When one hears the words "health check," a doctor's appointment or blood test might be the first images that spring to mind. But we have a surprise for you: your capacity or lack thereof to do a simple squat can tell you just as much about long-term health and physical independence as either of these.

As the top fitness experts say, your squat number isn't merely a measure of gym performance—it may be a red flag that your body isn't performing at its optimal level. This apparently simple movement is really a potent diagnostic tool for mobility, muscular strength, and functional health at every stage of life.

Squats are one of the most fundamental movement patterns in the human body. Whether you’re getting in and out of a car, picking up your child, or simply sitting down, you’re performing a variation of a squat. And that makes this movement more than just a gym staple—it’s a daily necessity.

"Squats replicate fundamental human movements," says one personal trainer. "They work multiple muscle groups, assist in keeping joints mobile, and are critical to functional tasks of daily living."

And yet, simple as they are, squats can be telling. Being unable to complete a given number of reps, or unable to achieve proper depth without sacrificing form, may be indicative of deeper problems—weak ankles and tight hips, poor balance, and mobility restrictions.

How Many Squats Should You Be Able to Do?

Exercise professionals have defined a series of age-related standards to determine if your squat performance is within a healthy range. These standards consider the normal changes our bodies experience as we age, but still challenge us to be strong and functional.

Here's what optimal squat capacity looks like by age:

In your 20s: 50 bodyweight squats continuously or 10 squats with 40–50% of your body weight

30s to 40s: 50 bodyweight squats or 10 squats with 50–60% of your body weight

In your 50s: 40 bodyweight squats or 10 squats with 40–50% of your body weight

60s: 30 bodyweight squats or 10 squats with 30% of your body weight

70s and beyond: 20 squats using bodyweight or 10 squats with 20% body weight

If you're not meeting these goals, it may not be a matter of fitness at all—it may be a sign of something more serious underlying your physical resilience.

Before reaching for the numbers, experts recommend starting with form first. Good squat mechanics save your joints, activate the correct muscle groups, and seriously limit the potential for injury.

Some of the most important form checks are:

• Keep your heels firmly on the ground
• Align your knees with your toes, keeping them from collapsing inward
• Hinge at the hips with your chest kept up
• Lower only as low as you can keep good form, ideally to 90 degrees

Bodyweight squats are great for beginners or as a warm-up, but progress tends to plateau because of insufficient resistance. That is where weighted squats enter the picture—using dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbells increases muscle activation and develops strength more quickly.

Why Muscle Matters—At Every Age

It's a myth that getting older automatically leads to physical deterioration. Lifestyle behaviors and chronic inactivity contribute more to loss of mobility and injury risk than your birthdate.

Sustaining muscle mass through functional exercises such as squats promotes:

• Enhanced balance and coordination
• Higher bone density, minimizing the risk of osteoporosis
• Lower risk of falls and fractures, particularly in the elderly
• Improved metabolic health, assisting with weight management and energy levels
• Greater cardiovascular health and longevity
• Strong muscles also serve as shock absorbers for your joints, minimizing wear and tear on your hips, knees, and lower back.

What Muscles Do Squats Target?

Squats are a compound exercise that engages multiple muscle groups at the same time:

Primary movers: Gluteus maximus (butt), quadriceps (front thighs), and soleus (deep calf muscle)

Assistants: Hamstrings, calves, and muscles of the inner thigh

Stabilizers: Core muscles, including abdominals and spinal erectors

This full-body engagement is why squats are a non-negotiable in any well-rounded fitness program.

How to Improve Your Squat Safely?

If you’re struggling with your squat form or numbers, it may be due to limited ankle or hip mobility, weak glutes, or tight hamstrings. The good news? All of these are improvable with targeted mobility work and strength training. Here’s how to perform a proper squat:

• Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
• Maintain your chest up, and slowly lower your hips as if sitting down in a chair.
• Make sure your knees track over your toes, not collapsing inward.
• Get as low as you can without compromising form—preferably until thighs are parallel to the ground.
• Push through heels to return to standing.

Consistency is everything. Begin with bodyweight squats, and gradually add volume and resistance as you develop strength.

Squats are more than a fitness benchmark—they're a reflection of your body's strength, balance, and longevity potential. Reaching your age-specific squat count isn't about reaching arbitrary numbers. It's about having your body ready for life, from daily tasks to long-term independence.

While yoga may seem like stretches and lengthening poses, it is a great way to build strength. What many people do not know about yoga is that while yoga poses do make us more flexible, they are also a great way to ensure our muscles get utilized in different ways than we normally do. For example, while we may only use our legs to walk, doing leg stretches allows your body to go beyond walking. Stronger strides, easier switching from walking to running as well as being able to swiftly use your dynamic energy.

We should focus on core yoga poses because your core is like the powerhouse of your body. A strong core helps you with balance, prevents back pain, and makes all your movements smoother and more powerful. By doing these poses, you're not just building muscles, but also improving your body's ability to move easily and safely every day.

