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From the article: ">At best, we might undertake it during Crossfit, pilates or while lifting at the gym, but only partially and often with weights (a repetitiv

From the article: ">At best, we might undertake it during Crossfit, pilates or while lifting at the gym, but only partially and often with weights (a repetitive maneuver that’s hard to imagine being useful 2.5 million years ago).<" A repetitive maneuver with weights is hard to imagine 2.5 million years ago? So they're going to bash getting yourself strong and healthy because they can't imagine anyone doing a repetitive maneuver 2.5 million years ago? Either you're supporting that people should squat more or you don't. This article wants you to squat but not in any way which will improve your strength and chances of getting off the toilet when your 95.

adrianmonk 7y ago
Maybe what they're referring to is the idea that doing a wide variety of different motions can be really useful. This is why cross-training is important for athletes who want to be their best and healthiest. For example, if you're into running, this strengthens your legs, but it focuses on certain specific muscles and neglects others. So you want to do some other things like biking or ideally something with lateral movement like playing soccer or tennis. And it's not just strength and endurance to consider. The body also needs to learn to do certain motions correctly, because part of fitness is the habits your body has to activate certain muscles in certain sequences. When you walk or run, it's important how your foot lands, and it's important how your knees bend (so your muscles can absorb shock, not your joints), etc. Movement is a skill to be learned that requires practice until doing it properly becomes second nature, a lot like playing a musical instrument. And of course there's also flexibility. Anyway, maybe their point is that merely doing strength training is better than nothing, but it's not a substitute for including squatting into your daily life so that you do 100 different variations of squats and squat-like movements. For example, if you unloading the dishwasher by squatting down, extending your arm and leaning over to grab some forks, and then twisting around and standing up partially to put them in drawer to your other side, you're going to trigger different muscles than if you do squats in the gym.
- sn9 7y ago
  This comment is like the exercise equivalent of bikeshedding. Someone who can squat twice their bodyweight is not going to have any problems doing any of the things you mentioned. The strength and mobility required to do so with good form will still be available to you for more varied everyday movements which are generally unweighted. (And it'll definitely be more effective at building leg strength than any kind of running. That's why high level sprinters all do strength training including squats and cleans.)

adrianmonk 7y ago

Maybe what they're referring to is the idea that doing a wide variety of different motions can be really useful. This is why cross-training is important for athletes who want to be their best and healthiest. For example, if you're into running, this strengthens your legs, but it focuses on certain specific muscles and neglects others. So you want to do some other things like biking or ideally something with lateral movement like playing soccer or tennis. And it's not just strength and endurance to consider. The body also needs to learn to do certain motions correctly, because part of fitness is the habits your body has to activate certain muscles in certain sequences. When you walk or run, it's important how your foot lands, and it's important how your knees bend (so your muscles can absorb shock, not your joints), etc. Movement is a skill to be learned that requires practice until doing it properly becomes second nature, a lot like playing a musical instrument. And of course there's also flexibility. Anyway, maybe their point is that merely doing strength training is better than nothing, but it's not a substitute for including squatting into your daily life so that you do 100 different variations of squats and squat-like movements. For example, if you unloading the dishwasher by squatting down, extending your arm and leaning over to grab some forks, and then twisting around and standing up partially to put them in drawer to your other side, you're going to trigger different muscles than if you do squats in the gym.

sn9 7y ago
This comment is like the exercise equivalent of bikeshedding. Someone who can squat twice their bodyweight is not going to have any problems doing any of the things you mentioned. The strength and mobility required to do so with good form will still be available to you for more varied everyday movements which are generally unweighted. (And it'll definitely be more effective at building leg strength than any kind of running. That's why high level sprinters all do strength training including squats and cleans.)