Why Western Adults CANNOT 'Asian Squat'

New studies reveal that most Western adults still cannot do the Asian squat. Why is that? And are they missing out on some ancient secret to good health? Yeah, this is surprisingly going viral right now, Andrew. You actually made the cover photo on the IG NexShark post and Andrew, long story short, what's going on? How come Asians can do the Asian squat or the Slav squat, whatever you want to call it, but Western people, especially Americans, statistically cannot? All right, so it has a lot to do with probably flexibility number one, but also culture and body fat. So I guess there's a lot of studies that came out recently that said, you know, short limbs might make it easier to balance. There's also somebody said, listen, you're pretty much folding up your body at three different joints. So you got to be super flexible. Obviously, it also comes down to your ankle dorsiflexion, which means that your foot can actually move towards your knee. That means your ankle is pretty flexible. You have great ankle mobility. I don't know, David. I mean, it's also called the Slav squat. So I don't want to say that like European blooded people can't do it. But it seems like it might be part of Asian culture. Maybe I was just wherever Genghis Khan showed up. It's the Genghis Khan squat. Wow. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications, guys, from silly to serious. I'm gonna go ahead and put this in the silly lane. But people were bringing up serious stuff like, you know, Asians have longer torsos and shorter limbs statistically on an aggregate level. So it's like an interesting way, I guess, to bring up what like phenotypical differences. See, I told you that me and the Asian brothers, we all do the Slav squat, the Asian squat. Maybe perhaps we call it Genghis squat. Yeah, the squat is a triple flexion movement. You've got bending at the hips, knees and ankles. So you have to fold up everything underneath you. And there's a ton of reasons for this, Andrew. Is it just out of the necessity? Squat toilets stayed around in Asia for much longer than in other parts of the world, I guess, particularly China, but Japan and Korea as well. Does it have to do with economics? Perhaps if you are lower income or you're more of a blue collar worker, you spend more time close to the ground or you need time to rest between labor. And so you need to sit in a stable position and pick weeds or pick up stuff or just take a smoke break. I agree with you in the sense that a lot of people don't think about this. I do think the richer, higher class people in Asia do the Asian squat less. Oh, it's more of what you consider a blue collar or factory worker thing. I heard in Russia it's called a gopnik thing, which is like almost like hooligans. Young Russian hooligans do it a lot. Like, I don't know, man. You know, I think that once you honestly, if I was to break it down on a more physiological level, once as a man, once you get past 25 percent body fat or a woman, maybe 35 percent body fat. I think doing or learning the fob squat, unless you already knew how to do it from a kid, becomes exponentially harder. Right, right. And I will say this, guys, you know, generally squatting is better for your bowel movement. It's easier to poop because it aligns your intestines and everything like that. So I like what I helps me when I poop, even though I sit on the toilet, right on the chair style toilet, I actually lift my knees up. I either go on my tippy toes or I step on something that lifts my knees up a little higher. And that honestly helps me poop. So I don't know. I think a lot of Westerners are missing out on this. You're trying to create some vertical gravitational intestinal alignment. I'm trying to work with gravity. Anyway, let's get into the comments section. Of course, we actually have an Asian comment section and a white comment section. Somebody said, it's my greatest shame in my life that I can't Asian or fob squat. Somebody said, yeah, it's the kimchi squat. Someone said, no, I can't do it. I don't know. Am I losing my Asian card? I can't. I'm Asian. I can't do it. It's due to my bone structure. Is this true? Is this person making excuses? How much does it have to do with being Asian? Obviously, not a not a hundred out of a hundred Asians can do the Asian squat, fob squat, kimchi squat, whatever you want to call it. But probably a greater proportion out of a hundred person sample size can. Dude, if your culture requires you to do it once a day, I guarantee you would try to do it. Listen, there's a lot of buff American weightlifters that can clearly do the squat. And their thighs are huge. Right. You're saying to do a power clean or something. Yeah. So it's so clearly it's it's it's more of a flexibility thing. I guarantee you anybody who does yoga on a regular basis can probably do the Asian squat. So really, is it an Asian squat? Is it part of Asian culture? I don't know. I don't know, man. Is it a stereotype? Theory by the way, guys, I'm just asking Andrew to say that of the basketball players that you've seen at L.A. Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness, a higher proportion of the black players can dunk or touch the rim than the Asian or Latino players. What are you seeing? Are you trying to say that maybe certain groups happen to be better than other groups at something else? Maybe they just do it more. Somebody said, you know, this is a Slav squat. We call this a Russian prisoner squat. Somebody said in Africa we do it here as well. Yeah, this is the thing that's popular around the world. Right. But I think in America, the most visible way to see it is, you know, with like a chef in a wife beater or like, you know, at the walk with a cigarette in Chinatown. I just think you're going to be able to do this squat if you need to spend time closer to the ground, like if you're cleaning or you're even I've seen people eat off the ground, obviously, in certain countries. I'm just saying I'm just saying you'll be closer. Somebody said it has to do with Asians having different bodies, longer torsos, shorter limbs. It also contributes to Asians being generally the world's best power lifters, too. How much of this is true? We are getting into more