Core Yoga Poses you Should Try

These yoga poses use your own body weight to engage your core muscles, making them stronger and more stable. They also help improve your balance and overall body control.

Plank Pose (Phalakasana)

Plank Pose is a foundational core exercise in yoga. It works your entire core, including your deep abdominal muscles, lower back, and obliques, while also engaging your shoulders, arms, and legs. Holding this pose helps build incredible stability and endurance throughout your body, making it easier to maintain good posture and perform daily tasks.

Side Plank Pose (Vasisthasana)

Building on the regular plank, Side Plank targets your side abdominal muscles (obliques), which are crucial for twisting and bending movements. This pose also strongly engages your shoulders and arms, challenging your balance and strengthening the muscles that support your spine. It's excellent for improving overall body stability and coordination.

Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana)

Boat Pose is a classic for core strength. Sitting on your sit bones, you lift your legs and torso to form a "V" shape. This pose intensely activates your abdominal muscles, hip flexors, and lower back. It's a static hold that builds endurance and control in your core, helping you maintain an upright and stable posture.

Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Chair Pose might seem like a simple squat, but it powerfully engages your core, glutes, and quadriceps. As you "sit" into an imaginary chair, your core muscles work hard to keep your torso upright and balanced. This pose helps build lower body strength and core stability that translates directly into activities like lifting and standing.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

Warrior III is a challenging balancing pose that demands significant core engagement. As you extend one leg back and your torso forward, your entire core works to stabilize your body and keep you balanced on one leg. This pose improves overall body strength, balance, and focus, mimicking movements needed for agility and stability.

Dolphin Pose (Catur Svanasana)

Dolphin Pose is like a forearm-supported Downward-Facing Dog. It strengthens your shoulders, arms, and core deeply. Holding this inverted V-shape on your forearms builds upper body endurance and requires strong core engagement to stabilize your spine and maintain the pose. It's a great way to build functional strength for pushing movements.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Bridge Pose is a gentle backbend that effectively strengthens your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles, all part of your core. Lifting your hips off the mat engages these muscles, improving spinal flexibility and stability. It's an excellent pose for strengthening the posterior chain, which supports many everyday movements and helps relieve back pain.

We're all familiar with what to expect from a good workout- muscle ache, pounding heart, perhaps the pleasure of a runner's high if we're fortunate. But what about those odd, surprise sensations that creep upon you halfway through your sprint or in that final set of squats?

We all have strapped on sneakers and hit the road for the first time in years with a humble expectations, perhaps burning lungs, a little jelly legs, and a good reminder that school cross country was a distant memory. What people weren't prepared for, 15 minutes into the run, was a sudden toothache—yes, tooth pain, in the middle of cardio.

That run was the beginning of a closer investigation. Turns out, plenty of people have weird, even terrifying, physical symptoms while working out—and usually, it's your body just giving the whole system a check-up. Some of these symptoms are benign oddities, some may be indicators of issues that need to be taken more seriously. Here are five of the weirdest sensations people report when exercising—and what your body may be trying to communicate.

1. Tooth Pain While Running

Toothache during cardio could sound out of the ordinary, but it is quite more prevalent than you would imagine. Specialists have not identified a specific reason, but they provide some believable reasons.

First, there's the issue of sinus pressure. Your sinus cavities sit right above your upper teeth, and during intense aerobic activity—when you’re breathing fast and hard—those sinuses can become inflamed or irritated, especially if you’re already fighting off a cold or allergies. This pressure can cause the sensation of toothache even when your teeth are perfectly healthy.

Theory number two? You may be unconsciously clenching your jaw during hard work. As we grip the steering wheel harder when anxious, we can tense up the facial muscles and jaw during effort. As a result, we may get referred pain in our teeth. If this is an on-going problem, attempt to calm down while working and relax the jaw—alternatively, try a custom mouthguard on cardio days.

2. Metallic Taste in the Mouth

If you’ve ever been in the middle of a hard workout and suddenly noticed a weird metallic taste, you’re not alone—and no, it’s not your pre-workout supplement kicking in.

That strange taste may be due to small amounts of blood from inflamed mucous membranes in the nose or throat, says sports medicine doctor Dr. Timothy Miller. Long runs or interval training at high intensities can inflame or even cause slight bleeding of the sensitive linings of these regions. And the end result? A mouth full of coppery strangeness.

There is also the risk of lung capillary stress. On intense cardiovascular exertion, some red blood cells can leak into the lung air sacs, especially in top athletes or those going beyond their threshold. The taste is usually transient and benign—but it may also be your body shouting, "Hey, take it easy."

3. Itchy Skin (Also Known as Runner's Itch)

Few things derail a run faster than the urge to stop and scratch your legs mid-stride. If you’ve ever felt like your skin is crawling during a jog, you’ve likely encountered what’s commonly called runner’s itch.

