
To solve problems caused by sitting, learn to squat (2017) - ValentineC
https://quartzy.qz.com/1121077/to-solve-problems-caused-by-sitting-learn-to-squat/
======
jbaudanza
I used to have terrible "programmer" posture. It's still not great, but it's
way better. I credit a regular routine of loaded barbell squats with an
experienced trainer. I think part of the progress is because I got stronger,
but part of the progress is because the squat would point out quirks in my
body that simply had to be fixed in order to continue progressing.

There's only so much of "try to sit up straight" before you just go back to
sitting the way your body has adapted to sit. In general, your body doesn't
want to change. You need to provide some sort of external stress that forces
an adaptation. Squats are great for this.

~~~
ehnto
Likewise. I have been powerlifting for over 7 years now and there are things
about my body I would have never realised until they had gotten much worse.
Like that I always leaned slightly to the left because of how I had my mouse,
and I had a way overdeveloped right spinal erector and funky core because of
it. Likewise still not perfect, but simply leagues ahead of my former physical
self.

I wouldn't recommend powerlifting to everyone, but some kind of weight
training and especially the squat and deadlift. You can pick a weight training
style to suit your goals though. I have moved to a more powerlifting /
bodybuilding regiment as I have reached the strength level I am happy with at
my current bodyweight.

~~~
dvtv75
If someone reading this is going to use resistance training to "fix" their
weaknesses, it's important to have a trainer assist as they can pick poor
technique when you think you're doing it perfectly.

For example, I used to be a fencer, and as a result my left leg was much
stronger than my right. I thought I was doing squats correctly, but a trainer
spotted that I was tilting my hips as I was doing the exercise.

~~~
jbaudanza
This is definitely true. And finding a good trainer is difficult. For my SF
friends, I've worked with Linda Chungchootairong at www.opengymsf.com before.
She's an accomplished competitive powerlifter and olympic lifter. She can make
sure your squat is on point. She also has a sick deadlift.

------
psergeant
I live in Thailand. People can squat here. People have all sorts of sitting
and office injuries just like in the West.

~~~
lazyjones
Perhaps we need squatting tables, not toilets. Apparently standing desks won't
fix all health problems ...
[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/28/is-a-
st...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/28/is-a-stand-up-
desk-really-healthier)

~~~
kbart
Any fixed, static posture is bad for prolonged times. You need to move (a lot)
to stay healthy.

~~~
sk1pper
What’s the solution for those of us (probably everyone here) that spend 8+
hours a day on the computer then, if not a standup desk?

~~~
Jtsummers
Find a reason to get up and move.

Drink water, refill it when empty, go to the bathroom more frequently as a
result.

Take breaks to go outside and lap the building or parking lot a couple times a
day. When I worked with smokers, I would take a break every time they did,
though I'd go for a walk instead. That worked out particularly well because
when a boss tried to call me on it I asked why the smokers were able to take
so many breaks but I wasn't (I was outside for no longer than they were, and
often less time as I aimed to complete the lap quickly, not leisurely).

Collaborate with colleagues in person rather than via your office's messaging
app when possible. Not to the point of disrupting them, but if they ask you a
question that is reasonably complicated, go to them and communicate it in
person. If they're free to answer yours, go to them and hear the answer.

I don't know about the other people here, but I'm not coding, documenting,
etc. for 8 hours a day. It's maybe 4 hours a day with the rest being
communication and thinking time.

------
stef25
Any position maintained for long periods of time is a stress on your muscles
(sitting, squatting, ...).

People tend to think that sitting is "not doing anything" but your muscles ARE
working to keep you upright. The wonkier you're sitting, the worse the effects
will be.

I struggled with lower back pain for over 5 years, visited lots of doctors /
physios / chiropractors and nobody could give any decent advice. "You're too
old" (at 38!), "it's the electromagnetic rays from your computer screen!".

In the end what helped me was a routine of body strength exercises that I
developed myself from online research and with the help of a young physio who
finally knew what he was doing.

I'm now basically pain free, as long as I do my routine 2 or ideally 3x per
week.

I highly recommend anyone struggling with lower back pain to build up a simple
routing of core strengthening exercises.

~~~
maccard
> I highly recommend anyone struggling with lower back pain to build up a
> simple routing of core strengthening exercises.

