The Science and History of the Asian Squat

By Koji Steven | Friday, June 3, 2011 | 49 Comments

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8a squat The Science and History of the Asian Squat The Asian squat. I’ve always been able to do it naturally. For those of you who don’t know, the Asian squat is when you have both feet on the ground, butt touching ankles and knees spread wide. I’ve always done it but the first time I really noticed others doing it was when I went to Bali. Every street I walked down, there were lines and lines of men and women doing the Asian squat asking me if I wanted to buy women, drugs, and/or tourist crap. I almost forgot–in one hand they always had a cigarette and/or a beer. Sometimes both.

Still not sure what I’m talking about? Check out Daniel Hsia’s amazing video, “How to do the Asian Squat” [2002].

It wasn’t until relatively recently did I find out that not everyone can do the Asian squat. It was difficult for me to believe since the Asian squat is as natural to me as breathing. So I conducted an informal study of my friends and found that the non-Asians weren’t able to do it. Or I should say, some could do it but they couldn’t hold it for more than a few seconds.

This got me thinking. Are Asians the only race of people specifically designed to do the Asian squat? My dear 8Asians reader, I have been put here on earth to answer this question for you. I’ve conducted hours… okay a half hour… of Internet “research.” This is what I discovered:

Where did the Asian squat come from?

Finding out the history of the Asian squat proved a lot more difficult than you would have imagined. I found only one site that mentioned where it came from and this is what they said:

Originating in India, the squat made its way to China, where Asians figured that it was the ideal way to eat rice and be ready to defecate at any given time.

I have a feeling they were being a little facetious but I think they were partially right. I believe it probably started because it was the preferred method to go number two. I remember when I took a month long backpacking course in the wilderness and I was ideally suited for going number two in the woods because I was naturally good at the Asian squat and could hold the position for hours (if I wanted to). My camping-mates were jealous.

Can non-Asians do the Asian squat?

Like the history of the Asian squat, finding any scientific studies on whether non-Asians could do the Asian squat proved very difficult. But I did find one:

So we did a test – 100% of the Asians could squat with feet on the ground (P<0.000063) while only 13.5% of North Americans could (p<0.0000043). And of the 13.5%, 9% had part ASIAN ancestry in them. The remaining one was a Yoga Freak.

It’s unclear how many people were tested in this study but these were pretty similar to what I have found amongst my friends.

What is it about Asians that give them the unique ability to the Asian squat?

There were a few sites that offered up some theories. Here were my favorites.

Theory #1:

East Asians have proportionately shorter legs than most Americans, so their squat shall have a different balance point.

To test this theory I took off all my clothes and I looked in the mirror (which I don’t recommend if you value your eyesight). My legs did seem a little short but since I had nothing to compare it with, I will have to reserve judgment.

Theory #2:

I think it’s the same reason why giraffes have longer necks according to the only theory I remembered from my high school biology class.

WTF?

Theory #3:

In many counties, Asians have to use a squat toilet.

Of course, this doesn’t explain Asian Americans who can do the Asian squat since I assume most of us use a typical sitting down American toilet but it’s an interesting theory nonetheless.

In the end, do I believe Asians are the only race that can do the Asian squat? No. To say one race can do something and that other races cannot is not only racist but also ignorant. We can all do the Asian squat. For some, it’s just a little easier. But it is not biological or even sociological; it is as simply a matter of flexibility. This was one persons recommendation on how EVERYONE can do the Asian squat.

Your problem is tight calf muscles. You didn’t grow up squatting on a regular basis so your calf muscles shortened. Women who wear high heals every day have an even worse problem with this as they find they can’t wear flat shoes or go barefoot comfortably. Shortened calf muscles caused from wearing shoes with heals higher than the ball of the foot (even an inch or less) is also a main contributing cause to plantar fasciitis.

Anyway, the solution takes time as you must slowly stretch the calf muscles to allow a proper flat footed squat. Stretch two or three times per day every day of the week and within a few months you’ll have no problem with a comfortable flat footed squat.

The Asian squat isn’t just for fun though. Apparently, there are health benefits to squatting while defecating:

People can control their defecation, to some extent, by contracting or releasing the anal sphincter. But that muscle can’t maintain continence on its own. The body also relies on a bend between the rectum–where feces builds up–and the anus–where feces comes out. When we’re standing up, the extent of this bend, called the anorectal angle, is about 90 degrees, which puts upward pressure on the rectum and keeps feces inside. In a squatting posture, the bend straightens out, like a kink ringed out of a garden hose, and defecation becomes easier.

