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In China, squatting is not treated as a special skill. It is simply a way to sit. At street stalls, someone might buy a bowl of noodles, find a spot on the curb, and drop straight into a deep squat with their heels flat and the bowl balanced on their knees. Outside small shops, older men may settle into the same squat for half an hour at a time, shelling sunflower seeds and swapping news. Nobody thinks of it as a skill. It is just where the body goes when there is no chair around.
Years later I learned that most of the world calls this the Asian squat, and that a lot of people physically cannot do it. If you have ever tried to drop into a flat-footed deep squat and tipped straight onto your back, this guide is for you. Here is what the position actually is, why it feels impossible for some adults, and a step-by-step way to train it.
Quick comparison: the difference between the two squats comes down to your heels.
| Feature | Western Squat | Asian Squat |
|---|---|---|
| Heel position | Lifts off the floor | Stays flat on the floor |
| Depth | Shallow to medium | Full depth, hips near ankles |
| Main limiter | Ankle and calf tightness | Trained ankle and hip mobility |
| Typical use | Gym exercise | Resting, eating, waiting |
What Is the Asian Squat?
Short answer: The Asian squat is a full-depth squat where your hips sink almost to your heels while both feet stay completely flat on the floor and your back stays upright. People who can do it use it to rest, not just as an exercise, and can hold it comfortably for minutes at a time.
In Chinese the verb is 蹲 (dūn, to squat or crouch). It is not a special term. It is the everyday word you would use to tell a child to squat down and look at something.
Trainers often use the position as a quick test of how mobile your ankles and hips are. You will also see the same posture called a deep squat, resting squat, or primal squat, which I sort out a couple of sections down.
Why Is It Called the Asian Squat?
Short answer: It is named for how common the posture is across China and the rest of Asia, where many people rest, eat, and wait in a deep flat-footed squat their whole lives. The name stuck through the internet, not because the squat is unique to Asia.
The position itself is ancient and worldwide. The English label is recent. Visitors to China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia kept noticing people of all ages resting in a deep squat at bus stops, markets, and doorways, something far less common in chair-heavy countries. That visible contrast is what earned it the name.
The term became more widely known online in the 2000s and gained mainstream attention after a viral BuzzFeed video in 2015 challenged viewers to see whether they could do the Asian squat.
You will also see the phrase Chinese squat. The two overlap, but they tend to pull in slightly different directions. Chinese squat is often used for the China-specific habit and, just as often, for the squat toilet you meet while traveling. Asian squat became the broader umbrella once people recognized the same posture across the region, so it is the term that now dominates fitness and mobility content. If you are searching for how to train the position, Asian squat is the phrase most articles use. If you are searching for the toilet, you will see Chinese squat toilet more often.
Despite the label, this is not an Asian trait. It is a human resting position that simply stayed in daily use in some places and faded in others. More on where it shows up around the world below.
Asian Squat vs Deep Squat
Short answer: They are the same basic movement. The Asian squat is a deep squat held with the heels flat as a resting position. The other names you will run into, resting squat, primal squat, and Slav squat, all describe the same posture with a different label or context.
People get confused because the words pile up. Here is how they line up.
| Name | Same Movement? | What’s Different |
|---|---|---|
| Deep squat | Yes | A general term; the gym version may let the heels lift or come back up right away |
| Resting squat | Yes | Stresses holding it to rest, not as an exercise |
| Primal squat | Yes | A mobility-world name, framing it as a natural human position |
| Slav squat | Yes | A wider stance, tied to an Eastern European internet meme |
| Asian squat | Yes | Heels flat, narrow stance, used as everyday rest across Asia |
The takeaway: if you can rest at the bottom of a deep squat with your heels flat and your back fairly upright, you are doing the Asian squat, whatever you call it.
Why Can’t I Asian Squat?
Short answer: Most people who struggle lack the ankle mobility to keep their heels flat at full depth. Tight calves, limited hip mobility, certain bone proportions, and years of sitting in chairs are the usual reasons. It is about your physical condition, not your ethnicity.
Here is what usually gets in the way:
Ankle mobility: This is the biggest factor. To keep your heels down in a full squat, your shins need to move forward over your feet. If your calves and the deeper soleus muscle are tight, your heels lift, your weight shifts back, and you end up balancing on your toes or tipping backward.
Limb proportions: Bone lengths can make the position easier or harder. People with a longer femur relative to their tibia often find it harder to stay balanced at the bottom of a deep squat because their center of mass shifts farther backward. This does not make the Asian squat impossible, but it can make the position feel less stable.
