Hindu Squats are a hallmark of mixed martial arts training and their brutal
cousins, the back break fall (koho ukemi) and deck squat are longtime
torturers in Japanese hard style aikido and judo dojos.
But unlike traditional weighted squats -- front squats, back squats, sumo
squats and the like -- the Hindu squat is a strength endurance movement.
Hindu squats are done for high reps over a brief period of time. Think in
the 100s. Because of this, over the long term you don't get the same type
of leg development in the quads and hamstrings as you do from weighted
squats. This isn't a strength movement.
If you're new to Hindu squats, you'll initially feel fatigued and it's
common to overdue it and find yourself with a bad case of DOMS (delayed
onset muscle soreness) the next few days. Walking may not be easy. The best
advice? Walk. Stretch. Move. Steams and saunas. During this breaking in
period you'll experience some muscle growth -- your quads and hams weren't
used to working! But as the strength-endurance component takes over within
a week or so you'll end up with hard solid legs that don't bulk up but have
incredible strength and staying power if you stick to a regimen of Hindu
squats.
How many should you be shooting for? That depends. Hindu squats make a
great full body warm up and for that reason you may just want to work up to
100. Another approach is to time yourself and use a density approach and
increase the number of Hindu squats you can do over 15 minutes or so. Yet
another is Matt Furey's recommendation of the Gotch "Bible" and use a deck
of cards to alternate between that number of Hindu squats and push ups on
each card from a shuffled deck -- reds are squats, blacks are push ups.