like macro aggregate statistics about limb length between countries. You know, I'm not a scientist, but I'd say it probably has a little bit to do with it. But it's not the determining factor. Right. Somebody said, man, it just literally has to do with how often you do that thing. I'm a gardener. I'm like a lady. I do it. You know what I mean? Like anybody who has a job that requires you to learn this is going to know how to do it. David, somebody said, I mean, it's how you squatted to smoke a cigarette when you tried to look cool back in the day with your friends. Is that true? Does the squat look cool? I think in Asia it looks cool. I think for the people who do it, it looks cool. But for Asian-Americans, that's why they kind of and I don't know if this is derisive or not, called it the fob squat. Right. I don't think I've seen a lot of Asian-American frat guys or girls in K-Town on a Friday night. Do you know what's funny? You know, what's funny is that I don't think it necessarily looks cool because you're like penile crotch area is totally exposed and it might rip your pants if your pants are too tight. But I'll say this. It's more hygienic than sitting on the ground because technically your feet are the only things touching the ground versus if you sit on the ground, which I think looks cooler. Your pants are actually on the ground. I actually think it has to do with violating American cultural norms because it feels like you're like peeing out in the woods during camping or something like that to Americans. That's the only context. It looks like you're taking a shat. Right, right. Let's get into the comments from Yahoo. Of course, these are more boomer comments. Somebody said it's simply because Asians are skinnier people. Being overweight and fat makes it almost impossible to do the squat. I think that it makes it impossible to learn it at an older age, too, because I think it's harder, man. I think you got to just stretch out the hip flexor. I think that's the key thing. Somebody said, man, Asians have a shorter legs and a long body, but they're comparatively shorter legs are also the reason why Asians rarely produce world class runners or jumpers. So they this comment made sure that they pointed out some negatives of that physiology. Right, right. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, as a tall Anglo Saxon, I really don't need to do that Asian squat. The squat just shows that you're like kind of like the Toyota Camry. I'm more like I want to be a not a Taurus. I'm a F-150 truck Mustang. Yeah. Mustang's not too flexible. And other people were talking about how if you were a catcher in baseball, or you're a lifelong gardener, you might also have these skills. So they were basically pointing out different instances which are rare in American life where you get to learn this squat. It's called a mobility squat or a deep squat. If you ever take yoga or PT. Right, exactly. Does it just have to do with like how much you do something throughout your life and how just like culturally imprinted it is? For sure. For sure, man. If you do it like ten thousand times. Dude, if you try to do the squat every day, I guarantee you after a certain amount of time, you're going to be able to do it. Somebody said, boo, why does everything have to be labeled racially? It just feels racially divisive nowadays, man. But yeah, you know, I don't want to do it because I could do the squat, but I don't need to because I don't have those Asian squat toilets from 1925. It's just funny because the squat is just like a natural motion, but it got racialized because it pinned Asians versus Westerners. You know what I mean? And it was like, oh, a lot of Westerners can't do this thing that actually might be healthy for you. So guess what? Westerners, you have an inferior lifestyle. You know, it's kind of like, ah, I mean, they also, you know, had the sit down toilets. I guess you could say that was like, I don't know, more advanced at a time. Right, right. You're talking about the throne seating, right? I would say that. Yeah, some people are like, well, I can't fold myself up like a little robot, I always thought those Asians were like little robots anyway, little human calculators. I don't know. I mean, let's be honest, Andrew, there's a lot of things at play here. Body fat percentage, necessity, cultural norms, flexibility. And then at the very bottom, I'm going to put like differences in ethnic physiology. Right. I don't buy it that much because Sam Ohung was super fat and he could do all that stuff because he trained it from when he was young. Yeah. I mean, buff weightlifters, man, from every country. They could probably do it. All right. Do you think that Asians, Andrew, should take the Asian squat as any part of being Asian, you know, like using chopsticks the right way or eating rice or noodles, even though these are all stereotypes like bowing and stuff like that? It is true. The majority of consumption, I looked it up, of rice and noodles is in Asia. I think, David, even though I made the Asian squat video about six years ago in L.A. Right. You have the most American media on it. I don't know if I can say that is part of Asian culture. I'm not sure just because they call it the Asian squat. That's more of a Western term. You know, in Asia, they just call it the squat. They probably just call it like I'm just chilling. Yeah. I'm just like waiting here for you. Like I didn't have a seat. You know, you know what it's called. It's called the smoke break squat. Right. It's just called war time. Don't you? Yeah, I just means I'm tired. I'm resting. So I think like I don't know. I don't know if it's part of Asian culture, because if it's so prevalent in Slavic countries, unless you want to call it the Genghis Khan squat, I don't know, man. But Genghis, I don't even know if Mongolians do it. We got to we got to look into is it the Mongol squat? Oh, anyway, guys, let us know what you think in the comments section below. Comments are silly. This whole thing is silly. But I guess, you know, you bring up some interesting studies, even in all of the silliness. The race was of everything. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Keep it civil. Until next time we hop out, boys, we out. Peace.