I can only think of one exercise that has entirely changed my life- the Hindu Squat

[1haroldl]

As I'm walking with my daughter around the neighborhood discussing the benefits of healthy choices, I can only think of one exercise that has entirely changed my life- the Hindu Squat.

Having been introduced by my dad to Matt Furey in 2005 when the internet was younger and I was but fifteen y/o, I started obsessing with doing 500 hindu squats 2-3 x a week. I loved how they made me feel. I was studying to be an actor and singer so the power and strength of my diaphragm from doing these exercises was amazing. I've since rediscovered them and committed to getting back to that 500 number.

I highly recommend watching some hindu squat instructionals and even joining me in something I've started doing to hold myself accountable called the Hindu Squat Church Of Gama Challenge every Sunday to aim for 500 in one sitting again! Jump in or work up to it but I found doing the challenge vid these last two weeks have helped me stay accountable. See how many weeks you and I can keep it up!

 

[henlus]

@1haroldl What are the benefits of this exercise?

 

[maitaisonnd]

@henlus The way op describes it out sounds like it changed their life because it's something they found to be fun, challenging and offered good long term motivation to stick to a way of physical exercise. Not primarily because of the specific benefits of the exercise. Doing 500 Burpees every week for years would also change most peoples life I'd think.

 

[dawn16]

@maitaisonnd Yes, this is exactly right. It's not that the hindu squat is fundamentally a better exercise than burpees or pushups or pullups or deadlifts or swimming or practicing martial arts or ...

What OP is benefiting from is having found an exercise that he loves, that he's motivated to keep doing, that continually challenges him. A lot of people get motivated to start an exercise routine, get into it for a while, then hit some particular goal -- whether it's losing 10 pounds or running a 5K or bench pressing 225 -- and once they hit that goal they discover they have no motivation to continue, and a year later they're out of shape again. If you can find an exercise that you enjoy and that keeps you motivated to keep coming back, day after day, year after year, that's the exercise to embrace. That exercise will change your life the same way hindu squats changed OP's life.

 

[indigo77]

@dawn16 Should your knees be going over your feet like in the video?

 

[allig33]

@indigo77 I believe the advice to not bring your knees over your feet is a general guideline of what not to do if you don't know what you are doing or are a mostly sedentary person.

With proper control, you can absolutely do exercise that bring your knees over your feet. This is especially critical if you are doing sports. You will, at some point, jump to catch that ball, frisbee, shuttle, whatever... and will get in a compromising position. If you never trained your muscles and tendons to support that position, you will fuck something up.

 

[indigo77]

@allig33 Thanks for the explanation

 

[seeitnow]

@allig33 Why shouldn’t you have knees over toes? Damaging to the knee? Loss of balance? I’m pretty weak at the hips and glutes because of a back condition that makes squats and deadlifts risky exercises in regard to setting off an episode of acute pain that’ll sideline me for a week or more (with 4-8 weeks of actual recovery time).

 

[theepicness]

@seeitnow It can be a lot of pressure and can lead to injury in untrained knees. The conventional wisdom is never to go in that position. Doing a heavy squat with knees over toes and you haven't trained that position, it can hurt you badly.

If you go to KneesOverToesGuy, going into that position allows your body to adjust to the pressure, starting with the lowest pressure possible(walking backwards).

 

[zecsampro]

@indigo77 Yup, seems so.

 

[shua79]

@indigo77 Que the kneesovertoesguy

 

[tony631]

@shua79 I was just about to rec kneesovertoesguy!

 

[someonetosaveyou]

@dawn16 You made a lot of assumptions here.

 

[hopeandfaithhealing]

@sandy67 I enjoy laps but I really dislike going to a pool to do them, my closest one is a rec centre that you need to pay full entry on too, which is not worth it if you only utilize the pool. If I was childless or more wealthy (same thing I know...) I would get one of those swim spas.

 

[smtoycom]

@maitaisonnd

Doing 500 Burpees every week for years would also change most peoples life I'd think.

Yeah, most people would have chosen to end their lives.

But seriously, any significant amount of cardio like that would be significantly life changing.

 

[utvolford]

@maitaisonnd

Doing 500 Burpees every week for years would also change most peoples life I’d think.

Yeah it's called carpal tunnel syndrome

 

[pressedbutnotcrushed]

@henlus I think they target the vmo (inner thigh quad muscles) more than the regular squat. Slightly similar to kneesovertoes atg split where the heels come off the ground. It has helped me gain some very specific strength after my knee surgery that the regular squats were not doing for me.

 

[utvolford]

@henlus Firm butt probably? There's some shoulder thing going on so probably also good for before an arm workout, like shoulder dislocates.

 

[mommadsaves]

@henlus It increases knee mobility and helps strengthen knee joint, quads, glutes, hams, ankles and calves.

 

[tomas5tex]

@1haroldl How long did it take you to hit 500? I was doing 200 a day for a while and my cardio was phenomenal.