As someone who tried this, I'd recommend seeing a medical professional to
ensure it's actually going to help first. I made things far far worse before
getting help and making them better.

~~~
sethammons
Can you go into more detail? What made things worse? What made them better?
Obviously what worked for you might not work for others, but concrete X's and
Y's could inspire someone to follow the advice of talking to a medical
professional.

My knee jerk reaction is that I don't trust the family doctor to really know
much bio-mechanical stuff and will trust a well-referred fitness coach. Maybe
you meant you saw a physical therapist?

~~~
maccard
Sure - but caveating this with "Don't take medical advice from strangers on
the internet" (Which was kind of my point).

I've had lower back pain on and off my entire adult life. When I started
investigating how to fix it, I came to the (same) conclusion that
strengthening my core muscles would help - as someone who trained quite
heavily I was confident in my ability to perform basic core exercises without
injuring myself [0]. These only exacerbated the problem, and after 2 weeks of
doing them I was bed ridden, and in agony.

I had been to a GP who referred me to a neurosurgeon that I was able to get
temporary relief from by multiple epidurals, and some severe pain relief
medication. Got better again after a few weeks, and I ignored it for 18 months
until it came back. Took an experimental procedure that bought me another 18
months. I then saw a physiotherapist who walked me through some of the basic
exercises that they give to people who are recovering from spinal fusion
(which I had been referred for but held off on). I still get waves of lower
back pain every few months, but I'm aware of the early symptoms, and can begin
with the PT exercises for a few weeks at a time, until they subside (which
they have done every time so far).

Overall, it was about finding what worked for me, as you said, but I
definitely wouldn't recommend making that journey on your own.

[0] offhand, cannot remember exactly what I did, but would have been some
basic version of some of the exercises from
[https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-
lifestyle/fitness/multime...](https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-
lifestyle/fitness/multimedia/core-strength/sls-20076575)

~~~
sethammons
Thanks for the added color!

------
drewnoakes
In my travels I've gone from fear of a latrine-style loo to enjoying them
enough to consider installing one in my home in England. I'm not exactly sure
what it is, but it just feels better for my body somehow to hold a more folded
posture.

My challenge is flexibility. I did yoga for three years, twice a week, and
while the whole of my body became much more flexible (amongst other benefits)
my ankles did not yield very much at all. If I try to squat on a level
surface, I have to force my arms forward to maintain balance, and it's not
comfortable at all.

In Iran several toilets had slightly angled surfaces for the feet. With the
toes pointing downwards just a few degrees from level, it was very
comfortable.

My wife is from South Korea, a country where squatting in the home is still
practiced regularly, especially by the older generations. It always struck me
as a very relaxing way of passing the time, though I couldn't quite do it.

Perhaps there is a physiological aspect to this too. Japanese and Korean
people appear to have different skeletal proportions to Europeans. I'm curious
if this changes anything, or whether it's just a matter of culture/practice.

~~~
dmos62
I don't think the ability to squat comfortably depends on race. For example,
Soviet (so Eastern Bloc as well) prisons had a culture of squatting, due to
overcrowding. Sometimes you still spot an older man squatting, like he could
do it all day.

To predict a Westerner's skeletal inflexibility, I think it's enough to ask if
he took up activities that required flexibility at an early age. In Japanese
and Korean cultures that's plain squatting and sitting on your heels. Not that
there aren't different kinds of flexibility. By Westerner, I mean someone with
an excessively sedentary lifestyle.

~~~
n4r9
> I don't think the ability to squat comfortably depends on race.

I agree with this. However, I reckon that the ability to perform heavy squats
does depend slightly on race. For example, short femurs provide beneficial
leverage, and Asians tend to have shorter femurs than other races on average.
I think this goes a little way towards explaining the dominance of China in
Olympic weightlifting. If you look at the Lü Xiaojun, he has the perfect
proportions for squatting and associated movements.

------
krzat
For lazy/shy people like me I recommend bodyweight fitness. Reddit has some
nice community for that. Various core drills and stretching (back bends,
lounges, squat) cured my back pain.

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
I'd still recommend learning to squat under load. I'm fine under my own body
weight. Put a bar on my back and problems show themselves again.

~~~
mattferderer
If it's your back your worried about, I would recommend deadlifts over squats.
They're much easier to do from a technique standpoint & have less risk. Also
squats are more for leg strength. Deadlifts are great for your back and also
work several other muscles, including your legs.

