lower body strength

Forget the treadmill stress test. Forget the blood panel. One of the simplest and most accessible predictors of longevity may be hiding in an exercise most people learned in middle school gym class: the bodyweight squat. According to Dr. Peter Attia, a world expert in longevity and host of The Drive podcast, the ability to hold a 90-degree air squat for a specific duration is a powerful proxy for overall health, particularly lower body strength and muscular endurance. And the data supporting lower body strength as a mortality predictor is anything but trivial. In a recent discussion with Dr. Andrew Huberman of Stanford University, Attia explained that research studies commonly use leg extensions, wall sits, and squats to assess strength because they are easy to measure in experimenta...

Step into a gym for the first time—or even after a long break—and the experience can feel overwhelming. Rows of machines, endless workout programs, and a sea of people who seem to know exactly what they’re doing can make fitness feel intimidating. For many beginners, the question becomes simple: Where do I even start? Fitness experts say the answer might be far less complicated than most people think. One of the most effective and accessible exercises requires no machines, no special equipment, and very little space. It’s the squat—one of the most fundamental human movements and arguably one of the most powerful exercises for building overall fitness. A Movement We Already Do Every Day At its core, the squat is not a complex gym exercise but a natural movement the body performs da...

Tag: lower body strength

The 2-Minute Air Squat Test: How Long You Can Hold a Squat Predicts How Long You’ll Live

Why Fitness Experts Say the Squat Is the One Exercise Everyone Should Master