We had a Twitter discussion which turned into the forum thread "What Percentage of People Are Good at the Back Squat."
People kept bringing up the idea that squatting is an ability we lose. In fact I've often said that myself.
However, as they say in American football "upon further review," we realize that as we age, we lose joint mobility and become stiffer but more stable.
This might be a necessary change?
Bottom line, babies are good squatters but, bad runners. In fact, they arent even really good walkers initially.
However, good runners are often bad squatters.
Is it possible that in essence we trade mobility in the joints for the ability to cover ground?
Maybe the hip stability necesscary to sprint comes at a cost?
Check out Usain Bolt's overhead squat attempt at the 17 sec mark in this video.
It appears that the worlds fastest man would score a 1 in the Functional Movement Systems Overhead Squat screen.
Very good runner, very bad squatter?
Next time people give you the old "babies are good squatters" line, ask yourself "why are we losing mobility?"
Is it part of a sort of deal with the devil?