Deep Squat: Why Your Heels Lift, And How To Sit Lower With A Blanket
Deep squat: the short answer
You try a deep squat, and your heels lift off the floor. Or you tip backwards and have to grab something. If you feel you can’t squat, you are in very good company. The three usual causes are stiff ankles, tight calves and stiff hips, and a rolled blanket under the heels and a block under the seat often fix all three on the day. Here is the article in short form:
- A deep squat needs the shins to tip forward and the thighs to fold at the hip.
- Heels lift when the ankles, calves or hips run out of room.
- A rolled blanket under the heels and a block under the seat give the squat back to you today.
- Short holds, repeated, work better than one long strain.
- In Beijing, hip arthritis was 80 to 90 percent less common in older people. Squatting is one idea. It has not been tested.
- Squatting for hours a day went with more knee arthritis, so keep it short and supported.
- In Darwin, learn it in a beginner class or online.
Last updated: 25 October 2026.
A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.
A squat with the heels flat and the hands on a rail. The rail takes the fear out of it, so you can sink.
Can you squat all the way down with your heels flat?
Try it now. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Bend your knees and sink as low as you can. Do your heels stay down, or do they float up?
Most people who spend their days in chairs find the heels lift, or they fall backwards. That is not a flaw in you. It is what a chair-shaped life does to ankles, calves and hips.
Kelly and Juliet Starrett, authors of Built to Move, once asked members of a sporting club in San Francisco to sit on the floor. Many were fit, athletic people. Many could not sit cross-legged.
Why do your heels lift when you squat?
To go down into a deep squat, two things must happen at once. Your shins must tip forward over your feet, and your thighs must fold at the hip crease. If either one runs out of room, your body finds another way down. It lifts the heels, or it tips back.
That gives three usual causes:
- Stiff ankles. The shin cannot tip forward, so the heel comes up to help.
- Tight calves. The calf muscles are short and pull the heel up as the knees bend.
- Stiff hips. The thighs cannot fold, so the body leans back to stay balanced.
Three common reasons the heels lift in a deep squat, and the prop or habit that helps with each.
How can you tell which one is holding you back?
In class we let the props tell us. Squat with a rolled blanket under your heels. If your heels now stay down and you sink further, the ankles and calves were the limit. Add a block under your seat. If you stop tipping back, the hips were the limit. Often it is a bit of all three. The props let a stiff body do the real pose, correctly, today.
How do you sit lower in a deep squat with a blanket?
Here is the simple version we teach. Give it a few breaths at a time.
- Roll a blanket. Fold a blanket and roll it into a firm log, about as thick as your fist.
- Stand with your heels on the roll. Keep your toes on the floor and your feet about hip-width apart.
- Hold something steady. A wall, a rail or the back of a chair will do.
- Bend your knees and sink. Let your tailbone drop towards the floor and keep your chest lifted.
- Add a block if you need it. Slide a block under your seat so you can rest on it.
- Stay for 10 to 20 seconds, then come up. Rest, then go in again, a little deeper each time.
That is how a stiff beginner is taught in an Iyengar class: a short hold, out, rest, and in again. The teachers’ manual from Mr Iyengar’s institute in Pune says not to force a student with a stiff body, but to ask them to repeat the important poses.
When the squat feels easy, the full pose is called Malasana (Garland Pose). We have a whole guide to it: Malasana: how to do Garland Pose with a blanket and a block.
A supported deep squat. The head rests on a block, so the neck and shoulders let go while the hips open.
The full pose that a deep squat grows into: Malasana (Garland Pose), with the trunk folded forward between the knees.
Why do chairs make a deep squat so hard?
Because we sit, and the hip folds a little. We drive, and it folds. We sit on the couch. The deep squat sits at the far end of that range, and we stop going there.
Age is not the main cause. A large American national health survey measured the hips and knees of 1,683 people by age (Roach and Miles, Physical Therapy, 1991). Up to age 74, most joints had lost only 3 to 5 degrees. The big exception was hip extension, taking the leg back behind you, which lost more than a fifth of its range.
Joints are like door hinges: never open the door all the way, and the hinge gets rusty. Use is something you can change. In a small 2005 American study, 19 adults aged 62 to 83 did eight weeks of Iyengar yoga (DiBenedetto and colleagues, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation). Afterwards their hips reached further back and their stride was longer. It had no comparison group, so it is a good sign, not a promise.
A day of chairs moves the hip mostly one way. A class takes it in every direction, including the deep bend a squat needs.
What did the Beijing hip study find?
Many people around the world still squat and sit on the floor every day. Do they have healthier hips? In 2002 a team compared X-rays of the hips of 1,506 people aged 60 and over in Beijing with older white Americans (Nevitt and colleagues, Arthritis and Rheumatism). Hip arthritis was 80 to 90 percent less common in Beijing. Arthritis here means osteoarthritis (wear-and-tear of the joint). The researchers did not say why. They called for more research into genes and way of life.
