What is the Asian Squat? And why can’t everyone do it?

But the most universal purpose for squatting is when you gonna take a fat dump. Toilets are common in Chinese households now, but public restrooms are still dominated by squat pans, which many Chinese find more hygienic due to the lack of thigh-and-toilet-seat contact. The flat-heeled squat position here is crucial, not only for stability on wet porcelain but also—without getting too anatomical—for proper angling and position. Especially for the ladies. Let’s just say that if you stay on your toes, your shoes will get hosed.

(Pro tip: Wearing a slight heel helps. That means you too fellas… Don’t be afraid to express yo self)

Of course, squat toilets are not unique to Asia, and neither is the deep-squatting position. But so ubiquitous is the position in Asia and so invisible is it in the West that it’s been dubbed the “Asian squat.” The internet is rife with suggestions that most Americans cannot squat properly.

But is this true? How much is this nature or nurture? Let’s look at the physiology of the deep squat.

Luckily, at least one other person on the internet is as obsessed with squats as me, and he knows something about physiology. That would be Bryan Ausinheiler, a physical therapist in California who has written a series of blog posts about the deep squat. “The squat is a great model for a multi-segmental movement pattern,”  Uh, what does that mean? “The squat is a triple-flexion movement. You’ve got bending at the hips, knees, and ankle, so you have to fold everything up underneath you.” There’s a lot going on.

The key factor seems to be ankle flexibility. A 2009 study in Japan found that men who found it impossible to deep squat had particularly inflexible ankles. This is also in part, Ausinheiler said, why kids have no problem squatting. “I measured my daughter’s ankle flexibility when she was one day old,” Ausinheiler said. “She has 70 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion! Normal in the West is, like, 30.” So humans are born squatters; some of us lose it when we stop trying.

In fact, not everyone who can deep squat is, as Ausinheiler put it, squatting “well,” with feet close together and toes pointed forward. I grew up in the United States with few occasions to squat, and I fall into this category but I think due to my skateboarding background I can execute a squat rather comfortably. (A fact I was strangley comfortable with in China, because I had to place my feet wider than the grooved sides of the squat toilet that kept you from slipping on the wet floor.) The position, while doable, is not particularly comfortable for most but I enjoy it. for about 5-6 minutes I can chill there. 

Body shape also seems to play a role. Short limbs, big heads, and long torsos make it easier to balance. (Again why toddlers have it so easy.) “I have three brothers, so of course, every year I test all their abilities to deep-squat,” Ausinheiler told me. “What I found is, of the four of us, my squat is the best, I gotta say, but I’m also most conscious of technique. I have another brother who has even shorter legs than me. His squat isn’t quite as good as mine, but it is very easy for him. And then the brother with the longest legs has the worst squat. He kind of has a hard time with it.”

Believe it or not, no one appears to have actually studied innate ability in deep squatting across ethnic groups. “You would have to take kids from the time they’re born in China and never let them do any squats to be a control group, and it’ll never happen,” Matt Hudson, a physiologist at the University of Delaware who kindly humored my questions, says. And ultimately, it may not matter. Practice and training make the bigger difference.