Everyday Systems

I'm up to one set of 125 squats per day. The last 25 are really, really hard.

The rest of you that are doing Hindu squats, how are your knees?

I have found that Hindu squats are very beneficial to my knees. The first couple of them in a set sort of "tweak" my knees occasionally, but that never lasts more than five or 10 in. After that, they feel great. My quads feel like they are burning, but the joints feel great.

Just wondering. You look at this motion and you think "what a distaster for your knees!" But then when you do it, they feel great...

How are Hindu squats different from "regular squats"? When I do them, my knees do not go past my toes, which means back is at a 45 degree forward slant, backside pushed back.

Hindu squats are done on your toes, go down till you are sitting on your heels, back more or less straight, no weight, lots of reps. The affect is a lot like running up hill - you'll get winded quickly and build a lot of power in your thighs.

Then again the way you exercise, you might not find them very challenging.

You can see most of the motion at www.mattfurey.com, I think.

I am doing about 25 a day at the moment and my knees do feel better. I have torn the ACL in both knees and have cartilage damage as well in my left knee (Basketball - what a sport!) so I think it is significant when I say my knees feel better. If I do ordinary weighted squats my knees hate it and I get some swelling in the joint on my left side. But these don't do this, I think the larger range of motion is better for the joint and you don't have the sudden stop at 90 degrees that is required for ordinary squats.
When I was boxing in my youth we used to do these and I remember thinking at the time that it had made me fast when I was playing other sports.
Hindu squats are definitely a good call - well done Kevin! The Hindu pushup you mentioned earlier is also a great exercise, I have also heard it called the Cat stretch when I was kickboxing (yes, I will try anything). It was a big favourite of Bruce Lee, I found in one of his books.
All the best,

Phil.

Hi Phil!!!!
So you will try *any* sport????
How about we mud wrestle!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted a photo of me on my "Debs check in" thread...
You can decide after you look at your competition!!!!
Sorry about your acl... my cousin is 6 foot 5" and he is just starting a college life of basketball, and has already had to go in for knee surgery... I told my Uncle maybe it's time to look at that experience and weigh the plusses and minuses of the sport, but he didn't really listen...
Well I hope they don't mind having more surgeries...

Good work with the Hindu Squats Phil!!!...
I prefer Buddist stretches... heh heh...
Actually, my practice of choice these days has been loads of Yoga Yoga Yoga!!!!!
Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace and Love,
Deb

Here is a better picture of the bottom of the Hindu sqat motion. note the back straight, up on the toes position.

http://www.mattfurey.com/hindu_squats.html

Sometimes it seems that no matter what I do, my knees bother me like crazy.
Other times, I have no problem at all. But I would say that the majority of the time, Hindu squats don't bother them that much. I don't do the kind of numbers you're doing on those, though...So I don't know how they'd react to that.

Agreed, hindu squats make my knees feel great. And my quadriceps and calves are getting scary strong.

They're hard to do; I weigh well over 300 lbs and was concerned that I'd tear my knees up. They do crack once in a while, esp when I'm warming up, but there has never been any pain as long as I'm up on my toes.

When I first started, I could only do about 15, but I've worked my way up by adding one for every day I've been on my No-S/Shovelglove plan. So today is day 57 of my regimen, so I'll do 57 squats later (if I do them at all).

I don't do the squats every day, that's a bit much, but when I do them I stick to the numbering system I've set out for myself. I did 54 on Monday, 55 on Tues, and skipped yesterday as my quads were quite sore (good sore, but I wanted to rest them). My short-term goal is to continue to work my way up to 100, and then reevaluate.

I did 10 of those today, but it wasn't a pretty sight. Are they supposed to hit the back of the leg like that?

10 reps isn't a bad start. Let's see if I can describe the motion.

Start standing with your legs shoulder width apart, flat footed, hands in soft fists, palm down, at your sides, even with your solar plexus. Sort of like you just finished an rowing stroke with oars.

As you begin to move down, come up onto your toes (it'll be natural). Lower your arms gently and open your fists, sort of reach back a little behind you. It'll help with balance. All the way down. Try to sit on your heels. On your toes. Back as straight as possible.

