Squat strength and depth
Getting off low chairs, and back up off the floor, without a hand down.
- Length
- 4 weeks
- Sessions
- 2-3 a week
- Each
- 20 min
- Improves
- Wall Sit, Sit to Rise
The squat is the first pattern most desk-bound adults lose, and the loss hides for years because you can avoid it. It is also what the Wall Sit measures.
The session
Same movements every time. The load changes, not the list.
Deep squat hold
3 × 30-60s
Hold a doorframe if you need to. Using support is not cheating.
Goblet squat or barbell squat
3 × 8-10
The weight at your chest counterbalances you, so your chest stays up without thinking about it.
Wall sit
3 × till your legs shake
This is the Body Quotient test. Time it.
Lunges or split squat
2 × 8-10 each side
Four weeks
- 01Week 1: learn the positions. Go lighter than you think.
- 02Week 2: same weights, add one set to the goblet squat.
- 03Week 3: add weight where every set finished with two reps left.
- 04Week 4: retest your wall sit and compare.
Then retest your Wall Sit
Four weeks is long enough for this number to move. Take the Body Quotient before you start so you have a baseline worth comparing against.
The reasoning behind this
The squat, and getting off the floor
The pattern behind low sofas, sitting on the floor, and picking up a grandchild. How to check your range, what usually limits it, and how to train both ends of it.
What a sit-to-rise score actually predicts
A simple floor test tracked mortality across 2,002 adults. Here is what that finding supports, and the part almost every summary of it gets wrong.