Hip mobility: Your hips need to open enough for your knees to travel out while your torso stays fairly upright. Long hours in chairs can make the hips stiff, which is why the position feels blocked rather than relaxed.
The chair habit: Squatting is use it or lose it. Children everywhere can drop into deep squats naturally, but many adults lose the ability once chairs, sofas, and seated toilets remove the daily reason to practice it.
Why Do I Fall Backward During an Asian Squat?
Short answer: Your ankles cannot bend far enough forward, so your shins stay too upright and your weight ends up behind your feet, which tips you backward.
This is the single most common complaint, and it is almost always an ankle problem, not a balance flaw. To stay upright at the bottom of a deep squat, your knees and shins have to travel forward over your toes. That keeps your weight stacked over your feet. When tight calves and stiff ankles stop the shins from moving forward, your hips drift back to find room, your center of gravity slips behind your heels, and gravity does the rest. Long thigh bones make this worse, because they push your hips even further back.
The fix is to bring your weight forward again. Three things work fast: raise your heels on a low book or wedge so your stiff ankles have less to do, hold a light weight out in front of you to pull your balance forward, or hold a door frame while you sink down. Pair those with the ankle drills below and the tipping stops within a couple of weeks for most people.
Is the Asian Squat Genetic?
Short answer: Mostly no. Bone shape is inherited, and your femur-to-tibia ratio and hip socket can make a deep squat feel easier or harder. But the two biggest factors, ankle and hip mobility plus lifelong habit, are both trainable. Children in every country can squat deeply before chairs train it out of them, which is the clearest sign it is not locked by ethnicity.
Asian Squat Benefits
Holding a deep squat does more than look impressive. The benefits are real, though some are better supported than others.
Mobility: Regular deep squatting keeps your ankles, hips, and knees moving through a full range. For a lot of people this is the single biggest payoff.
Lower-body strength and balance: Sitting at the bottom and standing back up loads your legs and trains balance and core control at the same time.
Posture and lower back: A deep squat with an upright back stretches the hips and can ease the stiffness that builds up from sitting all day.
Active rest: This is the everyday benefit. Once it is comfortable, you can rest in a squat anywhere, with no chair and no bench.
Digestion: Squatting may help here, with a sensible caveat. The body has a natural bend between the rectum and anal canal that tends to straighten in a deep squat. Research has found that squatting can reduce straining and may make bowel movements easier for some people, particularly those prone to constipation. The Indian Society of Gastroenterology describes the squatting posture as more natural and relaxed for defecation, although the overall evidence remains limited. So it likely helps, especially with straining, but claims that it cures or prevents serious disease run ahead of the research.
Also read: Curious about other everyday habits that puzzle first-time visitors to China? See why so many people in China drink hot water.
Deep Squat Mobility Checklist
Before you train, test where you are. Try to drop into a deep squat and check yourself against these four points. Score four out of four and you already have a solid Asian squat. Miss one or more and the progression below shows you what to fix.
| Test | You Pass If |
|---|---|
| Heels flat | Both heels stay on the floor the whole way down |
| Knees over toes | Your knees track out over your feet, not caving in |
| Chest upright | You can stay fairly upright without falling forward |
| Hold 30 seconds | You can rest at the bottom for 30 seconds without tipping |
The point that fails first for most people is heels flat. That points straight at ankle mobility, which is the most trainable piece of all.
Asian Squat Levels: Find Where You Are
The checklist tells you whether your form is right. This ladder tells you how far along you are. Find your level today, then use the plan below to climb.
| Level | Where You Are |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your heels lift the moment you try to go deep |
| 2 | Heels stay down, but only with support or a heel lift |
| 3 | You can hold a free squat, heels flat, for about 10 seconds |
| 4 | You can hold it for 30 seconds or more without tipping |
| 5 | You can rest in it comfortably for several minutes |
Most chair-bound adults start at level 1 or 2. Level 5 is where people who grew up squatting live. The jump that takes the longest is level 2 to level 3, when you let go of support, and that is exactly what the four-week plan is built to bridge.
How to Do the Asian Squat
First, the basic form:
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes pointed forward or turned out slightly.
- Lower your hips slowly, as if sitting back and down into a low chair.
- Keep your heels pressed into the floor the whole way down.
- Let your knees travel out over your toes and keep your chest fairly upright.
- Sink until your hips are close to your heels, then rest there and breathe.
Common mistakes to avoid: dropping too fast and bouncing at the bottom, letting your knees cave inward, rounding your lower back to reach depth, and forcing past sharp pain. Slow down, widen your stance a little, and use support while you build up.