As you push back up, swing your arms forward till they are horizontal with the floor and outstretched, like you are reaching for the oars again. As you lower off your toes to your heels, bring your hands back to the starting position.

Work towards one every three seconds.

You will lose your balance occasionally.

After 20 of these, you heart will be beating. After 50, you'll be breathing like you're sprinting uphill (well, not you, Blondie, but the rest of us mortals). Your quads will be burning and your hamstrings will hurt tomorrow. Sort of the same way pushups affect your biceps, I guess.

After a few days of this, you won't breath hard walking up hills anymore.

Your knees may creak lightly during the first few, or even feel "tweaked". At least for me, the feeling never lasts past 20 reps, and my knees feel terrific now (which is totally contrary to what you might think if you just looked at the motion, and is a reversal of what they felt like a year ago, when walking up stairs was a bit painful).

You can work these into SG as "Pick up the pieces". that's what I do on SG days: 50 at the end.

Kevin this seems great! I just tried it, but there is no way in Heaven or anywhere else, that I am going to be able to make my behind come into contact with my heels... As it is now, I wind up on my toes and my behind winds up on my calves.....
Hmmm... Unless you are saying "heels" sort of generically, and not really as an exact anatomical landmark, I may not be doing this right...
Correct me if you feel like it!
I've been doing chair pose and a whole lot of Warrior poses these days in Yoga, and this seems fairly comfortable to me... I like it better than regular squats... But I like Chair pose the best... Glad to see this is helping your hill climbing duties! I can see how it would
Thanks!
Love,
Deb

I don't mean that you should unjoint your knee so that your butt comes in contact with your heels, just get all the way down so the back of your thigh contacts your calf.

I guess I could have worded that better... :0)

Thanks Kevin!
You know me! I'm a massage therapist and anatomical descriptions are what I'm into.. I wasn't trying to be anal or anything! LOL....
I figured I shouldn't try the old "unhinge" the knee trick, since that is really hard to do! Even with Yoga!

Just wanted to do these right and so far, I really like the feeling of it...
Yes.. Less locking of the knee joint there...
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Deb (Deb, Deb,,,,,, LOL....)

hello.

i'm new here with 2 days of shovelglove using a 10lb sledge/30 minutes urban rangering/ok the nosdiet is a work in progress. this might be of some use:

http://www.bronzebowpublishing.com/HinduSquat.gif

this is john peterson a furey disciple who has produced his own atlas/mcfadden style course.

Thanks for that Hildskjalf!
I like the way his arm movements help keep the momentum up and bring that energy back into his core...

And he sure is "Bronze" LOL...
Have a good day and thanks for the clear example!
Peace,
Deb

I've been experimenting a bit with "pick up the pieces" (thanks for the inspired name, Kevin) over the last few weeks. I don't notice any problems with my knees, but I haven't been doing all that many of them. As I've mentioned before, my infant daughter finds them very amusing.

Welcome, hlidskjalf. That's a helpful animation. I've *almost* been doing them right.

A picture is worth a thousand words. A series of pictures that provide a Nickelodeon style animation is worth at least 1500. :0)

Thanks for finding it.

I found this interesting web site for Hindu squats and push-ups. Those of you who are doing these might find this interesting.

http://www.bronzebowpublishing.com/exercises.html

Jan, look three or four posts up in this thread... :0)

oops. :oops:

And here I was, so proud of myself for having "discovered" this site.

I have been having some fun with the Tiger Moves here. Anyone else tried them?

Jan!!!
Oops "Shmoops"...
Who cares!!!!
The main thing is that you are doing this!
Love,
Deb

Oh no, not doing Hindu squats or push-ups. Those things scare me just looking at the picture on the computer. But the Tiger Moves are kind of fun and definitely non-injurious. Apart from the hype, I am wondering if they are beneficial. Can I contract my muscles as much as if I were holding the sledge or the dumbbells, I wonder? On the other hand, my shoulders didn't hurt afterwards.

I don't lift my toes but I just finished SG and Squatting!!!
Fifty squats yo!!!!!!

I feel so alive!!! (and sweaty!!!)


Greetings all and have a Glove filled day!
Peace,
Debs

You *still* rock.

Hey Kevin!!!
Thanks dude
How've ya been?
Hope well!

P&L,
Debs