How to Do Squat – the Powerful Exercise for your Legs
How to do squat is a powerful way to enhance your overall fitness. You may want to do squats if you need some quick yet best results from your workouts. Look no further, as we are giving you some reasons and easy ways on how to do squat.
How to do squat enables your body to have the strength exercise and a vital one that will increase the size of muscles in your lower body. Squats target your core strength, which is your key to do other workouts such as powerlifting, deadlifts and bench press.
However, to perform and achieve the results of a good squat workout, you will need to learn the techniques on how to do squat. The squat is considered as a staple exercise in many workout programs. Therefore, we are giving you the best tips and easy steps on how to do it.
Your lower body, especially the hip and knee joints up to your ankle joints, are essential to maintain their flexibility and strength. Also, after comparing it to other workouts, squat requires no equipment, and you can do it anywhere you want.
Regarded as a powerful leg workout, you can enjoy many advantages of doing squat. Enough pressure and appropriate intensity of squats can give you quick results.
Squats can build strength to your upper and lower body.
Indeed, squats’ primary muscle target is your leg muscles. On the contrary, it can also build muscles in your upper body. While intense workouts like squats, it can trigger the growth of hormones and testosterone in your body. These compounds are essential to improve muscle mass in certain parts of your body.
The squat is a functional exercise.
When you say functional exercise, it helps your body to perform daily activities. Since you will not need equipment to do squats, you can do it anywhere. The fundamental reason for how to do a squat is to promote mobility and balance. It also helps you build muscles to perform efficiently.
It gives you less fat, more muscles.
The squat cannot directly burn fat. However, the squat is useful in gaining more muscles. The cycle is when you gain more muscles, you will need more fat eventually.
It makes your body more flexible and balance.
Who cannot enjoy a body with flexibility and balance? Most importantly, strong legs are crucial for mobility and help maintain balance. Having balance in your body is improving your brain and muscle groups’ communication with each other. Achieving both flexibility and balance is vital while doing the workout.
No injuries if you do the squat workout.
Being flexible, balance and gaining more strength, you will more likely prevent injuries while doing other workouts. Your muscles, ligaments and connective tissues to be precise are more stabilized than before doing squats.
Squat improves performance in running and jump.
Most athletes know how to do squat as it boosts their limits on jumping high and running fast. Given that squat provides mobility, balance and strength, no wonder squat is vital in every athlete’s training program. Pushing the limits of an athlete is quite hard if you have no preparations before doing so.
More tone backside, abs and muscles of your entire body
Other than your lower body, squats can make a difference to your muscles in toning and tightening your behind. For instance, your abs and backside muscles can feel different if you do squat. It will prevent you from being obese, diabetic and reduce the risk of having the cardio disease.
How do you do it?
As the mainframe of every workout, the squat is a versatile exercise. But you can always start from the basics.
Step 1: Your starting position is standing facing forward with your head and chest held up and out.
Step 2: Then place your feet apart in shoulder-width, extending your hands straight out in front of you to help keep your balance. You can have extra movements like bending your elbows or clasping your fingers.
Step 3: After you are done with your hand, you can make an imaginary chair to sit back and down your hips. While doing this, keep your head facing forward as your upper body bends a little ahead. Make sure your back is slightly arched as you descend in this position.
Step 4: With your hips bent and your back slightly arched, lower down your thighs, parallel to the floor as possible. With your knees over your ankles, press your weight back into your heels.
Step 5: Focus on your form and keep your body tight. Then you can push through your heels and bring yourself back to the starting position.
For starters, you can have three sets of 10 squats, and then you can add more repetitions. Given that you are doing it properly, you can have the best results right away.
Variations of Squat
If you master doing the basic squat, you can do already do variations of the squat. The single stunt of squat in your routine cannot improve your strength, mobility and balance. Here, we are handing over to you on how to do squat, which focus on different muscles of your body. Here is the step-by-step of different squat variations you can do.
Bodyweight Squat
For bodyweight squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hips. Your feet slightly turned out and your arms at your sides, palms in.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Make sure your elbows bent and bring your palms together in front of your chest.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Jump Squat
Your starting position, stand with your feet apart, a little wider than your shoulder width, toes slightly turned out, hands in front of your chest.
Make sure you engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Then jump as high as you can while swinging your arms down by your sides. Keep your back straight and your chest lifted.
Land with soft knees for 1 repetition
Sumo Squat
In this variation of the squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hip. Your feet slightly turned out and your arms at your sides, palms in.
Make sure your legs are wider, and your toes are more turned out. It will make your inner thighs and glutes have more movement than the basic squat.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Make sure your elbows bent and bring your palms together in front of your chest.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Squat Jack
Your starting position for this squat will be different. You will need your hands to clasp together in front of your chest.
Then, make your feet apart more extensive than your shoulder width. Engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Drive through your heels to stand and jump your feet back together, squeezing your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Squat to Lateral Leg Lift
In this variation of the squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hips. Your feet slightly turned out and your arms at your sides, palms in.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
After putting pressure on your heels to stand, squeeze your glutes at the top.
Then lift your right leg to your side, make sure your foot is flexible to keep your leg straight and toes forward. In doing this, you will have to put more weight on your one leg. Have a focus on keeping your back straight and core engaged.
After that, switch sides and repeat by lowering the other foot for 1 repetition.
Squat using Dumbbell
In this variation of the squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hip. Your feet slightly turned out and your arms at your sides, palms in.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top.
While standing, press the dumbbells overhead, straightening your elbows completely. Don’t forget to keep your core engage and hips tucked under to avoid arching your lower back.
Make a slow and lower the weights back to your shoulder for 1 repetition.
Squat using Goblet
In this variation of the squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hip. Your feet slightly turned out while holding a goblet in both hands in front of you. The position will be the goblet hangs vertically to your sides.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Squat using Kettlebell
In this variation of the squat, start your position with your feet apart, slightly wider than your hip.
Make sure your palms are facing in while both hands hold a kettlebell in front of you. You can bend your elbows while doing this.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat.
Put pressure on your heels to stand, squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Your starting position on this squat is standing a barbell inside a squat rack. Make sure your feet parallel to the bar rests on your collarbone and gently presses against your throat.
Then grab the bar with your hands, with distance wider than your shoulder-width apart. Also, your elbows should be at forward and palms up.
Next, pull off the barbell from the rack and step back. Make sure you will place your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and turn your toes out 20 to 30 degrees.
After that, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat. Your knees should be slightly out to the sides and keep your chest upright.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
Squat with Band Resistance
In this variation of the squat, get a looped resistance band and place it around your ankles.
Then place your feet apart, slightly wider than your hip. Your feet slightly turned out and your arms at your sides, palms in.
Then engage with your core while keeping your chest lifted and back flat as you shift your weights into your heels. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat. Bring your palms together in front of you.
Drive through your heels to stand and squeeze your glutes at the top for 1 repetition.
But just a reminder, if your knees are caving in as you lower or stand, try looping the band just above the knees. Then, as you straighten your knees, push out against the band a little to keep your knees from caving.
In our opinion
How to do squat can fairly give you a result to have strength on your whole body muscles, but especially with your legs. In doing squat, the muscles that benefit most are your lower body. Though other muscles in our body are not totally left out, this workout can provide necessary preparations for athletes to have more mobility and balance. Other than these, you can have the strength you needed.
