India is the birthplace of chess, yoga, and other great ideas. One of the best overall body exercises that build explosive endurance to your legs and body is an exercise called the Hindu Squat. It is called bethaks in India. Explosive endurance sounds like an oxymoron, but this exercise has been used for hundreds of years by wrestlers and has been recently been used by mixed martial artist fighters. It is a bodyweight exercise that can be done every day. Also, the Hindu squat is one of the rare exercises that can rehabilitate your knees and strengthen the muscles of your legs. It is important to learn the movement and practice doing it (just like yoga). The Hindu squat is an exercise that also develops and requires coordination, balance, and smooth rhythmical motion from the hands and legs. Here are some pointers on doing the Hindu squat.
These squats are done just like regular back squats. First, you start off with your legs shoulder width apart. Your arms are out in front of you. As you go down in the bottom of the squat position, you want to exhale. This is the opposite breathing pattern when you are doing back squats. You will inhale when you are going up. As you are going down in the squat position, you want to rhythmical swing and move your arms. Your arm motion should be in such a way that you are rotating your shoulders and arms towards the back. At the bottom of the squat, you will be on your toes and your arms are in the downward position. Also, unlike most leg exercises such as back squats and lunges, your knees will go past your foot. You want to learn the movement by getting your body and breathing in a perfect rhythm. The Hindu squat is rather fast and when you get perfect to this exercise, you will build explosive power in your legs and body.
Key points on the Hindu squats:
• Inhale on the way up and exhale on the way down. This is opposite of the breathing pattern for back squats.
• Get into a quick but efficient rhythm when doing these squats.
• Do not bounce at the bottom of the movement. Go all the way down and be on your toes at the bottom of the squat.
• First practice on perfecting the movement. Then, you can build on your repetitions.
You can aim to do 50 at first. Then, you can build yourself up to do a 100 and even more. Just like yoga, you want to practice the movement so you can benefit from this great and underrated exercise.
