9 Top Benefits of Hindu Squats That Will Amaze You

Welcome to Fitness Deciphers…!!!

Hindu squats are booming these days.

If you want to start practicing them and know the benefits of Hindu squats, you are in the right place.

Here, we will discuss the health advantages that Hindu squats can bring to your body.

Indian wrestlers were difficult to defeat by anyone because of their immense leg strength.

And the Hindu squat exercise was one of the great contributors to their leg strength.

Hindu squats firm the footwork of wrestlers in the wrestling match.

You will not find a single akhara (Indian gym) in which Hindu squats are not practiced. (Even today!!!)

You can train all your lower body muscles and strengthen them with Hindu squats.

And if you practice Hindu Squats and Hindu Push-ups, you can train your entire body muscles.

Here, before discussing the benefits of Hindu squats, we have to discuss a few aspects of Hindu squats such as what are Hindu push-ups, how to do them perfectly, etc.

Let’s start.

1. What Are Hindu Squats?

Hindu squat is an Indian-origin exercise practiced to train the lower body.

Hindu squats have been practiced by Indian wrestlers for thousands of years to build explosive strength, speed, and endurance of the lower body.

They are called deep-knee bend squats in English and are also known as Bethak or Baithak (sitting down) in India.

Hindu squats are a great part of wrestlers’ exercise (pehalwani kasarat).

Indian wrestlers are famous for their stamina because they do several hundred deep-knee squats every day.

Hindu squats involve swinging both arms and lifting the heels off the ground (knees-over-toes) as you get into the squat position.

This movement is more complex than regular squats and demands better coordination and balance of your limbs.

If anyone finds knees-over-toes move difficult, they can also practice Hindu squats on the flat soles.

Hindu squats strengthen knee ligaments, develop muscular endurance in the lower body, and improve the function of the lungs.

Now, let’s discuss the major difference between Hindu squats & Normal squats.

2. Difference Between Hindu Squats & Normal Squats

I have mentioned some major differences between Indian squats and regular squats below.

1) Breathing Patterns Are Completely Different

One of the most important elements of the Hindu squat is breathing. Unlike all other squats, breathing is inverse in Hindu squats.

Instead of inhaling down and exhaling up you exhale down and inhale when coming up.

As you lower yourself to the ground, your torso, diaphragm, and abdominals compress – and so, like the accordion, this is when you let the air out.

2) Additional Movements in Hindu Squats

Hindu squats involve several additional movements that normal squats don’t such as

• Arms swinging
• Deep knee bending
• Lifting the knees off the ground (knees-over-toes).

3) Distance Between Two Legs is Different

It is one of the essential feature of Hindu squats that the distance between two legs are less compared to regular squats.

These are a few points in which Hindu squats positively differ from normal squats.

(Related: The Health Benefits of Hindu Push-Ups)

3. How to Perform Hindu Squats Perfectly?

If you focus on breathing, movement, speed, and posture, you will be able to do Hindu squats perfectly.

Method:

• Stand with slightly bent knees, keep the back straight, and maintain the shoulder width distance between your legs
• Extend both your arms out in front of your chest, so they are parallel to the ground.
• Take a deep breath and lower yourself into a squat. As you lower yourself down, lift your heels off the ground and swing your arms backward, behind the body.
• Keep your calves, quads, glutes, hamstrings, and core activated to stabilize your body.
• Exhale and swing your arms forward as close as you can get, staying on the balls of your feet, before pushing down to lift yourself out of the squat. As you approach a standing position, put your heels back to the ground.
• Finish the movement with your arms straight in front of you parallel to the floor.
• Repeat the same procedure

Watch the below video to learn how to perform perfect Hindu squats visually.

 

4. How to Breath Properly While Performing Hindu Squats?

As I mentioned above that the breathing pattern is inverse in Hindu squats compared to normal squats.

In Hindu squats, you have to exhale while sitting down and inhale deeply while moving up.

Never hold your breath while performing Hindu squats (or any other exercise).

If you feel exhausted after performing some Hindu squats, take a rest of a few minutes till your heart rate becomes normal.

And then resume your set.

Now, we will discuss the muscle groups that Hindu squats target.