How to Improve Ankle and Hip Mobility for the Asian Squat
Tight ankles and hips are what hold most people back. Add a few of these drills before your squat practice. None of them need equipment.
Wall ankle stretch: Stand facing a wall. Put your toes up against it with your heel on the floor, then drive your knee forward toward the wall until you feel a stretch low in your calf. Hold 30 seconds each side, three rounds.
Calf stretch on a step: Let your heels drop off the edge of a step while holding a rail. Hold 30 seconds. This lengthens the muscles that pull your heels up.
Deep squat hold: Hold a door frame or rail and sit into your deepest comfortable squat with heels down. Hold for a total of two to three minutes, in chunks. This is the single most useful drill.
90/90 hip switch: Sit on the floor with one shin in front and one to the side, both knees bent at 90 degrees. Rotate slowly to switch sides. Do 10 switches. This opens the hip rotation a deep squat needs.
Couch stretch: Kneel with one shin up against a wall or couch and the other foot planted in front, then sink your hips down. Hold 30 seconds each side. This loosens tight hip flexors from sitting.
30-Day Asian Squat Challenge (How To Squat Like an Asian)
Pick the drills above, then follow this four-week plan. A few minutes a day is enough.
| Week | Focus | What to Do | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supported squat | Hold a door frame and sit deep with heels down | Get used to the shape safely |
| 2 | Heel-elevated squat | Rest heels on a low book or block, lower the height every few days | Sit deep without tipping back |
| 3 | Counterbalance squat | Hold a light weight out in front at arm’s length | Drop lower with flat heels |
| 4 | Free squat | Drop the support and the weight | Hold a full squat, heels flat |
Add a daily hold on top of the weekly focus. Start at 20 to 30 seconds and build toward a few minutes total. The counterbalance trick in week three feels like magic the first time it works, because the weight in front cancels out the urge to fall backward. A heel wedge or a pair of yoga blocks makes the early weeks much easier.
Asian Squat vs Slav Squat
People love comparing these two, and the difference is mostly style.
The Slav squat is the same deep, flat-heeled squat, just linked with Slavic and Eastern European cultures and turned into its own internet meme, often paired with tracksuits. The main physical difference is foot position. A Slav squat usually has a wider stance, with the feet set out past shoulder width. The Asian squat tends to be narrower, with the feet closer together, and it reads less as a pose and more as a default resting position used through the day.
Same mobility, same heels-down rule, slightly different feet and a lot of different cultural baggage.
Can Children Do the Asian Squat More Easily?
Short answer: Yes. Almost all young children can drop into a flat-footed deep squat without thinking, no matter where they grow up. The ability fades in adulthood, mostly from sitting in chairs rather than from getting older itself.
Newborns have very flexible ankles, with a passive bend of around 60 degrees that drops to closer to 20 degrees by adulthood. Toddlers squat to play, pick things up, and rest, and they hold it with a straight, relaxed back that adults envy. Watch any playground and you will see it.
What changes is not your genes but your routine. Once school, desks, sofas, and seated toilets take over, the daily reason to squat disappears, the calves and hips tighten, and the position slips away. People who keep squatting into adulthood, which is common across much of China and the rest of Asia, simply never lose what they had as kids. The good news is that what fades from disuse usually comes back with use.
Asian Squat Around the World
Despite the name, the Asian squat is not unique to Asia. It is a basic human resting posture, used across cultures wherever chairs never fully took over daily life, from Africa to the Middle East to rural Latin America. It carries the Asian label mainly because the habit stayed so visible and so common across China and the rest of Asia, not because anyone there is built for it.
China: You will see it at markets, bus stops, and outside shops, used for resting, eating, and chatting. In Shaanxi, one old local saying even lists squatting instead of using chairs as a regional quirk, a habit shaped by farming life when people often worked and rested outdoors. The same everyday-life logic sits behind Chinese table manners.
Japan: Older buildings, schools, and public facilities still sometimes have traditional squat toilets, known as the 和式 (washiki) style, alongside modern western toilets. The posture remained familiar to generations of Japanese people, even as western-style seating became the norm.
Korea: Squat toilets can still be found in some older public facilities, traditional markets, and rural areas alongside western-style toilets. Deep squatting remains familiar to many Koreans, particularly older generations, although it is less common in everyday urban life than it once was.
Southeast Asia: Squat toilets are still widely used across parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in traditional markets, rural areas, and older buildings. Combined with floor-level living and everyday activities carried out close to the ground, this helps keep the deep squat a familiar movement for many people.