Squats are great for building leg strength but have a high risk of back & knee
injury under heavy loads if done incorrectly. Even if you do them correctly, a
heavy load might force you to lean forward which can damage your back. There
are much safer lifts for those of us who aren't experts, such as hex bar
squats.

~~~
dpark
> _Even if you do them correctly, a heavy load might force you to lean forward
> which can damage your back._

Leaning forward damages your back? Then why are you suggesting deadlifts?

Squats are not hard to do correctly. Risk of injury is probably not higher
than deadlifts. And squats work more than just legs. They do work the legs
hard, but they also work the back. Front squats will also work the upper back
quite a bit.

~~~
mattferderer
It appears "leaning forward" was not a great phrase to use. I meant to say it
may force you to lean forward an additional amount into a bad position where
you need to lean backwards to correct it. This is where hurting your back
would occur.

I agree, front squats are great! But I personally feel squats do minimal to
back muscles.

~~~
dpark
Those back muscles are doing a ton of work keeping you from falling forward.
They don't work as much in the squat as in the deadlift, but they still do a
lot of work in the squat.

The amount of work the lower back does is directly related to how far forward
the body leans (at the hips; I'm assuming we're not discussing bent-back
lifts). The lower back does a lot of work in a deadlift to counteract the
torque the weight creates via the upper body lean. In a low-back back squat,
the amount of work the lower body does is reduced somewhat because the lean
and therefore the torque reduced. It's reduced even further in a high-bar
squat, and in a front squat the back muscles are mostly doing isometric work
in conjuction with the abs to keep your spine from collapsing.

Even if your squat form is bad and you're leaning excessively, you're probably
not putting more stress on your back than in a deadlift. Unless maybe you're
dive-bombing your squats and letting your lower back round a ton at the
bottom.

------
grondilu
I'm forty and I can't do it. Like at all. I don't remember ever being able to
do it.

The main problem is that my ankles are not flexible enough. When I try to
squat, my heels inevitably raise above the ground so that I find myself
resting on my tiptoes, struggling to keep my balance.

~~~
PakG1
Don't keep your feet parallel. Keep them in a V-shape, with heels pointing
towards each other. Much easier.

~~~
cperciva
Be careful about this. My doctor pointed out to me last year that I was
pointing my feet outwards (or my heels together, as your say), and suggested
that I try not doing that. Within a few weeks, decade-old problems with my
right knee had vanished -- the angle of my feet when I was walking had been
straining the inner side of my knee.

~~~
vidarh
The angle of the feet is not so much a risk as whether or not your knees move
in the direction your feet are pointing. If you feet are at an angle to your
knee movement, then, yes, you will very much hurt your knee.

Your doctor was probably right to give that advise for walking.

But when lifting weights it is a much more stable position for many, and as
long as you ensure your knees track a line over your feet rather than at an
angle it's not generally a problem.

------
eggy
I lived in SE Asia for 8 years, and I learned to squat again. It does open up
your hips. At first I couldn't do it without almost falling backwards, but
then I worked up to where I could squat for over 5 minutes in ease. Now that I
am back to the US, I have gained 25 lb. in one year. I am vegetarian, and
still eat healthy, no junk, but I eat more. I had to start my exercise program
up again, since I am back to an office job whereas in SE Asia I was doing
50-50 office/physical labor. Squatting loosens my hips, and generally seems to
make me feel better if done more often. I go outside at work and walk a half
mile, and squat at lunch for 10 minutes in the sun if it's out.

------
orasis
For body weight animal movement stuff I’m loving
[https://gmb.io](https://gmb.io)

I can hold a low squat indefinitely now because of it and my neck and back
feel amazing!

~~~
dustinlocke
How long have you been doing this? Looks interesting.

~~~
orasis
9 months. 3 thumbs up!

------
roystonvassey
Since the beginning of this year, I have begun to squat (and sit on my
haunches) for 15 minutes daily. The target is to do this comfortably for at
least 30 minutes by the end of the year. In my country (India), in the
villages, you are likely to see people sit like this, even into their 90s.
Meanwhile, here I am, in mid 30s, unable to do this even for 5 minutes,
complaining of knee and back problems.

~~~
singularity2001
I wonder how it can be healthy for knees and bloodflow at all, given the
squashed and torqued position of the knees

~~~
peteretep
If the knees are taking a lot of strain, you're not distributing your weight
properly

~~~
singularity2001
the angle remains the same

------
rukuu_001
I remember the profound shock during a study exchange to east Asia when I
realised I'd have to spend a year on squat toilets.

Took a couple months to feel 'safe', and not have to constantly check my pants
weren't in the way.

Never got comfortable enough to read on the toilet.

