Nothing can change the look of your legs like the squat. Before we get into a routine that will change your lower body in no time flat, lets talk about proper squat form.
The first thing to remember about the squat is that the power starts on the heels. Stay on your heels at all times while squatting. A lot of the concern of squats being bad on the knees comes from people who can’t squat properly bouncing up and down on their toes.
Keep your knees tracking over your toes, a common thing to see is the knee wobble. One or both knees with buckle in, usually on the ascent of the squat. Make sure your knees stay out and track over the feet. This applies to the leg press as well, but we all know that you would never miss out on all the benefits of squats by opting for the leg press!
Keep your torso erect with your chest facing up and out. Keep looking straight ahead or slightly up. This maintains the lower lumbar curve. You may find that by keeping this posture you will not be able to go down very far into the squat before your form changes. This is usually the result of tight hamstrings overpowering your hip flexors.
You can often “force” the proper upper body posture by raising your hands to the front and up when you are practicing proper squat form without weight. Somewhat similar to the “Fierce or Chair” pose in yoga. Yes, you need to practice your movements. There is no point in trying to keep moving your weights up for fast results if you only have to come back later to fix a glaring form problem.
If you are squatting optimally, you will be able to maintain the proper posture all the way down until the thighs are parallel with the floor or even lower. What will more commonly happen is at a certain depth; your lower back and butt will round under as a result of hamstring tension. The only way to correct this is continued practice of proper squat form and specific hamstring stretches.
Mastering the squat is an essential first step to using some of the most results producing exercises in your workout arsenal. These include the overhead squat, deadlift, clean and press, front squat, push press and the snatch.
These exercises done with high intensity will produce some of the biggest changes in your body compared to any of the new gadgets coming out on the market. All you need is your bodyweight, a broomstick, a medicine ball or a barbell to do them.
A Recap Of Proper Squatting Form:
Rack the bar across your traps and not the bony base of your neck.
Stay on your heels and do not move forward onto your toes.
Keep your lumbar curve at all times
Initiate the movement by sitting your butt back and down.
Now for a very simple but effective squat workout. We did this last time in the same method but with pushups. Here we go:
8 rounds of 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest in-between. Do as many squats as you can in the 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this 8 times. If you are just beginning you will end up averaging 12-15 squats per round. Once you really start rocking you can get between 18 – 20 squats per round on every round. Phew!
