'Collapse to the floor...'

Alana flips a tyre, Hyacinth goes underground, Erik checks the form

28.10.2014
Day 197

A glorious day for circuits with http://www.shape-u.com. Today it was all about the squats.

The two exercises my fellow trainees are demonstrating here require a perfect, deep squat. my thighs and hip flexors are feeling it now, a full 14 hours later. To get the power behind that heavy tyre, you need to utilise the explosive potential of the glutes. Erik says the squat exercises the core as well as the backside. You need to bring your bottom down lower than the knees - 'submit to the floor' is another colourful phrase Erik  employs to explain the movement. I managed 16 tyre flips within the minute, 56 underground dips, 26, 9kg medicine ball thrusts with squats, yet more squats with heels propped up and arm outstretched.
To do a good squat you need to have your arms out, your back straight, your hips below the parallel, your weight on your heels and your knees behind the toes.With all these things to think about, you're being more aware of your body, you can sense if something's misaligned. This is proprioception, which helps you avoid injury.
I vow to squat to pick up dropped things, rather than caving in to my natural habit of bending forward straight legs from the waist, which only contributes to my weak glutes and over stretchy hams. No wonder I lack explosive power on the hill sprints.
To be honest though, after an extremely long working day, my inclination to 'collapse to the floor' is nothing to do with squats and everything to do with complete exhaustion.