The Forgotten Foundation, Part 2: Reclaiming the Ground - The Deep Squat

 

The Forgotten Foundation, Part 2: Reclaiming the Ground - The Deep Squat

In Part 1 of this series, we introduced the concept of "Movement Amnesia"—the process by which our modern, chair-shaped lives have caused us to forget the fundamental movement patterns that are our human birthright. We established that the chronic stiffness and pain so many of us experience aren't inevitable consequences of aging, but symptoms of a body that has been confined and underutilized.

Our journey to reverse this amnesia begins on the ground. It starts with reclaiming the single most fundamental posture in the human movement vocabulary: the deep squat.

When you hear the word "squat," you might picture a grimacing powerlifter with a heavy barbell across their shoulders. Banish that image from your mind. The squat we are talking about is not an exercise; it is a state of being. It is humanity's original sitting position, our ancestral resting posture. It’s the position you see a toddler drop into effortlessly to play, a hunter-gatherer adopt to rest, and over a billion people around the world still use today for work, socializing, and daily life.

This deep, resting squat—heels flat on the floor, hips below the knees, spine long and relaxed—is the foundation upon which all other lower-body movement is built. And for most of us living in the Western world, it is a forgotten language. This post is your first lesson in remembering how to speak it.

Why We Lost the Squat (And Why It's Crippling Us)

If the deep squat is so natural, why does it feel so utterly alien to most of us? The culprits, as we discussed in Part 1, are the twin pillars of our modern environment: chairs and shoes.

1. The Chair's Deceptive Comfort: The chair doesn't just make our muscles lazy; it actively re-engineers our joints. To perform a deep squat, you need significant flexibility in three key areas: your ankles, knees, and hips. The chair systematically destroys the mobility of all three. By locking our hips and knees at a perpetual 90-degree angle, it tells our connective tissues that any further range of motion is unnecessary. The tissues adapt by shortening and tightening, placing a literal straitjacket on our joints.

The most critical damage, however, happens at the ankles. The ability for your shin to move forward over your foot is called dorsiflexion. It is the single most important component of a healthy squat. Without adequate dorsiflexion, your heels will lift off the ground as you descend, throwing your balance off and putting immense shearing force on your knees. Chair-sitting, by making this movement totally unnecessary for daily life, has robbed an entire population of its ankle mobility.

2. The Shoe as a Sensory Deprivation Chamber: Our feet are neurological marvels, containing a quarter of all the bones in our body and a dense network of nerves designed to send a rich stream of information to our brain about the ground beneath us. Modern footwear effectively gags them.

Stiff soles prevent the small joints in our feet from articulating. Narrow toe boxes squeeze our toes together, deactivating the muscles that create a stable arch. But the biggest offender is the elevated heel. Even a small heel lift in a typical running or dress shoe acts like a permanent ramp, artificially shortening your calf muscles and Achilles tendon. It's a built-in "cheat" that further erodes your natural ankle dorsiflexion. Putting on a modern shoe is like putting your foot in a tiny, cushioned coffin, blinding it to the world and slowly deforming it over time.

Losing the squat isn't just a matter of inconvenience. It's a key driver of musculoskeletal decline. When you lose the ability to move your joints through their full, intended range of motion, they begin to decay. The cartilage that cushions your joints has no direct blood supply; it receives its nutrients through a process called synovial fluid diffusion, which is stimulated only by movement. By not squatting, we are essentially starving our hip, knee, and ankle joints, leading to arthritis and degeneration. We are trading the short-term comfort of a chair for the long-term certainty of joint pain.

A Practical Guide to Reclaiming Your Squat

The good news is that this decline is not a one-way street. With patience and consistency, you can reclaim this foundational posture. The following is a step-by-step guide. The key here is to be gentle. This is not about forcing your body into a position it's not ready for; it's about coaxing it, reminding it of a long-lost home.

Step 1: The Mindset Shift & The Assessment

Before you begin, accept that this will take time. You are working to undo decades of adaptation. Be patient and kind to your body. Pain is a signal to stop, not to push harder.

Now, let's see where you're starting from. Take off your shoes and stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward. Try to squat down as low as you can, keeping your heels flat on the floor.

• What happens? Do your heels immediately lift?

• How low can you go? Do you get stuck halfway?

• Where do you feel it? Is the restriction in your ankles? A pinching in your hips? A strain in your lower back?

There is no judgment here. This is just data. This is your starting point. For most people, the heels will lift long before they reach a full squat. This tells us our first priority is the ankles.

Step 2: Reintroduce Your Ankles to Mobility

You need to make regaining ankle dorsiflexion a daily priority. Think of these as "movement snacks" you can do anytime.

• Wall Calf Stretch: The classic for a reason. Stand facing a wall, place one foot back, heel on the floor, and gently lean forward until you feel a stretch in your calf. Hold for 30-60 seconds. Do this multiple times a day.

• Goblet Squat Pry: This is a game-changer. Hold a light weight (a kettlebell, a dumbbell, or even a heavy book) at your chest. Lower down into your squat as far as you can with your heels down. At the bottom, rest your elbows on the inside of your knees and gently "pry" them apart. From here, you can shift your weight from one foot to the other, gently encouraging one ankle at a time to bend a little further.

Step 3: Practice with Support (Your New Best Friend)

This is the most important step. You need to teach your nervous system what the bottom position of the squat feels like without the fear of falling over.

Find a sturdy anchor: a doorknob, a kitchen counter, a heavy table, or a pole. Stand a foot or two away from it and grab on with both hands. Now, using your anchor for balance and support, lower yourself down into a deep squat. Let your arms do the work. The goal is to get your hips as low as possible while keeping your heels firmly planted on the ground.

Once you're at the bottom, just hang out. This is where the magic happens.

• Breathe deeply into your belly.

• Try to relax your lower back.

• Gently shift your weight from side to side.

• Tuck your chin and let your spine round.

• Spend 30-60 seconds here, then stand back up. Repeat this several times throughout the day.

Step 4: The Passive Squat & Reducing Support

As you get more comfortable, the goal is to rely less on your support anchor. You can also start practicing the "passive squat." If you still can't keep your heels down, place a small book or a rolled-up towel under them. Sit down into your squat with this support.

The goal is to simply spend time in this position. Try holding it for a minute while you check your phone or watch TV. Over time, you can use a smaller and smaller book, until one day, you don't need it at all.

This is not a workout. This is a restoration project. A few minutes sprinkled throughout your day is far more effective than one heroic, hour-long session once a week. Be consistent. Be patient. Listen to your body.

One day, sooner than you think, you will lower yourself down and find that your heels stay connected to the earth, your back is relaxed, and your hips are resting comfortably below your knees. You will have reclaimed your foundation. You will have remembered the language of the ground.

In Part 3, we will build on this foundation, exploring the next chapter in our developmental story: the powerful, core-building movements of rolling, rocking, and crawling.