Fundamental Strength Building 101
Squats and pushups are two of the most important exercises for functional movement in life. They are also two exercises where people get injured when they lack the necessary strength and mobility.
In any yoga class that does sun salutations, the ability to do a pushup is assumed whenever passing through chaturanga. I’ve seen rotator cuff injuries ensue because of this. I love, love, love flowing sun salutations myself. But I do not teach them in group classes that include beginners without breaking them down in detail.
A regular squat is known in yoga as malasana, garland pose. A sideways squat is skandasana, war god’s pose, and in fitness a cossack squat. Both malasana and skandasana have incredible benefits, from hip opening to lower body strength to improved digestion and balance. And they can be precarious on the knees and ankles in particular when the range of motion is forced.
For this week’s Movement Monday (click here to see the video), I’m showing some simple variations to get you started on building safe squats and pushups, using a doorframe and a wall. If you can do a full malasana and skandasana already, holding onto the doorframe provides spinal traction that feels amazing.
Regardless of your fitness level, these variations are easy to squeeze in as a movement break anytime, anywhere. No special clothes or equipment required. A few alignment notes and guidance on repetition and duration is below.
Malasana (regular squat): When you’re first learning, start with your feet outer hip distance apart, toes turned slightly outward, knees in line with the ankles and toes (not splaying inward). Hold onto the doorframe and squat only as far as feels comfortable for you. It can be very shallow to begin. You can pulse in and out of the position or hold at whatever is your bottom for, say, the count of 10 to start. Never hold your breath and never, ever push through pain. You can just do a rep or two if you’re not already a squatter or, say, you’re between work meetings. Build up to three sets of 10 pulses, or three to five sets of squat holds of 10 to 30 seconds.
Pro tip: It’s great to vary your movement patterns, some days pulsing, other days holding.
Skandasana: There are multiple variations of this pose that work your muscles slightly differently. When you’re starting out, hold onto the doorframe and just get your body moving a little side to side. As you build the depth, you can consider:
Pointing the toes of the outstretched straight leg up toward the ceiling (keep the foot flexed and active) provides a greater calf stretch. (And this is classic skandasana.)
Keeping the foot of the outstretched straight leg flat on the floor stretches the top of the foot and the ankle.
You can stay low to the ground or come back to stand as you switch between the two sides.
Once you no longer need the doorframe, you can put your fingertips or hands on the floor for support going side to side. Going hands free is the last step.
Again, do just one or two per side if you’re a beginner or busy. If you can work your way up to 10 repetitions per side at any depth, awesome, but again, listen to your body.
Wall hand-release pushups: Keep a long spine (don’t hinge at the hips). Hands should be outer shoulder distance apart, fingers fanned apart but not uncomfortably wide.
The more upright your body, the easier these are. To increase the challenge, step your feet back further to make your body at more of a diagonal. Once you walk your feet out far enough, you might not want to take your hands off the wall; you can keep them planted and do regular wall pushups. Eventually, you can move your hands down to a piece of sturdy furniture, and keep lowering the surface over time until you get to the floor.
Same advice as above applies: Start small, and work your way up, perhaps to three sets of 10 of these.
Questions? Feedback? If you’d like any other exercises broken down or into progressions, please let me know.