Proponents of squatting argue that conventional toilets produce an anorectal angle that’s ill-suited for defecation. By squatting, they say, we can achieve “complete evacuation” of the colon, ridding our bowels of disease-causing toxins.

So as you can see the Asian squat isn’t just fun it’s healthy! My fellow Asians, let’s start a health movement: Do the Asian squat for a healthy life!

Who’s with me?

[Photo Courtesy of Sean Marc Lee 李子仁]

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lillyk

Well…I have to say, I’m Caucasian & can do the Asian Squat with no troubles (and can hold it for awhile, too). However, I think this is because: 1) I’m short (5’3″-ish) & 2) I have really short legs (29″ inseam)…oh, and I’m pretty flexible, too. Anyway, just thought I’d chime in…it IS really quite comfortable, too.
moye

The first time I encountered the real Asian squat was a summer in Japan when all my classmates could crouch outside comfortable while my legs would fall asleep and I’d fall down. How do they do it!?

Knowing how to squat also helps when you have to use the non-Western style toilets. Blech.
SunnyRebekah

I am also Caucasian and can do the squat. I might also add that I’m 5’9″ and quite a bit overweight.I definitely get funny looks at the supermarket when I squat down to get things from the shelf(Seriously – Whats better…Big butt in your face bent over or a squat with NO lower back showing?)

Oh, and I must say the kid picture is ADORABLE!
IsaacKojima

I hightly doubt about the science (anatomy or physiology or whatever) on Asian squat. I think it’s more a cultural thing than anything. And despite it’s called Asian squat, it’s normal in any place around the globe except the cities in Americas or Europe. You can find people squating among any native people/first nation in Americas, Africa and (of course) Asia. In the end, the “Western squat” is the exception.
KojiStevenSakai

I like that. Western squat.
http://bizthoughts.mikelee.org mikeleeorg

Back in college, a bunch of my Asian friends and I got onto this topic. We all tried to do it. All of the Asian-born Asians could do the squat. All of the American-born Asians couldn’t, me included. We concluded that it was because the Asian-born Asians had often done the squat while they were growing up, whereas this was the first time many of us American-born Asians were trying it.

I’m pretty sure this squat is learned behavior; anyone can do it if they learn how. Having never learned it, the most I can do is hunch over before falling flat on my ass.
GoGo

i’ve only seen asians from 3rd world countries do the asian squat. i haven’t seen any koreans or japanese etc doing so but it is apparent in the article and some of the comments that at least japanese people DO do the asian squat. in my opinion, it’s not very comfortable and i feel like i look like i’m about to take a shit so uh…yeah.
KojiStevenSakai

@GoGo I know Japanese can do the squat. Part of it is the toilet though… many of the older toilets were the squat kind.
KojiStevenSakai

@mikeleeorg Really? All my American born Asian friends can do the squat. That’s strange. The squat is just a matter of flexibility.
http://bizthoughts.mikelee.org mikeleeorg

@KojiStevenSakai There were 6 of us total, 4 American-born Asians and 2 Asian-born Asians. I asked 3 other American-born Asian friends and they couldn’t do it either. Perhaps you just hang out with flexible Asian Americans (or I hang out with non-flexible ones)
KojiStevenSakai

@mikeleeorg I hang out flexible people in general.
mwei

@KojiStevenSakai @GoGo squat toilets just make much more sense in public restrooms
mwei

I believe the squat is how you become such a badass kungfu fighter. lots of kungfu movies have the horse stance, and the squat is just one way to train up for it.
KojiStevenSakai

@mwei @GoGo I agree. Although I think in Japan they are becoming less popular. Is that true my Japanese friends?
raymonst

*dead* @ this post
HD

@lillyk Same here. Red-hair Irish descent 48 year old… I can do the squat. I’ve always been able to. I’m short — quarter inch under 5’2″, legs on the short side, not overweight. It’s the best way to garden. I can squat with heels slightly raised to touch the butt, or with feet flat on the ground. The lower I squat, the more balance I have and the more comfortable the position. I think that’s where a lot of people fail… they don’t squat low enough (plus, standing up from a squat is difficult for a lot of folks). My husband is 6’4″… that’s a lot of body to squat. He’s totally not made for it.
lillyk

@HD I agree that getting low helps you maintain the squat. I’d say it has to do with a lower center of gravity, but I could be wrong. I was thinking about it earlier, and realized I spent most of my childhood either in that squat or in a “W-sitting” position (butt on the ground, legs bent & cocked outwards on either side, like you went to kneel, but spread your legs instead). Maybe I’m just weird
GoGo

