Leg Exercise: The Squat
What is it for?
The Squat is one of the best exercises for the legs. It is functional (a movement that is used in everyday life – Beeble). It works the main upper muscles of the legs (the thighs, front and back and the gluteus maximus (bum) – Beeble) and it also uses the smaller supporting muscles in the hip area and in the lower leg for balance. Not only is it useful for our day-to-day lives but because it works on the biggest muscles in our bodies it is also a movement that will use more energy and therefore burn more calories. If you look at the diagram the red shows the primary muscles used and the yellow shows the secondary muscles used.
Technique
With this exercise it is important to get the technique absolutely correct especially if you decide to carry it out with more weight (like dumbbells or a bar bell – Beeble). To practice the technique it is best to get a chair where the seat is the same height as your knees. Place the chair about 6 inches behind your heels and sit down, now stand up without moving your feet and there you have it a perfect technique. Now you just need to learn how to do it without a chair. (Same technique – just no chair! – Beeble)
Video Guide
Watch the short video and you will see how my knees barely move forward. A common mistake with the squat is to let the weight go through your toes, which in turn will bring your knees forward over the line of your toes. This is not good, especially if you are using extra weights as the pressure through the knees and ankles can be too much for the joints and can cause damage. By keeping the weight through the heels we keep the lower leg as vertical as we can. This protects the ankle joint by allowing the weight to travel through the lower leg bone rather than through the joints. To do this you need to concentrate on sticking your bum out (don’t be afraid – Beeble) and balancing your body weight through your heels throughout the whole movement. I use my arms for balance although this will change if you use weights.
The Do’s
The Don’ts
How to Make it Harder
To make The Squat harder you will of course need to increase the resistance. To do this you will need dumbbells or a barbell and some weights. You use exactly the same technique as above but with the dumbbells you hold them down by your side, arms relaxed and tight grip. With dumbbells the weight will draw you forwards so you may need to stick your bum out further and don’t lean as far forwards. Keeping the back more upright will keep the centre of gravity back.
With the barbell you will need to place it across the back of your shoulders (use some padding on the bar – Beeble), again leaning too far forwards will change the centre of gravity bringing your whole body forwards, so don’t do it and concentrate on keeping the weight through your heels. With the barbell make sure you are not alone when you use it. With the dumbbells you can just drop them, not so easy with the barbell. (Be safe – Beeble).
Last but not least always use a mirror to check your technique.
If you have any further questions on this exercise or if there is another exercise that we have not covered that you would like to know the technique of, then please let me know in the comments section and we will get to it as soon as we can. Thank you.
