “oh boy!” once he starts to lower in a squat, before tipping over like a toddler. This is due to tight calf, ankle, and hip muscles. Good news is that it can be addressed through, yes, practice. Practice squatting daily for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time. The heels may lift up at first, which is normal for most. Eventually, the heels will lower to the floor. Ass to grass, as Charles Poliquin used to say (rip). Plus, like I mentioned, you’ll poop better.

🕊️ Tweet of the Day. Pretty funny to me that American society spins its wheels day and night about gun control, climate, partisan politics, immigration, whether Tucker is a demon or a saint, griping about how the Netflix library has gotten too large, religion vs secularism, etc. And yet: the mental health epidemic is already here, moving and metastasizing in silence, and is the core culprit of the aforementioned small “issues” and the bigger problems of the human spirit alike. Chips in our heads will solve nothing. Nor will a healthier potato chip.

How about them Apples? Hit me with any comments or questions.

Andrew🍎 

Andrew's Apples 🍎 The very-tight health email that enriches your genetic potential. Sign up your droogs here: andrewsapples.beehiiv.com