Correlation between sitting cross-legged and squat

[Kim Hanjin]

crossed leg.jpg

In some countries, including Korea, people often sit cross-legged on the floor. Today it is well known that sitting cross-legged are not good for knees.

Before I do SS program, there was no inconvenience to the sitting cross-legged. But Nowadays, I find it very uncomfortable to sit cross-legged for a long time. Today, I sat in the restaurant for a long time and it was very uncomfortable.(In Korea, some restaurants do not have chairs) Is this because of squat training? I believe that squat training made my knees strong. So, I think my strong knee refuses the sitting cross-legged. Am I the only one experiencing this? Is there anyone who feels uncomfortable sitting down doing yoga?(But I have never done yoga in my life and I will)

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have never been able to sit cross-legged on the floor. Never, not even when I was a kid. So I don't know. We will ask.

[AndrewLewis]

In both my study of flexibility and practical experience, loss of flexibility/mobility/whatever you people want to call it these days is very much a use it or lose it situation.

Children can squat no problem because they're pliable. Over time they lose that and don't keep up on it.

Flexibility takes a long time to acquire and requires constant maintenance.

It's possible that you just stopped being in the positions requiring the flexibility which effectively made you detrain.

[凤凰来仪]

crossed leg.jpg
Today it is well known that sitting cross-legged are not good for knees.

I am very skeptical of this claim.

No problems sitting cross-legged before SS and no problems after.

[Eric Schexnayder]

I am very skeptical of this claim.

No problems sitting cross-legged before SS and no problems after.

Seconded.

[karthik]

In some countries, including Korea, people often sit cross-legged on the floor. Today it is well known that sitting cross-legged are not good for knees.

Do you have a source for this?

SS doesn't seem to have had an effect on my ability to sit cross-legged, but there have been a couple of other changes in the past two decades:

- I've noticed that post-adolescence my center of gravity when sitting cross-legged moved a bit towards the rear, making staying upright require a tiny bit of active effort or forward lean.

- Once I developed some dinged up lumbar discs (before doing the NLP) my back began to hurt when sat this way for more than five minutes. This remains true post-LP, even as back pain in general has gone away.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do you have a source for this?

The Korea-part, or the knees-part?

[karthik]

The Korea-part, or the knees-part?

That sitting cross-legged is not good for the knees, assuming no pre-existing knee problems.

[Eric Schexnayder]

The Korea-part, or the knees-part?

I found a highly reliable source for the Korea-part.

According to the Infographic, cross-legged sitting only accounts for 1/8th of Korean sitting styles.

[Sparky]

My 2 cents. When i was running marathons and skinnier i could sit cross legged and put one leg over the other like a girl when in a chair. Now after years of more squats than running I canmot cross my legs in a chair anymore. My legs are so dam big in the calves, hammies and quads...for me anyway, I now sit like a man. Even Indian style on the floor is uncomfortable for me and I am pretty flexible. I think mine is just muscle growth compared to the past years of a skinny fat runner. Perhaps I am finally a man at 46. . . .perhaps.
Sparky