What can Squats do for you?

Use it or lose it.

I haven't wrote about my mom's death yet. The past two years have been very tough on my dad. My mom happened to died from colon cancer on July 13. When visiting her that afternoon, she was still very aware of her surroundings. She ever asked me how the Tour De Donut went. (Her biggest concern was how many donuts I ate) My parents would have been married 59 years this past July 31.

It seems like my dad (who turned 85 on Aug. 22) has aged a lot since her diagnosis in Sept. 06. Up until that point he use to comment about how much older the other men his age appeared. He stopped working out on a regular basis while helping mom deal with all the side effects of her illness. His ability to move has decreased a lot in the last two years.

Since the funeral, I have made it a point to take my dad out for lunch once per week.
He has been making comments about how hard it is getting for him to walk and climb stairs. I would ask him about exercising, and he would comment about having to get back into his routine.

Last Thursday we were taking after lunch and he brought up the exercise subject again. I asked him if he would like to try some squats for me. He agreed.

First I had him squat in front of a chair. He is able to control his descent to about 60 degrees before his muscles give out. I then had him try some squats while holding onto the counter top. Same range of motion as in front of the chair. We talked about how it felt to control the movement. His focus is now on controlling how he sits down onto chairs.

If you are looking for a simple way to improve your leg strength, focus on how you squat into a chair.