Published April 17, 2026
Every toddler on earth can do a perfect deep squat. Flat feet, upright torso, full depth. Then we spend the next 30 years sitting in chairs and driving cars until we can barely get off the toilet without grabbing the counter.
Squatting isn't a gym exercise. It's a human movement pattern. And if you lose it, you lose your independence.
The number one reason people end up in assisted living isn't heart disease or dementia. It's falling. They fall because their legs are weak. Their legs are weak because they stopped using them decades ago.
If you can't squat to a chair without using your hands at 70, you can't use a toilet alone. You can't get off the floor if you fall. You can't play with your grandkids. Your quality of life is directly tied to your ability to squat. This isn't gym bro stuff. This is basic human function.
Getting out of bed. Sitting down to eat. Getting in and out of your car. Picking something up off the floor. Every single one of those is a squat pattern. You're already doing it -- you're just doing it badly and getting worse at it every year.
Training the squat doesn't add something foreign to your life. It makes the things you already do easier and safer.
If you can't do a full bodyweight squat right now, that's fine. Sit down on a chair and stand back up without using your hands. Do that 10 times. That's a squat workout. Do it every day for a week, then use a lower surface. A bench. A step. Eventually, no surface at all.
If your knees hurt, go slower and don't go as deep. If your ankles are stiff, elevate your heels on a small plate or a book. These aren't excuses to skip it. They're modifications so you can actually do it.
I've squatted heavy. I've competed in powerlifting. And I'm here to tell you that a 65-year-old who can do 20 bodyweight squats with good form is more impressive to me than a 25-year-old grinding out a sloppy max.
The goal isn't a number on a bar. The goal is maintaining the movement pattern for life. Can you sit down and stand up without assistance? Can you pick up a bag of groceries from the floor? Can you get up if you fall? That's the test that matters.
You don't need a special squat day. You don't need a squat rack. Do 10 squats every morning when you wake up. Do 10 before every meal. Do them during commercial breaks. Make it so automatic you don't think about it.
Twenty years from now, you'll either be the person who can still move freely or the person who needs help getting out of a chair. The difference is what you do today. So squat, dumbass.