5. Which Muscle Groups Do Hindu Squats Target?

Hindu squats are known for targeting more muscle groups compared to any other variations of squats.

Here is the list of muscles that Hindu squats precisely target.

• shoulders
• ankles
• glutes
• hip flexors
• quadriceps
• hamstrings
• calves
• core

To increase muscular strength and endurance immensely, you can also wear a weighted vest to increase the intensity of the workout.

Since Hindu squats target lots of muscle groups, there are lots of benefits to performing Hindu squats regularly.

Now, we will discuss the benefits of Hindu squats.

let’s start.

6. Benefits of Hindu Squats

Here are some advantages of practicing Hindu squats regularly.

1) You Can Train Your Entire Lower Body

I love this advantage of Hindu squats over their other benefit.

People perform various exercises in the gym to train different muscle groups of their lower body.

But with Hindu squats, you can train all your lower body muscles such as glutes, calves, quads, hamstring, etc without using any equipment.

Hindu Squats also improve the functional strength of the lower body that is needed in martial arts and combat sports.

Matt Furey has made exercises like Hindu Squats, Hindu Push-ups, and Back-bridge popular at international levels through his International Best Selling book COMBAT CONDITIONING

2) Hindu Squats Improve Lung Power

Hindu squats are best for improving lung power.

When Hindu squats are combined with deep breathing, they don’t only increase the strength of the lower body but also improve your lung power.

Hindu squats are not just a bunch of squats, they are well-structured exercises to perform with a proper breathing pattern.

When you go down you fill the air in your lungs and when you come up you release the air.

This proper pattern when applied with Hindu squats, your lungs become immensely strong.

3) They Make Your Knees Stronger

A few years ago, it was a matter of debate whether Hindu squats are good or bad for your knees.

But lots of studies conducted on the effects of Hindu squats on knees show that the Hindu squats are extremely good for knees.

Even they can strengthen the knee ligaments, and relieve and prevent knee problems.

The only condition is they should be performed with correct posture and proper speed.

According to the students of the Combat Conditioning fitness program, people who had weak knees had got benefitted a lot from Hindu squats.

4) They Improve Your Coordination Between Arms & Legs

It is one of the best benefits of Hindu squats.

Hindu squats are very good for improving the coordination between arms & legs.

In wrestling having good coordination between arms & legs is very important and that’s why wrestlers used to practice Hindu squats.

Since Hindu squats involve arm swinging and sitting up and down in rhythm, they also develop neuromuscular coordination.

5) Hindu Squats Make The Lower Body More Flexible

Since Hindu squats involve the contraction and expansion of lots of lower body muscles, they can improve your lower body flexibility.

Increased flexibility helps you move anywhere speedily.

Many people when they are sitting find it difficult to stand up quickly. If you practice Hindu squats regularly, you can get rid of this problem.

6) Amazing Improvement In Static Balance

In one of our articles on the benefits of nordic walking, we discussed that nordic walking can improve our dynamic balance but can’t improve our static balance.

But if you practice Hindu squats properly, you will find an amazing improvement in your static balance.

In Hindu squats, you have to lift your heels off the ground or surface on which you are practicing them.

This lifting needs a great balance. If you are a beginner you won’t be able to do it easily.

But with regular practice, you can do it properly and increase your static balance.

7) Hindu Squats May Improve Digestion

I am sure that you will find it strange but believe me they do improve your digestion.

I am a regular practitioner of Hindu squats for the last 2 years and I am claiming these benefits from my own experience.

All the movements between lowering down and coming up, Hindu squats involve the abdominal muscles and activate them.

This may result in improved function of digestive enzymes. So, Hindu squats may improve your digestion.

8) They Improve The Quickness and Stamina

If you have ever seen any Indian wrestler practicing Hindu squats, you have noticed that they do them so quickly.

This is also a difference between the Hindu squats and normal squats that the Hindu squats are performed quickly.

This practice improves the quickness of your body movements.

Once you get habituated to Hindu squats and practice their more repetitions, you will find an amazing boost in your stamina.

Disclaimer : Wrestlers are well-trained to perform Hindu squats quickly, if you are a beginner, don’t practice them quickly otherwise you may injure your knees and other leg muscles.

