 One of my favorite uses of the squat is using it not just as a training tool, but as a mobility test Should you be able to squat all the way down with your butt to your heels? Without losing your your back position or about without gaining extra tension where you don't want it I would say yes, so you can use this as a lifter To take inventory of how you're feeling that day I know that days that I don't sleep very well Not only do my hips hurt more, but my squat is worse I feel my back a lot more when I do my squat and it looks a little bit more like this rather than Maintain a nice kind of relaxed position that I can then squat through and I can just sit here and I can hang out And I can even talk to the camera Because I'm calm because this is easy, right? so things to Check out while you're using this as your mobility test first is depth for someone like me I'm really flexible and depth is never a problem even when I don't feel good I can still get all the depth that I could ever need For some other people people who are stiff people who feel like they need to stretch They might need some some more or they might be able to use depth as a measurement tool So if I can only squat to here and then one day I can squat to here that is a sign of good improvement Some exercises not even squatting related exercises will help you achieve that But you'll have to play around with it You'll have to find and feel the muscles that you need or the exercises that help make a note of them and do them Whenever you need to So I could use depth, but I could also use position the biggest position stuff that I'll talk about is This midsection, okay my spine my hips my ribcage Those are very important to me because that's the the center of everything. That's the connector That's what's connecting my feet up to my head. That's what's moving my body around So I need to be able to maintain a good position of this so that I can demonstrate my mobility If I can get that position then if I'm stiff I might be able to use mobility or squat depth as a target for me, right? And we talked about that already But if I can always get down there and then I can kind of play around with how does my back feel? How does my head feel? How does my neck feel? Am I able to turn my head? Am I able to tilt my head after I do my squats? It feels okay, right? Or does my back feel tighter? Does my neck feel stiffer when I do this? Does it hurt sometimes I can just use pain as an indicator, right? And I can use this to test and retest myself So I test my squat I say wow my back feels really tight and then I do maybe a split squat exercise where I'm one foot forward one foot back and I try To mobilize my hip here, and I'm turning on my hamstring. Okay, that feels pretty good There we go, and then I retest and I test the squat again, and I say oh wow that feels easy That's effortless. My back feels great So two ways to use your squat as a mobility test one squat depth and two How does it feel?