~~~
fyfy18
> not have to constantly check my pants weren't in the way

My issue was my trousers kept falling on the wet floor. In the end I just took
them off whenever I needed to go :D

------
turc1656
Thanks for this. I've been wondering how to better help my legs and general
body health. I go to the gym regularly and I'm in pretty good shape, but I
_know_ there is some ongoing issue with my legs related to sitting all day.
Wasn't sure how to tackle it - I started doing more leg exercises and even
squats (but only up to 90 degrees). This article make it clear that I need to
do a few different types of squats to get the real benefit. My legs have been
scrawny chicken legs for years because of sitting at a desk all damn day. And
it surely doesn't help that I cross one leg under the other half the time and
alternate throughout the day. My legs feel slightly numb sometimes which I
know is terrible. My leg muscles have atrophied to a large extent and I
suspect that there is even a blood flow / circulation issue all surrounding
the "use it or lose it" concept. I'm not sure if it's possible, but maybe my
veins or arteries also got smaller from lack of use. I've noticed my legs get
fatigued much quicker and take longer to recover.

It's been very difficult to get full function back, so for anyone reading this
- try to avoid making the same mistake I did. I overlooked the issue for too
long. I will certainly overcome it, in time, but it sucks and it's a long
process because my body has become used to not needing my legs 95% of the
time.

------
richardknop
And don't forget dead lifts and pull ups. I see a lot of people at the gym
focusing on chest and upper body (biceps, arms, torso) but you need to focus
more on centre of your body and lower back (dead lift), legs (squats, leg
press) and upper back (pull ups).

Bench press is also good but that's it for chest, I wouldn't do more. Squats,
bench press and dead lift as a core of your routine is a good idea. You can
add some other minor components but you should keep focus on the big three.

~~~
kawfey
This article is talking about squatting as an alternative to sitting, not the
exercise.

But to be fair, one should not skip leg day.

~~~
mtberatwork
I'll also add that before embarking on a serious squat regimen one should work
first with a trainer (or friend with good technique) to develop proper squat
form. Squatting is one of those gym exercises that is often underestimated in
its difficulty and is routinely done incorrectly, leading to injury.

------
unicornporn
[https://www.t-nation.com/training/third-world-
squat](https://www.t-nation.com/training/third-world-squat)

------
exodust
Lots of comments here saying "yeh squats are great, do squats." But the
article is not talking about exercise squats! It's talking about "deep
squatting as a form of active rest".

Personally I think squatting as a form of sitting is not going to be happening
too much with larger framed people. Smaller and slimmer people will obviously
have a much easier time of sustaining a sitting squat comfortably.

------
freeloop3
This article doesn't really make a case in my opinion. The only two
justifications seem to be:

> So if a joint doesn’t go through its full range—if the hips and knees never
> go past 90 degrees—the body says ‘I’m not being used’ and starts to
> degenerate and stops the production of synovial fluid.”

And,

> A 2014 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that
> test subjects who showed difficulty getting up off the floor without support
> of hands, or an elbow, or leg (what’s called the “sitting-rising test”)
> resulted in a three-year-shorter life expectancy than subjects who got up
> with ease.

(Study here
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23242910](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23242910))

As far as the first one, I'd say, so what? More fluid means healthier? Why?

As far as the second one, correlation doesn't prove causation. We should stop
pretending this is the case with everything.

~~~
tathougies
I mean if you're fat, you can't do that, and that's a pretty large risk factor
for dying early.

------
vog
I wasn't aware that squatting is such a big deal.

I often find myself squatting while working at my laptop. Frankly, it's just
for a few minutes, because at some point my feet will hurt.

I wonder whether this is just a matter of exercise, or whether squatting for
too long (in that position, with a laptop on the thighs) is unhealthy.

Most often I do this while in public transport, where I don't always find a
seat. It happens rarely within the train but more often at the station, where
the seats are even more limited.

In the beginning, I often looked for a wall to lean my back against. But I
soon discovered that I don't really need it. Walls are cold and, in the end,
they are just a help for balancing.

