Wall Sits

Hello fellow cultivators. You might have seen me in your comments and wondered why I named myself WallSitKing. Today I will prove to you why I am named so.

The post is going to be quite long and detailed. The people who want to master the wall sit exercise will gain tremendous benefit from it. The people who want to introduce it into their training will also learn a thing or two. So, let’s start.

Wall sit is an easy exercise. You simply sit in a squat position with your tailbone against the wall supporting your weight. Always remember that in wall sits, 95% of your weight should be supported by your legs and not the wall.

Here is the progression that I would do and preach. It is just a guide and not a one size fits all. One progression can seem easier than the other.

This is the meat of the training. Now I will tell you are a

few ways by which you can make them excruciatingly difficult. I call these Dirty Dozen.

Tip 1: - Keep your training progressive

Increasing the time is not the only way to progress in this exercise. The technique is also one factor. The above-mentioned progression will help you achieve that. But as a rule of thumb, I always recommend doing one set of a 3-minute wall sit exercise. I recommend the same thing for single legs, but if you are stuck for a long time in any single leg exercise then 2 minutes will work fine. Three minutes is enough time to build significant strength or muscles. As an added bonus, you will have a time longer than 99% of the people who try it. Also, it can be a good party trick, because most people don’t have the stamina to wait for even 2 minutes.

Tip 2: - Bring each leg to the centre line of the body

I need not explain this, the people who have mastered the pistol squat will know that the working leg will need to move slightly inwards, to the centreline of the body. Don’t take a wide stance when performing wall sits. Shoulder width or narrow is best. If it is difficult, try to bring the leg closer each time you perform, until your legs are kissing each other.

Tip 3: - Keep a calm breathing pattern

Wall sit is an excellent cardio exercise. You can’t deny that, but try keeping your breathing pattern normal. Try to breathe through your nose and not through the mouth. Inhale two short breaths followed by a long exhale breath. Sort of like a drum beat. It will keep you composed when you will perform a wall sit.

Tip 4: - Proper position of the hands

I recommend keeping the hands beside the body or lightly on the quadriceps muscles. For further challenge, try to cross them and rest them behind the back of the head. If you are keeping them to your sides, then try to create a fist in your hands, it forces you to push further. If you want a mild rest, instead of pushing your weight on the knees, use the weight shift technique.

Tip 5: - Use toes to employ more isolation

This is my own technique. I recommend lifting the toes of the foot, driving the weight of the body through the heels. This way you will remove the calf muscles from the equation and suddenly the wall sits will become much, much harder. Don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself, and you will get a cramp.

Tip 6: - Go below parallel for better leverage

Use leverage to your advantage. Experiment by going below parallel, or bringing your legs closer to the wall and forming a sissy squat position. It is one of the best vastus medialus developer. But remember to condition your knees first, learn a solid 5-minute wall sit before attempting anything new.

Tip 7: - Get better at tensing individual leg muscles

The best I can say is to learn to tense individual muscles. Learn to tense individual butt cheeks without contracting any other muscle like the quads or the hamstrings. Maxick’s muscle control book will be quite useful to master this technique. It will be useful for the weight shift technique I have mentioned later.

Tip 8: - Use push/ pull technique

To further increase the challenge, try to actively push your tailbone into the wall. Something like a gym leg extension machine. It murders the quadriceps muscle. Believe me, it takes only 10 seconds to feel sick. The same can be done for the pulling technique. Just imagine a leg curl for it. You need not do both, do one. For some, the push seems easier, for others the pull. This is also one of the reasons I like the wall sit more than the horse stance.

Tip 9: - Increase willpower

It is better to push to a minute when you are struggling to do even 30 seconds than to have 2 sets of 30-second holds. I always recommend 1 set. So, push to your absolute max in it. Increasing willpower will help a lot to become infinitely strong. Tell the mind to push harder and you will never regret it.

Tip 10: - Learn the weight shifting technique to master long holds

For mastering the longer wall sits. The ones where you go for more than 30 minutes. I recommend learning the art of weight shifting. Essentially you will alternate your entire weight on each leg for 30 seconds. Both of the legs will be planted on the ground but one will be working harder. It will be best learnt when you can tense individual leg muscles.

Tip 11: - Proper setup for proper holds

Learn that for a proper wall sit, you will need to prepare properly. I recommend that you always keep a towel in your hand. And wear a t-shirt or quick drying clothing while performing long wall sits. I also recommend putting on music while performing long wall sits. Beats or fast music helps a lot. But from experience, I can say that soothing music from someone like Enya can also help.

Also, the leg will turn numb once you hit the 4-5 minutes mark. Don't worry, push through, it happens to me in every wall sit I do. You will find untapped energy once you push through it. Believe me! Also, you might get a metallic taste in your mouth. It is normal, it just means that you have pushed very hard. But as a word of caution, if you feel like puking, stop immediately. This means that your breathing has been off.

Tip 12: - Keep a beginner's mind

Many times, in my training, I have stagnated or even regressed. But keeping a beginner mindset has helped me a lot. I never know, how long will I stay in a wall sit, but I keep a positive mindset, shut my senses and doze off into a trance meditative state. Keep learning and keep experimenting, be curious and you will get whatever you want.

I might have a hundred more tips and tricks that I have gained over the years, but these are pretty good to start your training with.

To end my post, the world record is about 12 hours. Thienna Ho, the world record holder is an alien. If you can find the original 2008 video of 12 hours, you will find hundreds of people competing to match Thienna but none even come close.

If I were to break any fitness record it would be that 2008 record.

I will be happy to get suggestions and ideas to further add to my armamentarium of training ideas. I have attached my mail. Thank you for reading and do reply me, it boosts my morale to work harder.