Screw your standing desk. How about squatting? • Hacker News Board

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#51

Post by vidarh » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:39 PM UTC

quarterto wrote: post #4

After wading through the article's obnoxious style, we see it provides no tangible arguments against standing, nor for squatting. In fact, the only argument against standing is that it's uncomfortable, and then the rest of the article is spent explaining how to make squatting less uncomfortable. Squatting for more than 5 minutes would probably make my knees explode.

I do power lifting, and had significant problems with my squats until I spent a few weeks practicing asian squats and generally improving my hip mobility. I still can't stay in a squat position nearly as long as my four year old son, but it's been steadily improving.

When I started squatting, my knees were so weak I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without pain. I finally started exercising because my doctor gave me a look of disdain, handed me a sheet of basic exercises and told me to get out (edit: when I went to her to ask about my knee pain...)

I'm not going to argue for (or against) working in squatting position, but squats done properly are not going to hurt your knees.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#52

Post by MichaelTieso » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

Squatting itself is common in China. After a year in China, I got use to squat toilets although I still preferred toilets. But I found it odd when they would squat in the middle of the sidewalk or street and be so close to the ground. The Chinese swear by it though that it's healthy for your knees and back if you squat.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#53

Post by vidarh » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:45 PM UTC

devcpp wrote: post #46

swombat wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly because you don't squat properly and/or aren't used to squatting... In China, until recently, all toilets were basically squatting toilets, yet octogenarians had no issue squatting to use them... how old are you that you can't do for 5 minutes what an 80 year old can do several times a day?

Same goes for sitting toilets though. And we still don't have any arguments supporting either position. I do squat for a few minutes every day to facilitate my squat lifting workout but don't see an inherent benefit. I suppose one can argue that it has been a natural movement for so long that our bodies may be genetically designed for it.

Look at young children, and see how effortlessly they can sit for ages in squat positions while playing. After I started fixing my squat for lifting, I've noticed I now often naturally squat down instead of awkwardly contorting myself when playing with my son for example.

My mobility is still poor compared to what it was when I was a child, but at 38 I'm now finally more flexible again than I was at 25, maybe more so than at 20, and it's great to not feel constrained by weird movement patterns.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#54

Post by jackgavigan » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:48 PM UTC

I'd love to be able to do this but I can't keep my centre of gravity over my feet if I put my feet flat on the floor (no matter how widely I spread my knees), so I just end up toppling over backwards. If I do it with my back against a wall, my knees start to hurt after about 30 seconds. I just don't think my body is designed to squat like that. Or do the lotus position, for that matter.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#55

Post by JshWright » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:48 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #34

eterm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they have less back problems or just less reporting of back problems? Culture is a complex thing, so is health. The intersection of them I wouldn't trust in the hands of laymen or self-proclaimed experts.

Apparently its almost unheard of in some cultures to have any sort of back problems, even after decades of physical labor etc. The premise of the book is that the reason for this is that these people are using their spines and posture in a more natural fashion, which leverages the structure of the spine better, but we don't do it in the West as the result of a kind of cultural revolt against victorian era posture nor…

> Apparently

It's not readily apparent to those of us asking for proof...

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#56

Post by placeybordeaux » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

nawitus wrote: post #13

>what’s with the racism, yo? That's not racism, it's a valid observation.

Thats not a serious, it's a joke.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#57

Post by iopq » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

my proportions don't let me do this, I have very long legs, I'm 6'4" and have a medium length torso and my extra height is in legs

with such extreme proportions it's not possible to do it comfortably since I need to squat inside my knees so I need to turn the knees outside to squat between them

this is probably not very healthy

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#58

Post by khafra » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:51 PM UTC

sdegutis wrote: post #26

I can't seem to balance as I squat with feet flat on the ground. This is hard. My kids (esp. baby) can do it just fine though. And I won't be outdone by a bunch of tiny humans!

It could be tendons that need stretching; but it could also be inherent anatomical differences. I have curved shins, which pushes everything from the knee up a few inches backward when I try to squat. It's physically impossible for me to do a heels-down squat without bending my back to lean forward between my knees.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#59

Post by rwhitman » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:51 PM UTC

quarterto wrote: post #4

After wading through the article's obnoxious style, we see it provides no tangible arguments against standing, nor for squatting. In fact, the only argument against standing is that it's uncomfortable, and then the rest of the article is spent explaining how to make squatting less uncomfortable. Squatting for more than 5 minutes would probably make my knees explode.

Its also mostly a tongue in cheek joke, if you didn't get that.

Re: Screw your standing desk. How about squatting?

#60

Post by vidarh » Thu, Jan 30, 2014, 4:52 PM UTC

PagingCraig wrote: post #45

Trying to take an unconditioned person and telling them to hold a deep squat like that for hours = injuries all over. They'll lack ankle flexibility and whatnot.

A person unused to squatting will often have problems holding a squat for 30 seconds, if able to get down into a squat in the first place. I very much doubt that injuries would be a problem simply because the position is nearly impossible to hold for prolonged periods until you've developed the flexibility needed.