Kids Know (How To) Squat

Now that little Billy has mastered the Squat, he's decided to
work on his Double Unders.

There are a great many things which we seem to forget as we get older; that there are monsters under the bed, that it's perfectly fine to drink from the garden hose, and that there are probably definitely elves living in the woods behind the house. On the more practical side, we seem to forget how to move.

Watch little kids getting on with getting around, exploring and, particularly, picking stuff up. While I can't find any good studies to cite on this (so far, watch for updates to this post!), my personal guess would be the process of teaching the body to move around through trial and error and experience tends to result in the most economical ways to balance, exert force, and coordinate. I think that, because we ("we" being Homo Sapiens Sapiens) have had these bodies for so long, these ways of moving exhibit, and probably developed, the proper alignment and positioning of our joints.

The upshot of this is, little kids tend to have naturally good squat and deadlift form. Watch this little girl, at 1:01, pick up the soccer ball:

Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that one should load their 3 year old up with a weighted back squat. Kids are constantly working to improve their motor skills and master new movements (so a dramatic challenge to their stability is a terrible idea), plus their skeletal structure is still soft and growing. Serious resistance training should wait until puberty, though in the years immediately preceding, I think it's fine to start to practice the motions with lighter, manageable weights.

(Clearly, this dad didn't feel the need to wait that long, but thankfully his little girl's barbell is mostly air).

The real question here is why, if when left to our natural development we learn to move correctly, so many of us walk into a gym and have no idea how to execute these movements?

The answer is, I think, we stop practicing. Instead of squatting, we sit in upright chairs (a very unnatural rest-position for the body). Instead of being aggressively physically interactive with our world (i.e., going outside to play), we sit and play videogames (or, if you're a little bit older than I am, just watching TV). We sit in cars. Even reading (which, don't get me wrong, I'm a BIG fan of) is a much more sedentary "activity" that what our bodies are built for, and are expecting (from a genetic point of view) to be put through during our formative years and through adulthood.

And so, our hamstrings tighten, our hip flexors become less flexy, our balance decays, and then one day we decide to take our fitness in hand, go into the gym, and get irritated with that stupid jerk of a coach who keeps saying "go lower." :-)

If you're reading this at all, you're probably interested in or already taking great steps to undo this neglect. So, try to take it a few steps further, and move your body through these ranges of motion even when you're not at the gym. When you put a DVD in the player, don't bend over at the waist, squat. Take a break from sitting at your desk and get up and move around... maybe, even, take a call or two while you're resting in the bottom of the squat (if you're afraid this will get you weird looks, just close the door. It's what I did when I was a desk jockey).

Play. Get out and move around and play. Pick a sport. If you feel like you suck at sports, find some friends who also suck at them and you can all go play badly together (in reality, of course, it's probably something you haven't practiced and you'll learn and improve as you go, the way people do). If you have kids, go play with them, too.

Take time to stretch a bit, every day. If a day goes by that you haven't made time to do anything else, at least move all your joints through their full range of motion at least a few times per day. A few minutes in the morning and at night is all it would take to bust out 10-15 squats, and grab a broom and do some shoulder pass-throughs.

And, for the sake of our species, don't let your kids (if you have them) forget how to move. Encourage their physical activity, let them explore sports. One of the best things you could possibly do for you child's lifelong fitness (whether they're a boy or girl) is get them into gymnastics when they're young. I'm not saying force them into anything, by any means. But, kids tend to like to do physical stuff, as long as it stays fun. A good kids' gymnastics program will look much more like structured recess than athletic training.

Now, for additional evidence (and your probable amusement), here are some more vids of kids busting out good form (one of them sideways)...