Hey there, workout freaks! How many squats can you do? They’re all the rage. I can
do like 100 in a row with a super heavyweight. Get on my level, bro! I’m kidding, don’t
you just hate those people? All jokes aside, squats do have some major benefits. Just try
one of the many methods on your own and see for yourself.
Or you can watch our list on 9 Reasons Why You Need To Do Squats! Do they build your
joints? Can they assist you in performing physical tasks better? Will you burn calories
quicker than usual? We’re talking all that AND more...
Builds Stronger Joints Doing squats helps to build your body’s
joints. To be clear, a squat is a strength exercise where a person lowers their hips
from a standing position. Once they are ready, they make their way back up. Squats are among
the most compounded exercises the lower body can go through, as it requires an assortment
of muscles and joints to work together. Joints are formed when your bones come together.
Think of it as a street intersection located within your body, or a hinge connected to
a door. Joints allow you to wiggle your hips, bend your knees, turn your head and perform
other physical functions. If they are not healthy, this can lead to damaged cartilage
or arthritis. When performed correctly, squats engage your hip, knee and ankle joints all
at once. For a while, it was believed that squats contributed
to the injury of your knee joints, as the pressure squats place on the knees can be
overbearing when weight is involved. After an analysis was done in 2013, people’s concerns
were put to rest, as the workout does not increase your risk of injury. You still need
to be cautious of your safety though. Helps You Build Muscle
On top of joints, squats also work a diverse group of muscles including quadriceps, calves,
hamstrings, abdominals, lower back and glutes. If performed on a regular basis, you’re
looking at a well-toned lower half of the body.
During this exercise, your quads are put to one heck of a test, as you will be bending
your knees with a potentially heavy weight in your possession. Your abs will also be
working overtime in order to prevent you from falling forward.
When your body travels upwards and hips require extension, your glutes and adductor magnus
are also placed into physical labour. When doing this exercise, you will want to
make sure your form is correct. The angle of your knees can be a defining factor in
whether or not your quads and glutes or activated. If you’re looking for those toned quads,
be cautious of how this exercise is performed. Assists In Weight Loss
When it comes to exercises associated with burning calories, it’s not often you see
squats at the top of the list. Be that as it may, the workout is great if you would
like to shed some fat while packing on muscle. But there are still several factors you need
to take into account, such as body weight, length of workout and the overall intensity
of your exercise. The harder you go, the more likely you are to burn calories.
The level of intensity of physical activity is known as the metabolic equivalent, or MET.
Sitting still, laying in your bed has the MET of 1. But when doing squats, your MET
level can shoot up as far as 8. You need to remember to factor in your body
weight as well. Let’s say you are less than 155 pounds. If you squat at a level 8 for
longer than 25 minutes, you potentially could lose 222 calories. If your squat level is
less than 3.5, doing it for the same amount of time will burn less than 100.
Either way, if you are looking to begin a weight journey, squats are not a bad option
to start with. Boosts Your Strength
Not only can squats improve the look of your muscles, they can also enhance your strength,
as well as the ability to perform physical tasks. This is especially important if you
are an athlete. Your speed and ability to jump are greatly impacted by the power of
squats. A study from 2016, focused on healthy young
male athletes as they took part in 8 weeks of jump squat training. Jump squats are where
you begin with lowering your hips like any regular squat, and end by jumping back up.
Completing this exercise three times a week, researchers concluded that the exercise improved
several of their athletic capabilities. They were able to complete 50 metre sprints
in a quicker amount of time. Not to mention jumping ability and strength was also enhanced.
So how do you like the sound of squats so far? Do you need a little more convincing?
Well let’s get into another great point you should consider...
But before we continue, your feet are looking tired. Maybe you’re walking too much! Perhaps
you would like our recent video discussing 14 Ways to Soothe Tired Feet and Legs!
Also, are you having concerns about your overall health? Click on our clip for 11 Easy Tests
You Can Do To Identify Serious Health Problems. Now let’s return to our list discussing
9 Reasons Why You Need To Do Squats! Boost Your Heart Health
Due to the intensity of the exercise, squats can strengthen your ticker. This in turn can
lower your heart rate, blood pressure and bad cholesterol. When these variables are
maintained, you are actually assisting your heart in avoiding disease, decreasing your
chances of a heart attack or stroke. Even if you are exercising at a moderate level
of intensity, you still have a chance to decrease the risk of heart disease.
Strengthens Your Core Have you been wishing for that core of steel?
Has taking your shirt off at the beach, exposing a set of rock hard abs been an ambition for
a while? Well squats can be your ticket. A strong core can improve your ability to complete
everyday movements, as well as maintain proper balance and posture. In other words, better
core strength leads to stabilized muscles. During a 2018 study, researchers focused on
exercises that support your back. As it turns out, back squats showed better muscle activation
for the core than planking did. Researchers recommended to those looking to improve their
core function, that they should implement squads into their regular workout regimen.
Prevents Injury How wild is this? The exercise that appears
the most likely to hurt you actually prevents you from getting injured. It’s weird how
things work. Remember earlier when we spoke about squats
strengthening joints and bones? Well squatting also assists in the tightening of tendons
and ligaments which is great for preventing, or at least lowering your risk of injury.
This is another reason why many athletes choose to do squats, as many sports related injuries
involve torn ligaments. Squats strengthen your body’s supportive tissues, which decrease
your chances of injury during physical activity. With that being said, I can’t stress proper
form enough. When training in squats, be sure to have your technique down solid. You don’t
want to injure yourself mid-exercise. This leads us into another point.
Improves Your Flexibility For you young folks out there, flexibility
may not seem all that important. But as you get older, it truly is. As years pass us by,
our ligaments and tendons lose flexibility, making it harder for you to stretch or move
around. This in turn makes it more difficult to manage physically.
Here’s the tricky part. Many people lack the flexibility to begin with, which makes
doing squats just that much harder. To stretch your muscles to their ultimate capacity, remember
to do a warmup exercise before getting into the squats, or any workout for that matter.
Back squats can have a particularly costly effect on your hamstring muscles. Back in
2017, researchers began a 9 week training experiment, which focused on 22 male bodybuilders.
The purpose was to test the strength of their hamstring flexibility. In the end, they realized
that the high intensity of the exercise was actually decreasing the flexibility of their
hamstring muscles. So be really cautious when attempting squats. Especially when weights
are involved. You Can Do Squats Anywhere
Squats are among the most simple exercises around. Think about it… While you can complete
the workout with weights, they are not a requirement. All you really need is a big enough space
to do the exercise properly. To see the results you’re aiming for, fitness
experts recommend you start out doing 20 squats per day. This is a pretty basic number that
can easily increase once you are used to the routine. If you are interested in boosting
your health, 50 squats can be something to work towards.
Do you do squats? Would you consider doing squats after watching this video? Let us know
in the comments below. We would love to hear from you!