While not completely explained, professionals attribute this feeling to the increased blood supply during cardio. Because your heart is beating harder, capillaries dilate to send oxygenated blood to muscles. This dilation activates surrounding nerve endings, causing itching—particularly in areas such as the thighs, stomach, or arms.

Runner's Question was generally harmless and transitory. It would be more pronounced among individuals resuming fitness, while the circulatory system was re-adapting to the pressure. If it hangs on or is joined by swelling and hives, see a doctor—it is likely an exercise-induced urticaria, an uncommon but real phenomenon.

4. Nose Pain

A drippy nose during exercise, particularly in cold air, is to be expected. But what about genuine nose pain or sinus pressure?

This is due to a condition referred to as non-allergic rhinitis, most commonly caused by dry air, pollution, or changes in temperature. With exertion, speed of breathing forces air straight into your nasal passages. If the air is particularly cold or contains irritants such as smoke or pollen, it can provoke inflammation and pressure in the sinuses, leading to pain or discomfort in the face and upper nose.

Although not harmful, this sensation is uncomfortable. Hydration, saline nasal spray, or masks in contaminated settings can all minimize the effect.

5. Numb Fingers

Numbness or paresthesia in your fingers while exercising—particularly cardio or warm-ups involving arm use—can be unsettling. Oftentimes, the offender is not your hands but rather poor posture or compression of nerves further up the body.

When your upper back, shoulders, or neck muscles are tight or weak—"tech neck" from hunching over a computer keyboard, for example—then it can pinches the nerves that run down into your arms. With increased blood flow, muscles start to contract and move, and these nerves become slightly pinched, leading to tingling or numbness.

This feeling can also be caused by tension-related muscle imbalances, particularly if you are overcompensating on one side or neglecting upper-body stretching. If it lasts longer than the workout or happens often, it is probably time to go see a physical therapist or doc to eliminate more problematic conditions such as thoracic outlet syndrome or pinched cervical nerves.

When to Pay Attention and When to See a Doctor

Feeling odd during exercise can be disturbing. In most instances, they're benign and can be attributed to the body adjusting to stress, blood flow changes, or environmental factors. If these persist, increase in intensity, or are accompanied by extreme pain, dizziness, or shortness of breath, see a medical expert.

Your body has a great way of providing you with feedback—if you pay attention. Tuning in to what these odd feelings may be trying to tell you can assist you in problem-solving smarter, remaining injury-free, and having fun along the route to fitness without unwarranted alarm.

Yoga is a great practice for people of all ages, conditions, and goals. Whether you wish to lose weight, strengthen your muscles, joints or structure or simply incorporate some exercise into your daily schedule. It is a great way to ensure your body gets the movement it needs.

With more and more people opting for desk jobs, or spending extended hours sitting, hunched over a laptop, back issues, along with many other problems have become the norm. You may realize that overtime, your body’s posture is getting ruined. Not only does this pose an issue for the way you present yourself, but it also affects your spine health, back health as well as bone health, whether it is your hip, knee or any other joint. To better this, try doing standing yoga poses.

Standing Yoga Poses For Posture

Standing yoga poses are fundamental for building strength, balance, and body awareness, all crucial for improving posture. By focusing on proper alignment within these poses, you can strengthen the muscles that support your spine, encouraging a more upright and open posture.

Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

This foundational pose helps you find your body's natural alignment. It strengthens your core and legs, bringing awareness to how you hold yourself, and encourages spinal lengthening. Focus on even weight distribution through your feet for a strong base.

Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

A classic balancing pose, Tree Pose improves stability and alignment by requiring a strong foundation through one leg. It helps to lengthen the spine and cultivate a sense of groundedness and lift, promoting better overall balance and posture.

Extended Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)

Triangle Pose lengthens the sides of your body and opens your chest. It strengthens your core, crucial for good spinal alignment. This pose also stretches tight hamstrings, which can otherwise pull on the pelvis and negatively affect your posture.

Warrior II Pose (Virabhadrasana II)

This powerful pose builds strength in your legs and engages your core, directly supporting better posture. The open hip stance and extended arms encourage an upright torso and broad collarbones, effectively counteracting any tendency to slouch.

Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Chair Pose powerfully strengthens your legs and deep core muscles, essential for maintaining proper spinal alignment and preventing a slumped posture. It also helps to open your chest and shoulders, promoting an overall more upright stance.

Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)

Half Moon Pose challenges your balance and strengthens your entire body, especially your core and legs. It opens the hips and chest, promoting spinal elongation and significantly improving your overall posture. It fosters balance and stability.

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

While a forward bend, this pose is excellent for releasing tension in the hamstrings and lower back, common contributors to poor posture. It encourages spinal lengthening and can help reset your posture by alleviating tightness that pulls your pelvis out of alignment.