@mwei @KojiStevenSakai i agree it’s a better idea not to have actual physical contact with the toilet seat in theory, but squat toilets kind of gross me out (blame it on western conditioning). don’t like to have to bend down and get so low with the ground and so near the area where the urine goes….
IsaacKojima

@GoGo @mwei @KojiStevenSakai It’s not that Asian squat is the best way to use toilet. It’s the ONLY way to use Japanese traditional toilet. And if you never saw that in Japan, you should go to San’ya, in Tokyo…
IsaacKojima

@KojiStevenSakai @mwei @GoGo Still widely used among construction workers and others blue collars, yankees, gyarus (even with shortened highschool skirts), furyos and yakuza wannabes.
GoGo

@IsaacKojima @KojiStevenSakai @mwei yankees??
YukanutPhindami

@GoGo Maybe you were hanging out in Kangnam or the ritzy parts of Korea because I’ve lived in Korea for 2 years and I’ve seen men,woman, children doing the squat.
GoGo

on a completely random tangent, the kid on the left in that picture is a total hipster. i bet he is ironically doing the asian squat (is that a childhood photo of you koji??) haha
GoGo

on a completely random tangent, the kid on the left in that picture is a total hipster. i bet he is ironically doing the asian squat (is that a childhood photo of you koji??) haha
IsaacKojima

@GoGo @KojiStevenSakai @mwei From Wikipedia: “In Japan since the late 1970s, the term Yankī has been used to refer to a type of delinquent youth.”
seanmarclee

@GoGo that’s me, sean marc lee. LOL.
KojiStevenSakai

@seanmarclee @GoGo I should note that I could never be that ironic!
usagiyojimbo

Why can’t Americans do the “Asian Squat”? Because they’re fat, lazy, and out of shape! The squat is a very natural position, and if all us fat, happy first worlders didn’t sit in chairs all of our lives we could all do it. The squat is the most functional of human movements, and it’s used in weightlifting all the time. In fact, I think to call it the “Asian Squat” is an extremely narrow view of what exactly this movement is. Anyone can squat, and everyone SHOULD squat! It’s just a matter of getting off the couch and getting to a gym.
kitikata-san

I can do the Asian Squat, I am of East Asian Decent, but I have never stepped on foot in Asia. A small sample size of 2 men from European and English Isles decent cannot.
omgn

Ha, that’s funny; I was actually doing the Asian Squat as I was reading this. And I’m a 177 cm tall caucasian (then again, I’m not American, but European.) I really don’t think it has anything to do with heigh, but I’m totally on board with the tight calf muscle theory.
KojiStevenSakai

@usagiyojimbo I think most people can squat but they can’t squat with their feet flat on the ground. But it is because they aren’t in good shape or have little flexiblity. Btw: Love your handle!
KojiStevenSakai

@omgn I wonder if Europeans can do it more than Americans. Test your friends!
omgn

@KojiStevenSakai Okay, out of the three people available for testing, none of them could! That’s embarassing. I guess I’m just a freak of nature ^^
http://thylacine.livejournal.com/ ErikaHarada

In Japan the squat is called “yankee suwari” and is seen as “unclassy”. Lol. Nonetheless, I can do it, though not for long periods of time And you do need to do it when you use a squat toilet
jboee

The ability to squat with feet flat on the floor and parallel is entirely based on one’s flexibility. If a person begins doing the squat as a child (as most Asians in Asia do) and continues throughout their life, they retain the flexibililty. If they stop, they tighten up.

If a person can squat but can’t get their feet all the way flat on the floor they have tight calves and/or achilles tendons. If a person can squat and get their feet fully flat on the floor but their feet are far apart and their feet point out to the sides (feet are not parallel), the tendons and ligaments around their hip sockets are tight. If a person can’t lower their butt past their knees (can’t squat very low), they have tight gluts and hamstrings.

I teach yoga and the squat is called Malasana. In general, asians can more easily do the squat but it’s simply out of practice, IMO. There are specific stretches you can do, based on your area of inflexibility, that can help you get deeper in the pose.
bmastou

@ErikaHarada I think other countries do it as well but its not as commonly done as maybe in Asia even Africa doesn’t do it as much
brandontan

Sometimes I do the Asian Squat after standing up for extended periods of time. It just feels more comfortable, but not for a long period though. The Asian Squat while smoking is also a common one. It’s a good skill to have IMHO, since some parts of the world only offer squatting toilets. You’re lucky if you find a squatting toilet with handle bars. If you find one without… Well, it’ll take more skill and endurance. Word of caution: try to stand up once in awhile, you don’t want your legs going numb on you and eventually falling into the squatting toilet.
ambler

Thought you might be interested to know that frequent squatting actually leaves an archeological record in people’s bones. It’s called a “squatting facet” and can be found on the talus bone in the ankle joint. Basically, infants are born with this facet from being in the fetal position during pregnancy, but only people who frequently squat during childhood and adulthood retain the markers on their ankle bones. Frequent squatting is often associated with low cooking stoves (e.g., cooking over an open fire), planting and harvesting rice (often spending hours in the fields squatting among the shoots–the most common crop in most of Asia today), and pit latrines (aka squat toilets).