~~~
unicornporn
May I ask how you are able to rest your laptop on your thighs and work on it
while sitting like this:
[https://shootstreetphotography.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/a...](https://shootstreetphotography.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/asian-
squat.jpg) ?

~~~
vog
Good point. It's not exactly that pose. I move my centroid more to the front,
so the thighs are horizontal.

Unfortunately, I found just one good picture of that kind of squatting
position, which is NRSFW (not-really-safe-for-work):
[https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/woman-weight-scales-
checking...](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/woman-weight-scales-checking-
diet-results-5451533.jpg)

~~~
unicornporn
Ah. That's the type of squat you do when you don't have the ankle mobility
required to do a real squat. :) It is a very stressful position for your feet
and it's probably not possible to sit that way for prolonged periods of time.

------
truculation
Our poor posture and use of the body in the West is partly a side-effect of
our _mental activities_ , in my opinion. Not merely due to sitting. Rather
sitting _and_ performing mental activities whilst partially tranquilised:

e.g. playing video games at a desk whilst sipping coffee/soda/alcohol.

I can't explain why this is but intuitively I think it's to do with our locus
of attention being out of the body and into abstract ideas. In the developing
world their locus is more 'in the body'.

------
nkrisc
This is something I do normally as an adult in the West, but only because for
whatever reason I never got out of the habit from doing it as a child.

It was my default position playing outside in the dirt or the sandbox. I
didn't like getting my clothes dirty so squatting, as opposed to sitting on my
behind or knees, made sense.

These days when I'm working on anything below waist height I'm usually
squatting. People always remark how child-like it looks and I remark how
comfortable and easy on the knees it is.

------
eof
Really interesting. I've always been a squatter for no apparent reason (white,
raised by middle class republicans in california).

I often sit semi-squatted at my computer; basically my feet on the seat and
thighs against my chest. I've actually avoided this consciously since it
seemed like 'bad posture'.

I wonder if I have actually been actively avoiding something I should be doing
more of. It's always felt more comfortable this way.

~~~
tathougies
Am I missing something? -- what would political affiliation have to do with
squatting? Are republicans against squatting?

------
marinacalado
Squatting requires a lot of flexibility, and not only on your hips. Your
ankles need to be supple enough to support that degree. That said, a lot of
"office problems" with posture take time to become minor. Squatting is an
option that works your legs and glutes. But your back needs work too. Complete
sports such as swimming, along with yoga for example could provide good
balance! :)

------
pknerd
Sitting like this is pretty common in sub-continent as majority of people
prefer WC over commode system. Beside that home maids and house women sit in
squat position when cleaning home. We are also being exploited by modern
luxuries hence more and more people suffering from knee and joints problems.

~~~
zaqplm
I am from one of the poorest countries in the world and women no longer squat
to clean houses. There are brooms.

------
ibdf
my goal for this year is to stay more active during work. I'm your typical
American working in small cubicle 8 hours a day in a boring looking office.
Soon January I started doing push ups 6 times during my work day. I start a
set number so, for example 4. And set I add one. So first set is 4 and last
set of the day is 10. Once I'm comfortable doing 9. Then I add one to my
starting point. So start 5 and then end at 10. It has been now nearly two
months and I am starting at 10 and ending at 15. That adds up to 75 push ups
in one day. It's incredible but I couldn't do more than 4 when I first started
and now I can do 15 at once.

Next month I plan to add one other excersise. Either squats or crunches.

------
whiddershins
This idea that it requires lots of flexibility to squat is actually a
pernicious myth.

