Hindu Squats

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 28, 2006 10:49

Yes Mat I strongly agree: you cannot improve your leg strength by only doing hindu squats.

what's this then?

My goals are to strengthen my knees and every other muscles that have something to do with knees so almost all of the leg muscles.

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Jan 28, 2006 11:05

backinjured wrote:
Yes Mat I strongly agree: you cannot improve your leg strength by only doing hindu squats.

what's this then?

That is a quote refering to developing strength,not strengthening.

My personal opinion(so i am by no means saying i'm right) is that there is a difference between strengthening and developing strength.

Hindu squats can strengthen the tendons/ligaments/muscles but that doesn't have to translate as more strength.

If you want to develop max strength then you need to work against greater resistance not perform more reps.

Dragon.

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 28, 2006 11:20

Ok but in which situation more leg strength would be useful? I mean more than what Hindu Squats give let's say after a year of training in Hindu Squats. Except for body building or lifting competition, in what more leg strenth is useful? Will it still help to strengthen the ligaments, tendons, etc or hindu squats are more than enough for this purpose?

dragon · Post by **dragon** » Jan 28, 2006 11:26

I can only speak for myself,but i found increased strength (gained from power lifting type lifting,not bodybuilding) translated into greater explosive strength/more power.

Dragon.

CrazyBoy · Post by **CrazyBoy** » Jan 28, 2006 11:37

Backinjured, from what you say you need to strengthen the knees as you have knee problems: start with hindu squats until you fix your problems, but be aware that if done wrong those bodyweight squats will be harmfull. After you strengthened the knees, move on to resistance exercises, depending on the sports you practice. Maybe I am wrong, but I remember Mr Kurz suggesting this in one of his columns (don't know which one at the moment).

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 28, 2006 12:48

So what would be your tips to make sure my hindu squats are done the way they're supposed to be done?

mat · Post by **mat** » Jan 28, 2006 13:03

backinjured wrote:So what would be your tips to make sure my hindu squats are done the way they're supposed to be done?

To strengthen your legs/knees and build a reasonable amount of leg strength, you need to practise hindu squats every day. Once a week is not enough.

Crazyboy can do a lot of Hindu squats, but that is because he's been doing a variety of other leg exercises as well.

Mat

CrazyBoy · Post by **CrazyBoy** » Jan 28, 2006 13:35

Yes Mat, you must do them daily if you want to see improvement. And yes, besides hindu squats I also did resistance exercises at the gym.
The tips you need can be found on either Mr Kurz's columns (http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch22.html) or on Matt Furey's site.

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 28, 2006 16:09

Is everyday like 50 to 100 reps and once a week up to as many as I can stand enough? or should I do even more than 100 every normal days?

mat · Post by **mat** » Jan 28, 2006 16:37

backinjured wrote:Is everyday like 50 to 100 reps and once a week up to as many as I can stand enough? or should I do even more than 100 every normal days?

Just do as many as you comfortably can. I started by doing 30-40 a day and after 3 weeks I was doing 100 every day. After a while I would usually do 100-150 most days, once a week I would manage 300-400, and the day after that I would be a little sore so I'd only do 50. It took about 2 months to get to 400 reps in one set, I stopped doing them regularly after that as I wanted to try other leg exercises.

If you have knee pain you may need to start with even fewer reps but the principle is the same - keep doing some daily and you will find that your reps go up gradually.

Mat

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 29, 2006 15:13

Ok thanks

And what about holding dumbbells while doing hindu squats? Do you think this way someone can gain strength? Would it be enough weight training for leg strength? Or should one must really add other exercises?

mat · Post by **mat** » Jan 29, 2006 16:21

backinjured wrote:Ok thanks

And what about holding dumbbells while doing hindu squats? Do you think this way someone can gain strength? Would it be enough weight training for leg strength? Or should one must really add other exercises?

Holding dumbells - not sure about this, my instinct is that it wouldnt make much difference, but then I've never tried it myself.

If you're doing hindu squats every day, I'd stick with these until you can do at least 300 in one set, then move onto other leg exercises if you want. If you want to do hindu squats once a week, you definitely need to do other exercises as well. Im sure crazyboy can advise on this as this is what he does.

Mat

backinjured · Post by **backinjured** » Jan 29, 2006 17:07

yeah yeah I'll wait till I'm good at bodyweight hindu squats but when I'll reach 300 or more, maybe could I add weight. I'm not certain of this but I believe Thomas Kurz is doing so in his video Secrets of Stretching, no? Well at least I remember seeing someone performing squats with dumbbells.

mat · Post by **mat** » Jan 29, 2006 18:54

backinjured wrote:maybe could I add weight.

Not a good idea - hindu squats are done on the toes with feet together, they are designed to be a bodyweight exercise. If you move onto squats with weights, do proper traditional weight-training squats with barbells - the type that Mr. Kurz recommends, which I think is what you see in the videos etc. In these you keep your feet flat on the ground, providing stability for the extra weight.

Mat

Post by **Thomas Kurz** » Jan 29, 2006 19:10

backinjured wrote:yeah yeah I'll wait till I'm good at bodyweight hindu squats but when I'll reach 300 or more, maybe could I add weight. I'm not certain of this but I believe Thomas Kurz is doing so in his video Secrets of Stretching, no? Well at least I remember seeing someone performing squats with dumbbells.

Holding dumbbells in hands and doing squats does not make them Hindu squats. You miss the point of Hindu squats.

If weights are added to Hindu squats they are put on one's neck or on the trunk.

What is this business with asking what will happen when ... ? First get there, then you will know what can or should be done.