How Good Would You Look From 400 Squats a Day - Just Stop Unhealthy Bending
Imagine how good your legs would look if you did 400 squats and lunges a day, and how many calories you would burn. Using your legs would strengthen them and reduce risk of both osteoporosis and arthritis. It has been found that a major predisposing factor of knee arthritis is weak thighs.
Now remember how many times a day you bend for ordinary household and work activities. It is more than you think. Some time ago I did an intensive tracking of how many times a day the average person bends. I also put my graduate students on this as a formal study. This kind of counting is a grad student specialty. Many of my other students wanted to count also.
We all found about the same thing. The average sedentary person bends an average of 100-200 times a day just getting things out of the refrigerator, dishwasher, closets, washing, and doing other little things around the house or workplace. The average nonsedentary (but still not active) person bends 200-400 times a day. The average fidgety and active person bends over 500 times a day.
Now realize how many times a day you are hurting your back and missing free exercise by bending over in unhealthy ways, as in the photo, above left. Leaning over all day is also a factor in neck pain. If you only burned half a calorie each time you bent properly, keeping your body upright, and bending knees, you would get a lot of exercise. You would not have to change clothes or go to a gym or pay a trainer. You would not have to take pills because you make your back ache. You would not have to do anything except live your life. You life is supposed to be healthy. You are not supposed to stop your life to go "do exercise." It is a sad thing to see people do squats and lunges in a gym, then bend over wrong to put their weights down, and bend wrong again to pick up their things to leave.
When you bend, keep your upper body upright. When you are bending with feet side by side (squat bend), keep both heels down and your weight back over your heels to keep your weight on your leg muscles and off your knee joints. Don't stick your behind far out in back. In these ways, healthy bending saves your back and gives much exercise without going to a gym, and helps, not hurts, your knees. Healthy bending is life changing.
Next: Change painful to healthful bending for real daily life. Changing exercise to healthy medicine - Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending.
Labels: achilles stretch, arthritis, fix pain, hip, hip stretch, leg strength, leg stretch, lower back, lunge, osteoporosis, posture, squat, strength, weight loss
14 Comments:
At Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:28:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Can you tell me how many calories a 120 lb. person would burn with each squat?
At Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:31:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
How would you recommend bending if you need to go all the way to the floor (e.g. to pick up an object)?
At Friday, October 06, 2006 1:55:00 AM,
Healthline said…
Sarah, Exactly the same way.
The squat bend is one of two main healthy ways to bend for everything at work and home. The other is using a lunge with one foot in front and the other in back. I will post on that.
Use the good bending in this and the next post (Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending) to go all the way to the floor to pick up laundry, pet dishes, babies, clothes, coins, and everything else that winds up there. Much built-in leg exercise and stretch during every day life. Good that you asked this.
At Friday, October 06, 2006 12:07:00 PM,
Healthline said…
Laura, It's hard to measure exactly. I've estimated this informally a few times in different lab situations. If you bend so that your hands reach the floor as if to pick something up, and back up using muscles, not shifting weight to your knees and spine the way so many people do in exercise class, it may be close to half a calorie each time. More if you are lifting the baby, bags of mulch, or the St. Bernard. I figured the half-calorie estimate based on someone between 140-160 pounds as an average for Westerners. For your 120 pound example, if you want an easy number, figure about 1/3 calorie each. With an average of 400 a day, you could lose a pound a month by not doing anything extra except stop hurting your back by bending right. Or prevent weight gain with winter coming.
If anyone with access to oxygen consumption calorimetry would like to do a study let me know. Students?
At Friday, January 04, 2008 1:03:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
HI,
I AM VERY WEEK SINCE I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A DISORDER.I STARTED TO GO TO THE GYM BECAUSE I STARTED FALLING AND GOING FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER. I AM DOING SOME WHAT BETTER BUT MY BACK AND KNEES HURT A LOT. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW OF SOME WAYS TO GET STARTED AND NOT HURT MY SELF DOING IT.
At Friday, January 04, 2008 2:30:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Hello Anonymous, sorry you are hurting. It is easy to fix up. You have come to the right place.