It is really about the angle of your feet and the width of your stance, most
anyone without a debilitating injury can learn to squat in a few minutes when
given correct instruction.

~~~
vidarh
This depends what you consider "lots of flexibility" and what you consider
"squat".

No, you don't need to be a gymnast but there are still plenty of people for
whom the angle of feet and width of stance is totally insufficient to do a
squat _below parallel_ because they lack the necessary hip flexibility.

If you can touch your toes with straight legs, you can probably squat below
parallel for at least a short while - it's not like it takes a huge amount of
flexibility. But that too still requires weeks of training for a surprising
number of people.

It's not hard to get there, but to write it off as a myth is not helpful.

------
katzgrau
I'm a fairly built 190lb person and I was a baseball catcher as a kid and in
high school. It definitely took a toll on my knees - I wonder if squatting as
rest is also somewhat dependent on humans being a little more wiry than they
are today.

------
tomxor
Interesting, I sit cross-legged quite a bit at work purely because I find
sitting for long periods to be uncomfortable, nice to know it's also better
than sitting for health reasons, i guess it pays to listen to your body.

------
squarefoot
I also have back problems. Weight, age and other problems prevent me to squat
or do most exercises, but I found immediate beneficial effects by consuming
meals standing when I'm alone.

------
z3t4
The best cure for stiff muscles is to trick them to relax. For example doing
concentric movements using the antagonist muscles using light load. For
example pushing water.

------
grondilu
I'm genuinely starting to think people should just lay down when working with
a computer. That's what I do all day long anyway.

~~~
nottorp
Can't do that when you type a lot... or can you?

~~~
grondilu
It is indeed not ideal, so there is a drawback, but imho it's worth it.

------
a3n
I want a squatting desk.

------
soyiuz
I am a life-long squatter. It has ruined my knees. Also their expert is an
osteopath.

~~~
goda90
From the article:

"So should we replace sitting with squatting and say goodbye to our office
chairs forever? Beach points out that “any posture held for too long causes
problems” and there are studies to suggest that populations that spend
excessive time in a deep squat (hours per day), do have a higher incidence of
knee and osteoarthritis issues.

But for those of us who have largely abandoned squatting, Beach says, “you
can’t really overdo this stuff.”"

------
b0rsuk
I have both bad back and runner's knee. Once I found out the most effective
treatment for my bad back is regular exercise (40min a day, 4 days of the
week... but I can't afford to skip it), I started thinking about other
problems I could solve this way.

I thought about runner's knee. I started googling around. I found some
contradictory info initially, but in the end there seems to be consensus
squats not only don't harm a knee, they make it stronger! You're essentially
building your exoskeleton.

What I found gives me best results is wall-facing squat.

It's difficult to start. It took me weeks, perhaps even months to feel
benefits, but now I'm a squat addict. Wall facing squat is very good because
it makes it impossible to cheat. You have to develop better stance, balance,
and flexibility. And you have to think how to get there.

As a nerd who played computer games A LOT, I was so inflexible I could only
straighten my leg about 120 degrees when lying on my back and raising the leg
vertically. Now I can grab my heel with leg perfectly straight, or touch my
forehead with my knee. So don't think you can't do that. You just need to be
persistent, systematic and don't force it (especially if you're starting to
feel pain).

Nowadays I try to incorporate those wide wall-facing squats into every raising
movement I make. I get some odd looks (I don't do it at work, though), but I
don't care. When I raise from bed, I don't use my hands. Same for couch,
chair, and other platforms.

Don't get obsessed with numbers. Numbers don't mean a squat if they come at
the price of bad technique. Bad technique is like building a tower on skewed
foundation. Repeat that movement enough times, and the tower will start
leaning, then fall (injury). So once in a while I lower my weekly number of
squats, when I feel I can get even closer to wall. At first I thought I'd
never manage it, but every couple of weeks I can exercising closer to wall.
It's better to perform smaller sets of _perfect_ exercise than lots of bad.
Too bad I learned it the hard way.

Aside from feeling very flexible at thighs and legs in general, it's rewarding
because my knee feels very stable. A few years ago, when I was shifting my
weight while standing, I could feel it rotate in various ways. Now I feel more
confident because I feel it supports me better. My balance also got a lot
better and I'm leaning over tables and other objects in ways that seemed
impossible before. I naturally adjust my stance when walking upstairs,
downstairs, or running downhill. It feels like my entire leg works through the
entire range of motion. I get bonus points when cycling, I can power through
some smaller hills at full speed where previously I would be soaked with
sweat.

In general, anaerobic exercise like squats gives your body more HP (Hit
Points), making you more resistant to injury, increasing bone density etc. The
last one is especially important for women, who are prone to osteoporosis when
getting older.

I'm getting the itch to resume long distance running, and now I could probably
pull it off. I learned to listen to my body, and prevent injury in advance by
adjusting my stance and movement until I feel no pain or discomfort of any
sort. I dig the endorphin, the runner's high. I don't know if i will find
enough time, but worst case scenario is I will just focus on cycling.

