Squats are easily underappreciated. Many have given this exercise minimal attention, while some skip it altogether. Like any other type of exercise, it requires a technique to get it right so you can feel its benefits. Some skip it because they think that they can compensate with other lower-body workouts to support their weight. But the squat is quite beneficial and it has qualities that you just cannot overlook by doing other lower-body workouts. It greatly improves your form and stance, which almost all other muscle groups can benefit from.
Many find it difficult to get the expected results and doing so also costs a significant amount of time; just like cardio workouts. And some just doesn’t want to look ridiculous doing the squat. But to gain significant results, not only for your lower-body but also your upper-body strength, you have to have the proper form.
Posture Is Key
Firstly, for you to attain significant results, you must have the proper stance. You can start by minding your feet. It is the primary source of your stability. Gaining proper workout requires you to fix your stance. Your feet supports your weight, hence it greatly influences the way you stand up. To get things going, you should aim to get proper grip to support your whole body throughout the workout. Mind the base of your feet to keep pressed flat onto the ground. The trick is to bear more weight on the outsides of your feet, as this would keep you from wobbling away from the correct position.
As every body is different, so will be your squat as well. You should not copy exactly what your instructor shows you. Everybody will have their own unique angles to lean your body towards to but the main thing is to keep your shoulders above your knee when doing the squats. You can avoid unnecessary wobbles by keeping your knees actively apart, as the knees tend to close in on each other while you rise from your squatting position.
Leave The Work To Your Muscles
This sounds to be a no-brainer, but it cannot be emphasized enough as people tend to lose focus and let the joints bear most of the weight. This would easily result to injury. To avoid this circumstance, you must remember to focus on constantly working your glutes. As you do the repetitions of this workout, focus on making your glutes do the hard work. You can easily feel this working by the state of your glutes; as you squat down, they tend to stretch; while standing up, they contract.
This workout is primarily for the lower-body area, but this doesn’t mean your upper-body may relax. To encourage proper distribution, you would have to cross your arms as this helps from bearing excessive pressure on your knee joints. This workout would do better if your hip joints bear most of the pressure from the repetitions. Remember to keep your elbows leveled.
Maintain Focus
It can be easily said but hard to execute. Making squats part of your workout regime will definitely help. When you have performed the aforementioned steps, try doing lower squats. Not only it will make you stronger, it will significantly improve your focus as you push your limits. Just remember to do this when you are confident you are not compromising your form. This can be easily remedied by having a spotter to check your form. With a few tries, it will easily incorporate to your technique as it becomes second nature.
Keep in mind that your hip joints should bear most of the pressure from doing the reps. As you do this, also mind your pelvis; not everybody can reach the same length of pelvic travel. Push too much and your tailbone could stretch your lower back muscles and this is not the way to do it. To determine how far you can move your pelvis is by working out in front of a mirror. Notice the point where the point before your tailbone disappears from sight, this will determine how far your body can go, don’t go beyond this point.
The last few things you will need to worry about is your back. Naturally, sitting and standing up tends to strain your back; your lower back, in particular. This comes from bad posture. As you are doing your squats, you should also focus on keeping your back in the proper position. Letting your back stretch too much could cause severe back injuries, such as slipped discs. Mind your spine, keeping it straight is essential. This can be easily be done by propping your chest a little forward to encourage your spine to straighten out. You should also consider not overdoing this step, as this would cause misalignment of your spine. As you prop your chest, contract your abs a bit. This would likely to compensate with the arching and will keep your spine in its natural curve.
To help you achieve your fitness goals, make sure you enroll in a quality fitness center such as Soul Cycle and Pure Barre.