How To: Bodyweight Squats
The only place where pancakes belong is on a plate.
So being the case that you’re a human and not a plate, those pancakes of yours don’t belong where they are.
That’s why you should squat!!!
But there’s one problem, and that problem is that you don’t have a gym membership and access to a squat rack to do barbell back squats.
While that does suck, it doesn’t mean that you can’t squat.
Nope!
Lucky for you that there are many variations of squats, many of which involve zero equipment. One of these is the basic bodyweight squat that only requires your body weight to do it.1The bodyweight squat is also known as an air squat. Use the bodyweight squat form described below and it’s only a matter of time before you’re taking days off from work after calling in thick!
INSTRUCTIONS
1). Stand with your hands on the back of your head or together in front of you at chest level and place your feet shoulder-width apart and pointed outward at an angle rather than straight ahead.2If performing squats to focus more on the quads than the glutes, you may want to adopt a narrow, hip-width stance instead.
2). With your shoulders back, abs braced, and spine neutral, breathe in and shift your weight onto your heels as you hinge at the hips and bend the knees to lower yourself toward the ground as if you were about to sit in a chair.3To keep your spine neutral, your head should be neither looking up nor down but straight ahead. Also, your chest should remain up. A cue to remember to keep your chest up is to pretend that you just got a boob-job because what do you do when you get new tits? That’s right, you puff your chest out and show them bazongas off!!! Another note here is to prevent your knees from collapsing in. More on that is discussed below.
3). Lower your body until your knees are at least parallel to your hips.4If your mobility allows, you can lower yourself so your glutes touch your calves. That’s what’s known as an “ass-to-grass” squat, with the greater depth helping to recruit more of the posterior chain. If, however, you don’t have the ankle mobility to perform an ass-to-grass squat without pitching your upper body too far forward, just squat to parallel. But if you truly want to squat deeper despite your physical limitations, look to invest in a pair of gym shoes with an elevated heel or simply place 2.5 or 5 lbs plates underneath the heels of your flat shoes.
4). Once at the bottom, pause and maintain form.
5). Return to the starting position by breathing out as you push through your heels and move your hips forward as you rise.5Make sure not to let your knees cave in as you ascend from the hole (i.e. bottom of the movement). A cue to help with this is to pretend that you’re showing off your crotch. A physical cue is to loop a booty band around your thighs just above your knees. This can help you remember to drive your knees out throughout the entire exercise because if you don’t, the band will fall off. On a separate note, a tip to help you generate the force needed to drive your body up is to pretend like you’re trying to smash the weight plates underneath your heels. That is, if you’re elevating your heels on a pair of weight plates, as was recommended in a footnote above!
6). When you return to the starting position, squeeze your glutes together.6If performing squats to focus on the quads, then tense them by themselves or in addition to the glutes.
7). Repeat.7If at any time you find that you have happy feet during the exercise, then imagine that your feet are in cement. That should help stop your feet from moving around.
For a workout routine that possibly includes bodyweight squats, as well as other exercises geared specifically to your goals, training experience, injury history, and available equipment, then find out more HERE
Glossary: abs, booty bands, chest, exercise, exercise equipment, glutes, goal, gym membership, routine, squat, squat rack, squats
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