Hindu Squats(The Baithak)
Going down the bodyweight training rabbit hole you’ll find some interesting movements. Hindu squats are one of these. You can think of them as your normal bodyweight squat only
More rhythmic
Keeps you on your toes(literally)
And breathing is a tad different.
How to Perform Them
Based on the tendon strength in your knees you can either stand shoulder width or sometimes I have done them narrow.
Keep your body upright and lower yourself to the ground while coming off of your heels.
Your arms will also be moving and at this point so bend them up and bring your hands to your shoulders. As you get lower to the ground extend your arms in tempo with the descent. Once you touch the ground sweep your arms forward/stand back up, and bring your arms back to the bend/hands at the shoulder position.
Breathing will be the opposite of normal squats. Going down(eccentric) you’ll be breathing out while going up(concentric) you’ll be breathing in. Combine the descent, breathing, as well as the arm swinging together and do that for however many sets and reps you want.
Their Purpose
The main function of these is conditioning/stamina so one would be doing high repetitions of them. I’ve used them a few times here and there but nothing consistent. I guess my goals didn’t allow for them to be part of my system. By the time I thought about including them, I was already proficient with pistol squats as well as exploring the benefits I had gained through overcoming isometrics like feeling lighter on my feet.
But they are still a great movement with many benefits.
Stamina
Do enough of these long enough not only will you have a strong heart but powerful lungs. The high repetitions you’ll be doing with this exercise whether it’s in the dozens or 100s will have your heart pounding and have you running out of breath.
A famous Indian Wrestler known as “The Great Gama” was known for doing a great number of these. Some sources put his daily number in the thousands and if your life is devoted to wrestling then it would be easy to find time in the day to accomplish this. But for the rest of us, I believe the hundreds rep ranges should be a good goal to shoot for.
There are a myriad of ways to cut up how you perform your sets.
You can do an ascending pyramid where you add a rep every time you do them.
Ex: 1, 2,3,4,5,....
Or “Downs” which is the opposite but from starting at a higher number like 25 and taking a short rest in between sets.
“25 Down” Ex: 25,24,23,22,21…….
Or if you want to use the normal sets and reps scheme of maneuver that’s fine too and has been something I used in the past. I would do several sets of 20, 25, or 30.
If I ever became a conditioning coach for some high school sports team this would be one of my go-to conditioning exercises along with burpees.
Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
The high reps you will perform with this exercise along with the stretch that occurs with the quads(if you’re doing a full range of motion) has been stated as causing a significant amount of muscle growth.
The constant tension on your legs combined with the rhythmic nature of this movement will definitely send a signal for your legs to get bigger.
Though, given that its higher reps the muscle growth that occurs will mostly be the fluid in between your muscle fibers(The Sarcoplasm), but there will still be some fiber growth as well. If you want good conditioning along with the muscle then this exercise should be at the top of the list.
Tendons
Granted you don’t have any prior injuries this movement is a good tool for making your knee tendons stronger. Not only that but these could be a good stepping stone if you wish to jump into sissy squats at a later date.
Balance
Having only your toes be in contact with the ground for most of the set will challenge your balance. You will over time learn how consistently generate force while on your toes. This will translate well into sprinting and running.
Easy To Learn/Simple
This movement is easy to learn in my opinion. Just pratice it a little every day then start adding more reps for conditioning. If you want to keep your workouts simple then adding this along with a hindu/divebomber push-ups and pull-ups will be a great way to go and keep you busy for a long time. Often times it’s the simplest workouts that people enjoy that determine their fitness progress and consistency.
Time
If you’re someone who has limited time in the morning but wishes to do this exercise then I’d recommend setting a timer for the time you wish to engage in this movement. If that’s 5 minutes, then set the timer and crank out as many as you can using good form. Write down how many you do and work to see how much you can better yourself over the next few weeks and months. If you find your progress slowing down space out the days in between your workouts a little more and get rest!!!
If I were to Incorporate it today
If I were to throw it back in my training schedule I would probably combine it with either hill sprints or burst rep isometrics.
With the first, I could stack conditioning on conditioning. Hill sprints tend to work the hamstrings to a greater degree so these with a movement like Hindu squats which primarily benefit the quads will make this like PB & J muscle building and conditioning for my lower body.
With the latter, you can pair conditioning and explosiveness to a greater degree while saving time. The idea is that with these overcoming isometrics you perform bursts of exertion one after the other almost like a standard rep. The benefits are that it better trains your mind-muscle connection and saves your joints. But you’ll find out more right here.
However, the Hindu squat by itself has a plethora of benefits.
Thank you for making it to the end and comments are below.
Until Next Time…