Movement Pattern: The Squat - How We Rise

Front squat practice, building strength, awareness, and confidence from the ground up.

If someone told me twenty years ago that one day I’d be writing about squatting, I would’ve laughed my head off. Funny how life works, today I find myself doing exactly that, and writing about it in all seriousness. And somehow, the squat has become my favourite movement. Go figure. Before we ever ran, jumped, or lifted, we squatted. It's one of the first pattern our bodies learned, a natural position we used as children before we could stand. We squatted to play, to rest, to explore. Somewhere along adulthood, between chairs and convenience, we forgot how.

The squat isn't just an an exercise. It's a memory, of how we once moved freely, and how we can again.

The most human movement

In my last post, I wrote about what makes training functional, training the body not just for the gym, but for life. The squat is where that philosophy begins.

We often associate it with weights and sore legs, but the essence of the squat isn't in the load, it's in the relationship between your body and the ground. To squat is to return to gravity, to root yourself, to rise with control. It's your body saying, "I trust this movement.".

Every time you lower and stand back up, you rehearse independence: getting off the floor, rising from a chair, regaining confidence after injury, or simply trusting your joints again.

A squat is not a “leg exercise.” It’s a full-body pattern, recruiting the hips, thighs, core, spinal stabilisers, and even the upper back to keep you balanced and upright. (image: VisibleBody)

What the Squat Really Works

A squat is a coordinated chain of movement.

Your quadriceps guide the lowering, your glutes and hamstrings drive you back up, your calves help stabilise the ankles, and your adductors guide your knee alignment.

Behind all of that, your deep core and spinal stabilisers keep you upright, while your upper back organises the entire structure.

When these muscles work together, the squat becomes more than strength, it becomes practice for real life. Standing up from the floor, climbing stairs, lifting a child, carrying groceries, getting out of a car, this one pattern underpins all of it.

That’s why the squat is one of the most transferable movements we have: it strengthens the systems you rely on every single day.

Form Follows Function

Biomechanically, the squat integrates almost everything that matters:

• Mobility of the hips, knees and ankles

• Stability of the core and spine

• Coordination between breath and movement

• Strength across the entire chain

But what makes it functional isn't muscle size, it's transferability. You can squat 100 kilos, but if you can't stand up comfortably from the floor your strength is trapped in the gym. Functional training frees it.

Kelly and Juliet Starrett, in Built to Move, call movement a vital sign, as essential to health as sleep or nutrition. Your ability to squat easily tells you more about your longevity than any fitness metric. It reveals how your joints move, how safely you can load, and how well your body adapts to gravity.

The body keeps what you practise, and forgets what you neglect. The squat reminds it that you still intend to move.

The Emotional Side of Rising

In Rebound, the squat often marks a quiet milestone, the moment someone realises that movement isn't just mechanics; it's self-trust.

After illness, injury, or long disconnection, the first controlled squat feels symbolic. It's not "I can train again." It's "I can rise again."

There's something profound about that, the body remembering its own resilience.

Try This

Find a steady chair or bench and stand just in front of it, feet hip-width apart.

Take a slow inhale, extend your arms in front of you (zombie mode engaged), brace your core, keep your chest lifted and your spine long, then lower yourself toward the surface with control.

Lightly tap your glutes to the chair, don’t sit, don’t collapse, and don’t let the tension disappear from your legs, hips, or core.

Exhale as you press through your whole foot (not just your toes, not just your heels) and rise back up.

Now, notice what your body had to negotiate:

Balance

• Did you wobble or shift your weight to one side?

• Did your heels lift? Did your toes grip the floor out of fear?

Control

• Did you tip too far forward?

• Did your knees collapse inward or drift outward?

• Did the descent feel smooth or rushed?

Spatial awareness

• Did you find the chair with control, or were you guessing where the surface was?

Support strategy

• Did you use your hands or thighs to stand up?

• Did your breath disappear halfway down?

• Did you hold tension in your face, neck, or shoulders?

None of these are mistakes.

They’re messages, small signals your body gives you about stability, mobility, strength, or confidence.

Awareness is your baseline.

Strength builds on top of it.

This is where functional training begins: not with weights, but with understanding your own movement.

Why It Matters

You don’t need to squat like an athlete to move. The goal isn’t depth, it’s connection.

It’s learning how your body lowers, stabilises, and rises again, with confidence and ease.

In Built to Move, the Starretts remind us that small, daily habits restore longevity.

You don’t need an hour in the gym to reclaim your body. Sometimes, some mindful squat a day is enough to keep the map between your brain and your hips alive.

In a world that praises pushing harder, the squat teaches something quieter: Progress is simply the ability to rise, again and again, with intention.

Your Free Squat Progression Program

If you’d like a simple, structured way to practise the squat, I created a free Squat Progression Program you can download here.

It takes you from bodyweight to weighted squats safely, with clear steps you can follow at your own pace.

Whether you’re rebuilding after a break, returning from injury, or already training regularly, this progression meets you where your body is — and grows with you.

It includes four levels, coaching notes, and an exercise glossary, all in the same warm, accessible Rebound style you’re familiar with.

Take what you need, move slowly, and let your body relearn the rhythm of rising.