Eastern Europe: The Slav squat uses the same deep, flat-footed posture, but it carries a different cultural image. It is often associated online with Eastern European street culture and the gopnik meme, usually with a wider stance than the Asian squat.
How to Use a Chinese Squat Toilet
If you are traveling in China, you will meet the squat toilet, a porcelain pan set into the floor. It is clean by design, since you never touch a shared surface, but it does take a little technique. Here is the practical version.
Empty your back pockets first. This is the rule everyone learns the hard way. Phones and wallets fall out of back pockets and into the pan. Move them to a front pocket or a bag before you squat.
Face the right way. Most pans have one raised, hooded end and one open end. Squat facing the hooded end, with the open end behind you, and position yourself toward the front of the pan. Layouts vary, so glance before you commit.
Roll up loose cuffs. Wide trouser legs and long skirts can touch the floor. Roll cuffs up or gather a skirt before you lower down.
Place your feet on the ridged sides. There are usually textured footrests on either side. Set a foot on each, a little wider than the pan, with your weight on your whole foot. Do not balance on your toes, or you risk slipping.
Bring your own tissue. Many public restrooms do not stock paper, so carry your own. A small pack of tissues lives in most travelers’ pockets in China for exactly this reason.
What to expect: Newer malls, hotels, and airports usually offer western-style stalls too, often marked on the door, so you can choose. Older buildings, train stations, and rural spots are more likely to be squat-only. The upside is the one from the benefits section: the deep squat opens that bowel angle and tends to make things faster and easier. At home, a simple footstool under a regular toilet gives you a milder version of the same effect.
Asian Squat FAQ
Why Do Chinese People Squat?
Mostly habit and convenience. Squatting is a normal way to rest, eat, or wait when no seat is handy, with roots in farming life when furniture was scarce. Many people keep the ability for life because they keep using it, so you will see it at markets, bus stops, and outside shops.
Why Can’t Some People Do the Asian Squat?
It is not a nationality problem so much as a chair problem. A lifetime of sitting in chairs and on seated toilets tightens the calves and hips and removes the daily reason to squat. Without that practice, ankle mobility drops and the heels lift. The same applies to adults in any chair-heavy country.
Can Anyone Do the Asian Squat?
Most healthy adults can, with practice. Tight ankles and hips improve with regular stretching and the progression above. The main exceptions are people with certain knee, ankle, or hip injuries, who should check with a physical therapist first. Bone proportions can make it harder for some, but rarely impossible.
Does the Asian Squat Hurt Your Knees?
It should not, when done with control. Pain usually means you are dropping too fast, forcing past tight ankles, or have an existing knee issue. Lower slowly, use support or a heel lift while you build up, and stop if you feel sharp pain. For healthy knees, a deep squat is a natural movement, not a harmful one.
How Long Should I Squat Every Day?
Start with short holds of 20 to 30 seconds and build up. A common daily goal is a few minutes total, split into chunks across the day. People who grew up squatting can sit comfortably for much longer, but there is no need to chase that. Comfort matters more than the clock.
Is the Asian Squat the Same as a Deep Squat?
Essentially yes, and there is a full breakdown of the overlapping names in the Asian Squat vs Deep Squat section above. In short: same movement, different labels. The Asian squat is a deep squat held with flat heels as a resting position.
Is the Asian Squat Good for You?
For most people it is a healthy, natural position that supports ankle, hip, and knee mobility and may ease back stiffness from sitting. It is not right for everyone, though. Anyone recovering from a lower-body injury or managing a joint condition should ease in slowly or check with a professional.
What Muscles Does the Asian Squat Work?
The position stretches the calves, hip flexors, glutes, and the muscles that rotate the hips, while the ankles work through a deep bend. Standing back up adds work for the thighs and glutes. It is as much a mobility position as a strength one.
A Different Way to Sit
The Asian squat is more than a mobility test. It is a small everyday posture that says a lot about how culture shapes the body. In places where chairs are everywhere, the deep squat can feel like a strange skill. In places where people still rest, wait, eat, or work close to the ground, it can feel completely ordinary.
If your heels lift or you tip backward, there is no need to blame your genes. Start with support, give your ankles and hips time, and treat the position as something to relearn rather than something to force. The squat may look Asian online, but at its core it is a very human way to sit.
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If you know someone who grew up squatting comfortably, or someone who still falls backward every time they try, feel free to share this article with them. The conversation is often more interesting than the squat itself.
A quick safety note: This guide is for general information, not medical advice. If you have knee, hip, ankle, or lower-back pain, or if you are recovering from an injury, check with a qualified health professional before trying deep squat holds. Stop if you feel sharp pain, numbness, or joint discomfort.