The Starretts suggest that a lifetime of squatting and floor-sitting may be part of the answer. That is their idea, not something the study tested. It does fit what Mr Iyengar saw in India, where students who now sat on chairs at home were “becoming too stiff to sit in lotus position easily”.
The 2002 Beijing hip study in four lines. Squatting is one idea for the difference, and it has not been tested.
Is a lot of squatting good for your knees?
Not necessarily. In a 2004 follow-up, the Beijing team asked people how long they squatted each day at age 25 (Zhang and colleagues, Arthritis and Rheumatism). Those who squatted the most had more knee arthritis later.
So the story is not “squat more and your joints will be fine”. The hips looked better. The knees did not. That is why the plan here is a short, supported squat, held for a few breaths, rather than hours of low sitting.
Props can do surprising things. In San Francisco, Mr Iyengar once met a man with surgical clips in both knees who could bend them barely a centimetre. Mr Iyengar wrapped a block in cloth and placed it behind the man’s knees. For the first time since his surgery, the man found he could bend them and squat. The prop did not replace the work. It made the work possible.
What does squatting have to do with how long you live?
There is a famous floor test. Can you sit down on the floor, cross-legged, and stand up again without using your hands or knees?
A Brazilian team scored 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80 on this “sit-and-rise” test, out of 10, taking off a point for each hand, knee or other support used (Brito and colleagues, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2012). Over about six years, 159 of them died. The lower the score, the higher the risk. The lowest group had more than five times the risk of the top group.
This is a marker, not a cause. What the score shows is whether a body still has the strength, flexibility and balance that daily life needs. Those are exactly what a squat asks for.
The floor test: the fewer supports people needed to get down and up, the better they fared. A sign of a capable body, not a cause.
Get the free ebook Too Stiff For Yoga?. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Where can I learn a deep squat in Darwin?
A beginner class builds the legs and hips first, with a chair close by, long before any deep squat.
For a deep squat in Darwin, come to a beginner class at Flametree’s Woolner or Coolalinga studio, or join live online from anywhere in Australia. Flametree runs 17 beginner classes a week in Darwin, and seven of them are also live online. Every class uses blankets, blocks, chairs, belts and a wall, and the teacher adjusts each pose to your body.
Stiff all over? Try the Friday 10.15am Gentle Yoga class at Woolner, in the studio and live online. Times are on the beginner timetable. You do not need to be flexible to start.
See also our guides to tight hips, hip mobility exercises and how to get more flexible. If you are curious about the props, read about yoga blocks.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my heels lift when I squat?
Usually because the ankles, calves or hips run out of room. A deep squat needs the shins to tip forward and the thighs to fold at the hip. A rolled blanket under the heels often fixes it on the day.
How do I squat if my heels do not touch the floor?
Put a rolled blanket under your heels, hold a wall, rail or chair back, and sink for 10 to 20 seconds. Come up, rest and go in again. Add a block under your seat if you tip back.
Can I get my deep squat back if I cannot squat now?
Many people do. Joints often stiffen from lack of use more than from age, and yoga takes them through their full range with props to help.
Is a deep squat good for you?
It is a good test of ankle, hip and leg movement. In a Brazilian study of 2,002 adults aged 51 to 80, those who could sit down and rise from the floor with the least help lived longer, though the test is a marker and not a cause.
What is the Beijing hip study?
A 2002 study of 1,506 people aged 60 and over in Beijing. Hip arthritis was 80 to 90 percent less common than in older white Americans. The researchers did not say why, and squatting is only one untested idea.
How long should I hold a deep squat?
Ten to twenty seconds to start, then come out, rest and go in again. Short holds, repeated, beat one long strain.
What is the yoga name for a deep squat?
Malasana (Garland Pose): feet close together, heels down, knees apart and the trunk folded forward between the knees.
Where can I learn a deep squat in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and live online. Beginner classes use blankets, blocks, chairs and a wall.
Where to next
- New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
- Too stiff to start? Try the Too Stiff For Yoga? pass: 12 classes for $59.50 (10 at half price plus 2 free), in Darwin or live online.
- For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
- Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sources: Nevitt MC and colleagues, Very low prevalence of hip osteoarthritis among Chinese elderly in Beijing, Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2002; Zhang Y and colleagues, Association of squatting with increased prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2004; Brito LB and colleagues, Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2012; Roach KE and Miles TP, Normal hip and knee active range of motion: the relationship to age, Physical Therapy, 1991; DiBenedetto M and colleagues, Effect of a gentle Iyengar yoga program on gait in the elderly, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2005; Starrett K and Starrett J, Built to Move; Too Stiff For Yoga? ebook.
