30/30 Squat Challenge by Ido Portal

The Death of Good Posture

The human body is a beautiful design and certainly not one to be manipulated or forceably changed however that is exactly what much of the western world has set out to do in modern times. Just take a look at the original caveman and it is easy to understand that the human body was certainly not designed to be seated in a chair position cooped up in an office for 8-10 hours per day and then to go home of an evening and slouch around on the couched watching television for another 4 hours.

No it is not the way the human body should be treated but it is certainly the way Western Society has been going for quite sometime and the longer we continue to treat our bodies in this manner the the more physical and health ailments we will continue to develop as a society.

Primal Stress Program

Developing a poor posture really can have a whole range of significant physical side effects.

Throughout this blog post we mainly focus on the deep squat position and in particular the 30/30 Squat Challenge which was designed by Israeli movement guru Ido Portal. The reason why we want to discuss the deep squat is because it is a natural position for the human body which if we practice it more often we will be able to correct and return our posture back to its intended state.

Why is the Deep Squat so important?

In the above table which sets out a whole range of deep squat benefits you can see that many of these benefits involved joint health which really is the platform for building a body that has a better ability to move, be stable and mobile in all physical activities that you put your body through.

What is the 30/30 Squat Challenge

So as you can see from the above image from Ido Portal’s website (www.idoportal.com), he has developed a challenge to help people from all over the world to practice the deep squat which will in turn improve the posture, hip flexors and prevent injury.

So the challenge is to sit in the deep squat position for a total of 30 minutes every day for a period of 30 days. Obviously one should not just stop doing this after 30 days but by successfully completing this challenge you can be guaranteed to have better mobility, movement and posture.

The challenge can be done by anyone and to join the official 30/30 Squat Challenge by Ido Portal then you should go to the Facebook group and request to join. Once you have been accepted you can then discuss progress and any other similar issues inside the Facebook group.

The Rule of the 30/30 Squat Challenge

Rules of thumb:

1. No REST days during the 30 days.

2. Relaxed spine – no need to try to remain erect or with neutral spine. Its a RESTING position.

3. Width between the feet – around shoulder width apart but should be individualized and experimented with – aim for maximal depth and relaxation.

4. How much feet should be turned out or should they be facing forward? Don’t let anyone sell you the idea of ONE perfect position – this should be individualized and experimented with – aim for maximal depth and relaxation.

5. Knee pain? Hip pain? stand up and move around. Resume the squat and work in small short bursts of squatting throughout the day.

6. Footwear? Best – barefoot. Second best – minimal footwear.

7. Keep your heels on the floor if possible. If impossible, try a small heel support until you gain the proper mobility to squat flat foot on the ground.

8. True sign of good squatting? When you get tired from STANDING – you squat and not vise versa! True story!

9. How deep should you squat? There is only one answer – DEEPER.

Preparation for the 30/30 Squat Challenge

Take it from me 30 minutes of deep squat sitting every single day for 30 days is not something that someone who struggles to even get into the deep squat position will be able to perform. So the name of the game is to be able to work at being able to perform the deep squat position before you even attempt the challenge and this will not necessarily take you too long to achieve in itself.

Here are a couple of tips in working yourself into the deep squat position:

1. Squat down as far as you can, just before you fall backwards on your bum you should grabbed a hold of a door or ledge so that you can balance yourself in that position.

2. Depending on how much assistance you need to prevent you from losing balance – get a small weight plate at the gym or if at home a small book or raise block can be used to slide under the heel of your foot to prevent you falling backwards and losing balance. Obviously the more assistance your need then the bigger the raised item will need to be that you put under the heel of your foot.

So if you have not quite perfect the unassisted deep squat position then it is highly advisable that you use the above tips in order to help you reach that natural deep squat and it is very important that you achieve this before diving straight into the 30/30 Squat Challenge.

You will be surprised how quickly your body will respond to your daily practice of the squat. In a matter of weeks depending on what squat ability you are starting from you will find that you will be able to naturally put yourself in the deep squat position without losing balance and without considerable pain, however it is something that you must commit yourself to do daily especially if you are intent on conditioning yourself to take on the 30/30 Squat Challenge. Just remember practice make perfect and I guarantee with practice your body will respond and you will be able to perform an unassisted deep squat before long.

Once you have been able to comfortably find yourself in the deep squat position you should then put emphasis on holding the correct deep squat. You see when we are young children we are born with the ability to hold a correct posture since our bodies have not yet been tainted by the pitfalls of Western society. So what we should do is take a leaf out of our children’s book by aiming to achieve the flexibility, mobility and posture that they possess. Have a look at the image below to get an idea of correct deep squat form.

Advanced Ido Portal Squat Routine Training

Once you have progressed your way to being able to comfortably sit in the deep squat position you will want to then put your focus further and more advanced deep squat training. Luckily for you the guru himself Ido Portal has put together a great Squat Routine 2.0 video that you can follow in order to progress your deep squat. I personally follow this training video every day and it can takes around 10 to 15 minutes to complete properly – so what this mean for those of you taking up the 30/30 Squat Challenge is that after completing this training routine then you have completed half of your daily challenge. After this daily squat training routine you will only need to find approximately 15 more minutes in the day to sit in the deep squat and comfortable fill your daily 30 minute squat quota.

Check out this amazing video below that I follow every day:

How to join the 30/30 Squat Challenge

Simply go along to Facebook and do a groups search for “30/30 Squat Challenge” and request to the join the group as a member. You should be added to the group within a day or so and then you will be able to see all of the comments and discussions from all of the existing members. At this point in time there are almost 15,000 members in the group.

If you decide to take on the 30/30 Squat Challenge then you should take the initiative to comment on the Facebook group about your ongoing progress whilst undertaking the challenge. Everyone is encouraged to share their experiences, challenges, accomplishments and battles with other members in the group. It is also worth keeping a close eye on what everyone else has to say on the Facebook group because you will generally learn a lot from other peoples experiences.

If you want to go straight to the Facebook group from here then please click on this link – 30/30 Squat Challenge – Facebook Group

If you want to find out more about the movement lifestyle then check out the movement guru himself – Mr Ido Portal

Where to from here

So once you have been able to accomplish the 30/30 Squat Challenge, which by the way will take quite a bit of practice and progression, after this you will be able to move towards a whole range of other exercises. Some of these other exercises and movements that you may want to explore more and consider training for can include:

Correct form air squats
Correct form free weight squats
Movement exercises
Box jumps
Floreio Art
Capoeira martial arts

The deep squat is such an important basic movement that should be performed regardless of how light or rigorous your training schedule is and this is because it is a fundamental movement and position that the human body should be able to perform at its most basic physical level.

Update us on your 30/30 Squat Challenge Progressions

We decided to put this blog post together because we want to spread the word about this wonderful 30/30 Squat Challenge since it promotes amazing health benefits. We want to world to be able to benefit from the program and what we would love more than anything is to hear about your experience in participating in the 30/30 Squat Challenge. Tell us about where you are at now? Tell us about where you want to go and what your goals are and most importantly tell us about your progressions and accomplishments along your movement and mobility journey.

Please leave your updates, messages and comments below!!

Next is the 30 Day Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal

The next big challenge that we want to introduce you to is the 30 Day Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal which aims at building stronger shoulders and forearms whilst focussing on shoulder joint health and spinal decompression.

Mastering Ido Portal’s Squat Challenge and the Hanging Challenge will go a long way to bettering your overall health, mobility, strength and posture.