If you had to choose one exercises to do for the rest of your life, it should be the squat. Squats builds more muscle and burn more calories than any other exercises.
It’s not even close.
Squats can be done in a variety of ways for significant effect. Full-depth squats make the body supple and fit. High-Rep squats burn fat and strengthen your heart and lungs. Heavy squats will make you as strong as a bull. Athletic performance will improve, hell, your day to day chores will get easier than before once you begin squatting.
If you only have 20-30 minutes in the gym, squats should be your default workouts. 5-10 sets of squats is a solid training day. Do this two or three times a week and you’ll have a better physique than 95% of people.
Squats Do the Body Good
The benefits of squats are numerous. Squats prevent the posterior chain muscles from atrophying. The build muscle from head to toe. They condition your heart and lungs. And they burn a ton of calories.
Before the invention of chairs, people sat in the squat position for hours at a time.
As a result, these people had perfect posture and remained mobile for their entire life.
Nowadays sitting in chairs for hours on end is normal. Our glutes and hamstring muscles are rotting away.
Glutes and hamstrings are critical muscles in your posterior chain. Once the posterior chain weakens, the rest of the body begins to deteriorate. Leaving you vulnerable to injury and pain.
Posture collapses, breathing becomes labored, and mobility vanishes. Our backs become weak and frail. The shoulders and head pull forward, and the neck gets strained. All because we’re not using our body like it was designed to be used.
The Solution? Squat More!
If you don’t workout at all, if nothing else, squat three times a week!
If you’ve never squared before it’s going to feel awkward. Your balance probably sucks, and your hips will be tight. Your knees might crack and your ankles might feel strained. This is the cost of immobility. If you don’t use your body and do the required maintenance you’ll rust out like an old car.
When squatting, go as low as possible. You don’t even need to use any weight in the beginning. Just get the motion down. Once you have your balance you can begin to use light weight.
More reps are better, especially in the beginning. Each rep will loosen up tight hips and strengthen the posterior chain muscles. A lot of weight is not required for most people. Just do the reps.
How to Squat
Go low, go slow with each rep. The full range of motion is important.
If you have access to a barbell and a squat rack at home or a gym, try this workout below.
Sample Squat Workout Routine
Lift Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.
On Monday, lift Heavy.
Lift Light on Wednesday.
And on Friday lift with squat variations.
Put it all together and it will look like this:
Monday Squat Workout
10 Sets of Back Squat – 15, 12, 8, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Work up to a 1-rep max set.
Follow the workout with leg stretches.
Wednesday Squat Workout
5 sets of Squat – 20, 18, 16, 15, 12
Follow up the squats with accessory leg exercises such as leg curls and light lunges.
Friday Squat Workout
Chose two of the following squat variations and do 5 sets of 10 reps for each:
- Box squats
- Wide stance squats
- Narrow stance squats
- Front squats
Follow up your squats with 4 sets of 12 reps of either leg curls, leg press, or leg extensions. Stretch between sets.
Squat Rack for Home Workouts
You can easily workout at home. All you need is a squat rack and a set of barbell weights.
A squat rack allows you to squat safely without fear of getting crushed by weights incase something goes wrong. You still have to train smart to avoid injury, but in my opinion a squat rack is non-negotiable.
There you have it. If you suffer from back pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain, go see a Doctor, then consider squatting your way back to good health.
(This is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or licensed medical health professional before you start a new workout routine.)
Keep Squattin’.
Love ya,
Jordan
What a great article! Very useful and informative.
Thanks Angel