Start with
What is "Fitness as a Lifestyle?"
and try
Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending.
Feel better and feel encouraged.
At Friday, August 15, 2008 8:03:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
I am 65 yrs. old and haven't been able to squat for 10 years now. My knees (front and behind) just give way and I fall over. I've always been athletic, but now I feel so old because of this. what else can I do?
At Friday, August 15, 2008 1:39:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Anonymous, if this is a "use or lose" situation from lack of muscle use, it can be quickly reversed. What happens when you try to bend right just a bit? Many times a day will strengthen and train the motion. Hold something to get started, then find that bending right will practice and promote needed balance too. Then the next week, bend a bit further. Bending right is a normal necessary life movement that gives built-in health activity. Click Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending for step-by-step guide. Keep us posted.
At Saturday, February 21, 2009 8:56:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Someone asked before: How would you recommend bending if you need to go all the way to the floor (e.g. to pick up an object)? I tried to do a squat and my hand is nor reaching the floor unless I am putting knees before my toes. Can you post a picture of someone picking up the thing from the floor in correct way? It is hard to use cartoon character since it does not show cartoon's hand on the floor. Same for a lunge - my knee has to go in front of the toe and only then I can reach a floor.
At Friday, March 13, 2009 6:07:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Hello Anonymous, bending lower is the same. Keep your heels down instead of rocking weight forward. By doing, you will gain the Achilles flexibility, balance, and thigh strength needed.
Hope that you have found the several Fitness Fixer dozen posts with graphics showing healthy bending to reach the floor. One is Household Fitness in the New Year.
There is a short movie in the post Fast Fitness - Isometric Abs Training showing normal healthy bending to the floor for a baby, then after functional real-life exercise, rising to a stand using leg strength and balance, not needing push-off from hands.
Take some side-view photos or look in a mirror to help you learn how it feels compared to how it looks (gain kinesthetic sense). Practice using real life and good mechanics until your body becomes used to normal motion. This is far more important than doing artificial exercises in a gym then going back to unhealthful movement all the rest of the day.
At Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:33:00 AM,
Tony P said…
Wow. I'm so glad I've found this blog (it is a "blog, right?) I'm a 44 year old male, who has done blue collar work his whole life. Because of chronic neck, shoulder, low-back and knee pain I stopped doing that and am now in college for the first time (and doing really well). I thought trading work for school would fix everything but, no, in fact my pain has increased (probably no surprise to you). Anyway - regarding proper bending: It does feel so right to bend as you've instructed here - except on my knees. Are there some people whose knees are bad enough (they hurt, that's all; no major injuries) that this style of proper bending is detrimental? Thanks again!
At Thursday, July 02, 2009 2:23:00 PM,
Tony P said…
Wow. I'm so glad I've found this blog. I'm a 44 year old male, who has done blue collar work his whole life. Because of chronic neck, shoulder, low-back and knee pain I stopped doing that and am now in college for the first time (and doing really well). I thought trading work for school would fix everything but, no, in fact my pain has increased (probably no surprise to you). Anyway - regarding proper bending: It does feel so right to bend as you've instructed here - except on my knees. Are there some people whose knees are bad enough (they hurt, that's all; no major injuries) that this style of proper bending is detrimental? Thanks again!
At Thursday, July 02, 2009 3:07:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Tony P, Good start. Good bending (done right) helps knees too.
Click the link for the post Free Exercise and Free Back and Knee Pain Prevention - Healthy Bending in the comments above for illustrations and descriptions.
See my reply to "Dada" about knee position in the comments of Aren't You Supposed To Stick Your Behind Out to Sit Down or Do Squats?. Try it yourself. When done right, you will feel weight shift off your knees, and pain stop. Better thigh and hip exercise.
Use this for bending along with other good bending covered in Fitness Fixer, my website, and book.
I get hundreds more questions daily. Use all the links. There are hundreds to answer questions right away. Use your brain and do what makes things better, not worse. What a new medical idea :-)
At Monday, January 18, 2010 3:13:00 AM,
whats in a name said…
squats are the best and most important movement to be incorporated in ur exercise schedule
while goin up, keep the weight on heels, use ur glute/ham musculature
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