9) Hindu Squats Improve Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance means the capacity of the muscle to work without getting exhausted.

Ancient warriors had to fight many wars.

So the ancient exercises such as Hindu squats, Hindu push-ups, etc were designed to work on muscle endurance rather than showing off the muscles.

If you practice Hindu squats regularly, you will be able to increase the muscle endurance of your lower body easily.

Here, we have discussed the benefits of Hindu squats to our health and fitness.

Now, we will discuss the advantages of Hindu squats over regular squats.

Let’s start.

7. Benefits of Hindu Squats Over Normal Squats

1) More Muscle Engagement

One of the reasons why Hindu squats are better than normal squats is you can engage more muscle groups with Hindu squats.

Where normal squats majorly focus on quads and calves, Hindu squats focus on the shoulder, core, quads, glutes, calves, and hamstring.

It means you can say that with Hindu squats you can train your entire lower body.

2) Better Neuromuscular coordination

As I mentioned above, Hindu squats improve the coordination between arms and legs much better than any other leg exercise.

I am not denying that normal squats don’t improve such coordination. But Hindu squats do it very much better than normal squats.

Bruce Lee also used to practice Hindu squats and Hindu push-ups, each for 1 minute, as a part of his circuit training

3) More Stress On Quads & Glutes

There is absolutely no doubt that Hindu squats put more stress on quad muscles than normal squats.

It is because Hindu squats involve more knee bending than normal squats.

More stress on quads and glutes means more development in the strength, power, and endurance of these muscles.

4) More Improvement in Static Balance

Above we discussed that Hindu squats improve static balance because we lift our heels off the ground while practicing them.

There is no such movement in the regular squats so we don’t get such benefits.

These are some benefits of Hindu squats over normal squats.

Now, we will discuss the common mistakes that beginners make before, during, and after performing Hindu squats.

Let’s start.

8. Common Mistakes to Avoid Before, During, and After Hindu Squats

To reap the real advantages of Hindu squats, avoid these mistakes that people commonly make.

1) Not Maintaining The Correct Form

To get the real benefits of Hindu squats, you have to make sure that you maintain the correct form while performing Hindu squats.

Otherwise, you may injure your knees and spine.

2) Not Maintaining The Speed

Practicing Hindu squats with a very high or low speed is wrong.

If you practice them at a very low speed, your chance to suffer from muscle soreness or pain will increase.

And if you practice Hindu squats at a very high speed, you will not feel much resistance due to momentum and there is also a chance that you may injure your knees.

Many people jump out of the bottom which is an extremely wrong practice.

3) Not Focusing on Breathing Patterns

It is one of the most common mistakes generally done by beginners. They hold their breath while performing Hindu squats which is wrong.

You should focus on your breath because that’s what will make you enjoy the best results of Hindu squats.

4) Not Massaging Your Legs

When you are a beginner, there is a great chance that you would suffer from muscle soreness after performing Hindu squats.

So, I would recommend that you should massage your leg muscles either with massage guns or with muscle soreness massage oil.

5) Not Eating After & Before Practicing Hindu Squats

People who are aiming for weight loss generally exercise on an empty stomach. It also benefits them.

But Hindu squat is a heavy exercise and if you do it on an empty stomach, there is a chance that you feel dizzy after a workout.

So it is better to eat something healthy before and after Hindu squats.

I prefer eating 1-2 banana before workout and drinking coconut water or lemonade after workout.

6) Practicing More At The Beginning

When you become habituated to Hindu squats, you can do several hundred squats in just a single set but if you are a beginner, you should avoid doing more Hindu squats.

It is because if you practice them more in the beginning, you may harm your leg muscles as well as your knees.

Always remember ” If Something is Good, Doesn’t Mean More is Better”.

FAQs

Conclusion

Here, we have discussed the benefits of Hindu squats on your health and fitness.

We have also discussed the benefits of Hindu squats over normal squats. I hope these advantages will inspire you to start practicing Hindu squats.

If you have any questions related to practicing Hindu squats, you can ask me in the comment box.

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Thanks for reading…!!!