On TikTok, persons are testing their lower-body energy and mobility with the deceptively troublesome “shrimp problem,” usually with fail-tastic outcomes.
Taking a knee for this newest viral health problem includes much less Smirnoff Ice and possibly extra falling and laughing. The take a look at doesn’t contain seafood, both. As a substitute, it’s a tackle the shrimp squat, which is a squat executed on one leg, whereas holding the foot of your different leg as much as your butt behind you.
The shrimp squat is tough sufficient, however the shrimp problem takes it to a different degree.
What’s the shrimp problem?
The take a look at first circulated in 2022, but it surely began to go viral in mid-April and continued to choose up momentum after some bodily therapists posted a video making it look all too straightforward.
Now, basketball gamers, ballet dancers, fitfluencers, and common folks alike try the problem—with solely a choose few really in a position to do it. Yep, not all the tremendous sturdy professional athletes or ultra-bendy ballerinas can do it.
However if you happen to’re prepared to present it a shot, this is tips on how to do it:
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- Begin in a half-kneeling place with one leg bent in entrance of you at a 90-degree angle and your different leg kneeling on the ground behind you.
- Seize the foot of your again leg up and carry it as much as your butt (such as you’re doing a quad stretch).
- Whereas nonetheless holding the foot of your again leg, lean ahead barely and press into your entrance foot to come back as much as standing. Your again foot will keep bent behind you.
What the shrimp problem is definitely testing—and why it is so dang arduous
The problem “requires a excessive degree of energy and mobility of the hips, knees and ankles, primarily focusing on the glutes and quad muscle tissues,” explains bodily therapist Jacob VanDenMeerendonk, DPT.
In different phrases, simply being actually sturdy or simply having good mobility (vary of movement in your joints) received’t reduce it. You want each parts to efficiently shrimp it up. Certainly, partaking your muscle tissues whereas stretching them isn’t any straightforward feat.
“You are inserting your standing leg in a deprived place within the backside place of a squat, which then requires a large amount of energy to face again up, and concurrently you might be holding the other leg ready that requires a full stretch on the quadriceps muscle and sustaining that stretch whereas executing the return to standing place,” Dr. VanDenMeerendonk says.
“The shrimp squat problem is a enjoyable motion to aspire to with the ability to do, and likewise a superb train to carry out if you happen to’re seeking to make some increased degree mobility and energy positive aspects within the quads and glutes.” —Jacob VanDenMeerendonk, DPT
What does it say about your health if you happen to can—or can’t—do the shrimp problem?
Dr. VanDenMeerendonk says to not fear if you happen to can’t full this problem. It’s very superior, and there are many different methods you’ll be able to strengthen, mobilize, and stretch your decrease physique that don’t contain falling over.
“You may obtain energy and mobility positive aspects of the identical muscle tissues and joints required in performing a shrimp squat as you’d in a cut up squat, Bulgarian cut up squat, or perhaps a ahead or reverse lunge,” Dr. VanDenMeerendonk says.
On the identical time, if you happen to do end up finishing the problem while you strive it, or are in a position to work as much as it, what it says about your physique is that you just’re killing it within the realms of energy, mobility, flexibility, stability, and even physique consciousness.
“The shrimp squat problem is a enjoyable motion to aspire to with the ability to do, and likewise a superb train to carry out if you happen to’re seeking to make some increased degree mobility and energy positive aspects within the quads and glutes,” Dr. VanDenMeerendonk says. “Those that can carry out the shrimp squat have wonderful unilateral stability and coordination, in addition to increased degree hip and knee mobility. They possible have sturdy quads and glutes and a great understanding of their middle of gravity.”
Wish to give the shrimp problem a strive? Contemplate getting some padding in your knees on the bottom—and bear in mind to not beat your self up if it’s a no-go! You may at all times work as much as it with some lower-body energy and mobility strikes, like on this 15-minute exercise video.