Archaeologic evidence suggests that Europeans used to squat frequently through the Middle Ages until different stoves and furniture caused living spaces to be rearranged and lead people to sit more and squat less often. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.1055/pdf
Pingback: The Science and History of the Asian Squat | 8Asians.com « Ponderings of a Asiaophile
transsiberianorgasm

I’ve never done this squat before and I had no problem doing it. I’m 6’5″ and the only difference I could see between my squat and your Asian squat was my knees were somewhat closer together. It really is a very comfortable position, something I found surprising given that I blew both of my knees out in high school.
Elliott

I’m ashamed to say that… I’ve never really been able to do the Asian squat. My heels have to be off the floor, and it’s very difficult to balance that way. It makes me wonder sometimes if I’m actually Asian at all…
fingertrap

This is the most bizarre thing I’ve read in a long time, and I’m surprised that no one who’s commented so far seems to agree! I always thought of it as an Asian-cultural thing, and certainly I never noticed that other ethnic/racial groups struggle to do it. I feel like someone just told me your ability to cross your fingers or pucker your lips is based on ethnicity or something. So bizarre.
ApollyonsMessiah

@usagiyojimbo It is not because we are fat, lazy, or out of shape. If your muscles are too tight its because you use them often. Its because no one grows up needing to squat and because there is a lot of sitting done. It’s not JUST a matter of going to the gym either. Your remarks are at the least insensitive, uninformed, and mean spirited.
Pingback: Squat Toilets: What’s Your Position? | The World of Chinese
Aurelie Beatley

Nope, I can do it for hours and I am French. I remember discussing this position with a director a few years ago because this squat was apparently used as the entirety of the audition process for the French caveman film “The Quest For Fire” (1981). Actors who, when told to squat, squatted with both feet on the ground, were taken. Actors who went up on their toes to squat were not. It is a more ancient movement to squat with both feet on the ground. Whatever. The point is that no North American could do it, whereas almost all the Europeans and the Asians did, naturally.

Weird.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Katie-Rappold/68138143 Katie Rappold

weird. I’m white American and I can squat forever but it is on the balls of my feet. It’s a flexibility thing.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Katie-Rappold/68138143 Katie Rappold

im a tallish white American chick (5’7″) and I can also do the squat very easily and hold it for a while. The only thing I can’t do is put my feet completely flat on the ground. Tight calves I guess. I’m guessing it’s a combo of flexibility and strength. I’ve got the strength and most of the flexibility with the exception of my calves which would be why I can’t put my feet flat. To me the obvious answer would be the asian style toilets where you have to squat keeps asians doing it on a regular basis and hence have no problem with it whereas westerners use a sit down toilet.
http://www.facebook.com/lois.brett Lois Amanda Brett

This is a flexibility issue. I’m a white female with really long legs (35″ inseam) and I can squat with feet flat on the floor no problem, as long as I’m not pregnant at the time lol. But I’ve also gone most of my life barefoot, my parents never told me not to squat (you know, “sit ladylike!”) and I’ve always been flexible. I think it has more to do with flexibility and how bulky a person may be than body proportions. There’s a picture of me in Taiwan as a young teen squatting with some other kids looking at a plant (the plant moves when you touch it, cool) and we are all doing the same exact squat, mine just looks leggier and whiter haha. North Americans systematically ruin their flexibility starting at about school age.
waffo

I’m 75% Asian and have always been able to do the Asian squat. Naturally, when I took Japanese in college, I asked everyone if they could do it. All the Asians could do it. The only non-Asian who could do it as well is black and lived in Korea for a bit of time, learning it there and calling it the Kimchi squat instead. Also, I was waiting in line once and saw two little white kids do the Asian squat just fine. And I was always told that if your heels aren’t touching the ground, it’s doesn’t count. So I guess kids are more flexible and everyone else just needs to practice more so it’s more like being raised on doing it than being born able to do it.