The King of All Exercises: The Squat

The Squat

My workout today inspired this post. I had a great leg workout mainly because of the squat and front squats I did and it reminded me how great of exercise the squat really is.

The squat is the best exercise for any fitness goal- weight or fat loss and muscle building. The squat involves every muscle in your body with a focus on your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and core- the biggest muscles in your body.

When trying to lose weight or fat, it is very important to do exercises such as the squat that involve many big muscle groups. The reason the squat is so effective is because it requires the use of your whole body- from your legs, core back, shoulders and arm that have to stabilize the weight on your back.

The squat can be done at home with no weight, so even beginners can and should do this exercise.

The squat is performed by taking a little more than shoulder width stance with your feet. If you are doing a body squat and using no weight, try putting your hands out in front of you for balance.

1. Distribute your weight towards your heels and then pretend that you are sitting back and down into an imaginary chair. If you want to put a stool or chair behind you when you first start this can help you to master the movement.

2.Start flexing your knees to move yourself downward while maintaining your weight on your heels. It might feel weird at first to sit back, but keep the weight on your heels because most of us rarely activate our glutes. Think of your butt and hamstrings being the muscles that are guiding you down into an imaginary seat 8-10 inches below you.

2. Keep your chest up and out, with your eyes looking towards the ceiling so your upper body stays up right and does not fall forward.

3. Continue to lower yourself with you glutes and hamstrings until your legs become parallel to the ground, remember to keep you chest up so your lower body does not fall forward which will put undue pressure on your lower back.

4. Make sure your knees never come over your toes! This will put pressure on your knees and is a sign that you are not sitting back and that your quads, not your glutes and hamstrings are the main muscle working....you should not look this
this



5. Continue lowering yourself until legs have come close to parallel with the ground.

6. Then push through your heels keeping your back and chest upright until you return the to starting point.



7. Try to do 10 reps like this (without the weight on your back, hands out in front), lowering yourself for two-three seconds and then pushing yourself up in 1-2 seconds. Do this 3-5 times for a total of 30-50 squats.

When you have mastered this movement you can put your hands behind your head and do 15-20 squats, 3-5 times.

Then progress to holding weight at your sides and performing the same movement.

Once you have mastered that you can try a squat with a barbell on your back.

To make this even tougher try resting the barbell on your shoulders and performing a front squat. This move is very advanced and should only be tried after the squat form has been completely mastered.

So when your in front of the television, get up and try doing some body squats. The squat will not only help you build muscle but also will rev up your metabolism and leave it running fast way after you have finished your workout.

Here is an instructional video on the body (air) squat) from crossfit, check it out.