US President and David Beckham offered to lose to the Asian squatting ability

There are 2 survival skills that Westerners get together when they travel to Asia: one is to bring toilet paper, the other is to practice squat. And the squat movement is not a normal squat as they are in the gym, but it must be an advanced movement, deep squat with the lowest possible butt.

In fact, Asians call it squatting . Westerners call it 'Asian-squat'. And you may also imagine why they have to practice this posture to survive: The toilets in Asia are sometimes nightmares for Westerners. They are designed in a squat style and have no water spray.

Toilets in Asia are sometimes nightmares for Westerners.

However, also because of this, an interesting fact is discovered: Westerners are not everyone can squat, so that this habit of Asians becomes a mystery that surprised many visitors. . Why can they squat easily, not fall, even sit for hours?

Let's see Asian people squatting while eating .

. waiting for customers.

. and even at a museum like this.

And former US President Barack Obama cannot take his foot down .

. and if David Beckham is an Asian father, he may have squatted.

A source of research in the US shows that only 13.5% of participants can squat, but of which 9% are Asian. In contrast, a study in Japan showed that a large proportion of 87.5% of participants could squat. And the cause is finally found.

In the past, there were some theories that most Asians could squat because they had been practicing since they were young, because they had to use traditional toilets. But this may not seem right, when in some South American countries like Peru, this type of toilet is also popular, but not all people can easily squat.

The next hypothesis is that Asians are lower, short legs and long back should have a lower body focus, making them easier to squat. But this is not the case for Asian basketball players, who have the same proportions as Westerners but can still squat.

Ankle joint is the decisive factor tosquattingability.

So what is the last cause? It turns out, it's the flexibility of ankle joints . In their study, Japanese scientists examined a variety of factors that could affect participants' squatting ability, including: age, height, weight, BMI. , flexibility of hip joints, knee joints, hip joints .

As a result, they confirmed that ankle joint is the decisive factor in our squatting ability. If the ankle joint is flexible over 70 degrees, you can squat easily. Most Westerners only have ankle joints that are 30 degrees flexible, so they often have to tiptoe on their toes when trying to squat.

Test to measure the flexibility of ankle joints.

So how to measure the flexibility of ankle joints? Scientists have created an experiment that you can do at home. First, find a wall and stand opposite it. Put your big toe and knees on the wall, and then put your feet and knees together on a vertical plane.

Next, lower your knees and move your big toe away from the wall. When you can't move any further, measure the distance from the thumb to the wall.

Using the results of the study, the scientists said that if the distance of the right leg is greater than 10.75cm and the left leg is greater than 11.25cm, your ankle joint is flexible enough to squat.