Owning the flat-footed squat is kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure-book. From mobility and strength to coordination, the squat sets you up to develop a broad base of athleticism. Now that we’ve established how to go about finding comfort in the flat-footed squat, I want to share a few ways to continue your progress. Think of your squat as home base. You can explore quite a bit from there. How far you take it is entirely up to you.
Coordination
The squat alone requires solid body organization. But it’s also a perfect starting point to learn some fundamental tumbling skills. For the time being we’ll stick with two, the front roll and the back roll. In the video below you’ll see how to perform the basics, but there are a few guidelines to keep in mind:
- Avoid rolling directly along the spine. Instead think about rolling from opposite shoulder to hip, as if you had an X along the back of the body.
- Tuck the head. The more you curl yourself into a ball, the smoother your roll will be.
- When in doubt, slow it down. Own the movement slowly before going full speed.
- A bit of dizziness is normal when first starting. Excessive nausea is not.
Strength
To work on strength from the squat, explore the crow pose. You might be familiar with this basic hand balancing position from yoga class. It’s a foundational element when it comes to developing the handstand and handstand pushup. You’ll build up wrist strength and open the door to more advanced skills. Put the crow to use by building up to minimum sets of 30 seconds. Then you can explore the advanced variations with more ease.
Check out the details here:
