Squats

Here are more reasons you should squat: 1. Burn More Fat Loads of fitness instructors will agree that one of the most time-efficient ways to burn more calories is actually to gain more muscle and performing squats (with weights) helps you achieve this! Research shows that for every pound of additional muscle you gain, your body will burn an additional 50-70 calories per day. So, let's do a little maths. If you gain 10 pounds of muscle, you will automatically burn 500-700 more calories per day than you did before. 2. Help with Waste Removal Doing traditional squats improves the pumping of body fluids, which aids in removal of waste and delivery of nutrition to all tissues, including organs and glands. Squatting is also useful for improved movement of feces through your colon and more regular bowel movements. 3. Tone Your Backside, Abs and Entire Body Very few exercises are known for working many muscles, but the squat exercise is one of the few that can do this so it's an excellent multi-purpose activity useful for toning and lifting your behind, abs, and, of course, your legs. Furthermore, squats build your muscles, and these muscles play active roles in the regulation of glucose, lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity. All these translates to protection against obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 4. Strengthen the Core Squats exercises engage the core muscles of the body. You'll need your abdominal and back muscles to keep balance during the movement. The result will be a tighter, flatter abdomen and a stronger lower back. While in the squat motion, endeavour to hold in your abdominal muscles while squatting down to increase this effect. 5. Increase Flexibility Doing squats increases joint flexibility because the ankles, knees, hips and lower back are all utilized in the squatting motion. Muscle soreness is almost inevitable during when engaging in certain physical activities, but if you feel any unusual pain in these areas, stop doing the exercises until you recover. You also need to get it checked, it could be a fracture down there. 6. Maintain Mobility and Balance Strong legs are crucial for staying mobile as you get older, and squats are phenomenal for increasing leg strength. They also work out your core, stabilizing muscles, which will help you to maintain balance, while also improving the communication between your brain and your muscle groups. This helps prevent falls which is incidentally the #1 way to prevent bone fractures versus consuming mega-dose calcium supplements and bone drugs. How to do a common squat exercise 1. Stand with your feet hip width apart. 2. Tighten and pull in your abdominal muscles. 3. Lower your body as if you were going to sit in a chair, keep your back straight and push your butt backwards. 4. Stop when your legs are parallel to the floor. 5. Stay in this position for a few seconds. 6. Now press down onto your heels and slowly rise back up to a standing position. 7. Repeat the exercise for a total of 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 20 reps and be sure to rest for 45-60 seconds between sets.

Once you've perfected the traditional squats, you can increase the difficulty by adding weights. Try holding dumbbells at shoulder level or use a barbell across your shoulders. You can also use one dumbbell; hold it in front of you with both hands while squatting.. Keep your knees aligned with your feet and don't squat beyond the point where your thighs are parallel to the floor. How often should I squat? It's advised to include squat exercises into your workout routine and do them 3-5 times a week. For maximum benefit, I like to include it 5 times in my routine and I workout 5-6 times a week. So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it! More reasons to squat and they're not just about your booty or legs!