I do them 5 or 6 days a week. Really good exercise to get in the habit of doing. I do the “Simple Six”, along with some ski specific stuff when I wake up in the morning. The 6 are:
pushups, pullups, squats, vertical arm presses with kettlebells, kettlebell swings ( works lower back ), and the 6th is walking/hiking. I use weight vest and ankle weights on all of them, but way back when I started out body weight was plenty hard enough.
I’ve also heard it called functional strength, it’s stuff that you use everyday, and if you keep doing it as you age, you don’t lose it ( as much,lol, Father Time is undefeated ) .
I was doing them with 115 or about half my body weight. I got cocky and started doing them deep like the young people. I have something wrong in my knee now. I had to lay off working out and Pickleball for 6 weeks now. I will probably lay off anther month. (Mostly because I have company coming next week and sinus surgery the following week.
I stretch my legs a lot more than I do a set of squats. I do the squats to strengthen. Otherwise the legs are loose which is not ideal without strength.
I have a love/hate relationship with squats. I hate them because they are unpleasant, but I love them because they require a full range of motion with the biggest muscles in my body. Squats engage the heart, lungs, back, pretty much the whole thing.
I brew coffee each morning in a Moka pot, which takes about four minutes. In that time, I do three sets of 30 goblet squats with a #15 weight. Worst four minutes of my day. But my legs feel f-ing great.
I too do some deep squats. Mostly body weight, but occasionally with a 30lb kettlebell.
I often stand holding the edge of the kitchen sink, and “Asian/Hindu” squat for a minute.
I move slowly. . I usually do 10 deep squats after the Asian squat.
I used to have some knee pain, but started walking backwards a couple times per week.
I do gentle lunges, forward n backwards. Sideways cross over steps. And anterior tibialis raises.
Now, no pain, and my knees rarely pop while doing the squats.
When I was a teenager, my weight-lifter brother in-law gave me guidance on doing squats with a weighted barbell over my shoulders. It was really bad advice he gave me,lol. Eventually ended up breaking my kneecap. In the aftermath of that, was sent to PT, and we tried to figure out how it happened. Told him about the squat routine, and he was certain that it was the culprit.
Nowadays, I just go to thighs parallel to floor. I wear a weight vest and am holding a kettlebell while doing them.
It actually makes my knees feel good.
Motion is lotion, or something like that, lol.
“started walking backwards a couple times per week.”
I use the stiffest ( black ) elastic bands, place it around my ankles, and do exaggerated forward strides, walk backwards, and do lateral slides, across my long basement floor. I do these first, to get loosened up, and it works really well. It builds some strength, and gently gets everything stretched out.
You’ve discovered the secret us GRRLZ fathomed from an early age…and not just for Big Jobs. Add in the positioning to keep underwear out of the way and the “heads-up” position to spot any passers by…there you have it!
20 deep squats with a 20lb kettlebell and 20 pushups almost every morning for a 66 yo female. Still need a calorie deficit though. 140 at 5’4". Really need to drop at least 10 lbs.
I think I"m good. I did this Veterans Day WOD last year with a 20 pound weight vest and 20" box a couple weeks before turning 60. Took about 90 minutes.
. I usually do 10 deep squats after the Asian squat.