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August 14, 2007

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>> Dear Mr Kurz,
>
> I have been a fan of yours ever since I bought a copy of your stretching
> book. I was hoping you could find time to answer a question of mine about
> Hindu Squats.
>
> Recently, to supplement my Yoga practice (I am a beginner) I began doing
> Hindu Squats and Hindu Push ups. I have since been told that Hindu Squats
> are bad for the knees and I could be causing long term damage by doing them
> regularly as the knee goes past the toe in the squat motion. I was further
> told that Indian wrestlers would have crippling knee problems in later life
> from performing so many of these types of squats.
>
> I came across an article of yours here:
>
> http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch22.html
>
> Where you advocate Hindu squats. I have searched the internet and despite
> finding critics of the hindu squat it all seems to be mere opinion with no
> real data to back it up. I was hoping you could give me advice as to
> whether the Hindu Squat (when performed correctly) is a safe exercise?
>
> Many thanks
>
> - Rod

Answer:
You say you were “told that Indian wrestlers would have crippling
knee problems in later life from performing so many of these types
of squats.”

So, would they or will they? Who's telling and what data on Indian
wrestlers supports that claim? Isn't it possible that those
telling this just wish the Indian wrestlers would have knee
problems, so the “tellers” have an excuse to remain being wimps?

Indian wrestling has been around, oh, since about 1500 B.C. Since
180 years at the very least, what is today considered the
traditional training method with large numbers of Hindu squats
performed daily, has been followed by many thousands of wrestlers.
If these squats were so detrimental, they would have noticed, don't
you think?

For guidance on how to select exercises and loads read my columns
titled “Good Exercises and Bad Exercises” and “Rules of Thumb for
Conditioning” at http://www.stadion.com/column.html.

I addition, consider what I wrote in a reply to someone worrying
about adverse effects of some exercises on Stadion's Discussion
Forum: that sports training is not a one time event—it is a process with
many variables that can be controlled. (For the slow of mind, an
explanation: You feel what you do and adjust your exercises
accordingly to the guiding principles in the columns mentioned
above.)

Sincerely,

Thomas Kurz

P.S.
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and performance problems on Stadion's Sports and Martial Arts
Training Discussion Forum at http://www.stadion.com/phpBB3.

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