Balance Point - Work out with Squats and get bang for your buck

More Articles from Balance Point

   • The Benefits of Free Weights

   • Weight Training is a Potent Anti-Aging Intervention

   • How to Perform Deadlifts

Walk in to any gym, and talk to someone who knows something about the human body (but don’t assume that means anybody wearing a uniform), and they will tell you that one of the best exercises to do is to squat.

Squatting is a free weight exercise (remember from the last article that means that you control the weight without the support of a machine), and in my mind is the best use of your exercise time.

The movement is simple, and most of us perform variations of it daily.  The squat action is simply sitting down (as if on to a chair) and rising again.  It uses the large major muscles of your bottom, legs and hips (your quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteus muscles).

When it comes to exercise you want to get bang for your buck, and by that I mean you want to choose exercises that:

1. Are compound movements – meaning they use multiple joints, (in this instance the hips and knees)

2. Use large muscle groups (legs, hips and bottom), and

3. Are functional – by that I mean they mimic the activities of daily living that we perform (e.g. bending down to pull out weeds, lifting groceries, picking up children).

Squats tick all the boxes, and are especially important for adults for a couple of key reasons.



Firstly sore knees and hips are often caused by muscle weakness.  Osteo-arthritis is a very real problem for many adults, and while it is described as the inflammation of bone ends where they meet other bones, it is predisposed by the muscular system not performing their roles efficiently.  Did you ever wonder why some runners get knee and hip problems while others seem to have no problems even though they run the same distances – it has more to do with muscle strength than anything else.

Joint replacements are expensive, and time consuming, and only prescribed after the patient has suffered years of decreased quality of life and pain.  Therefore the most sensible way to safe guard the major joints (that we walk around on everyday) is to be as strong and as flexible as possible in the muscles that cross those joints.

Secondly most adults sit for long periods of time in their work and social lives – our jobs and indeed our entire lifestyles have become more sedentary.  When we sit all of the major muscles in our legs have a holiday, and some shorten quite significantly.  Our glutes (the muscles in our buttocks) for example are designed to help us stand and walk, yet most of us use them solely as a cushion.  They are the biggest muscle in our body, and are designed to be one of the strongest, yet most people under use them.

As mentioned squats strengthen the quads (front of the thighs), the hamstrings (back of the thighs), and the glutes (buttocks), while also forcing us to use our core muscles including the abdominals and lower back stabilizers.  It really is a one stop shop!  They are responsible for the toned thighs you see on athletes, and are the best thing to do to help remove unwanted fat from the hips and thighs.  The best thing is that they are the perfect exercise for everyone as you can determine how hard they are by the amount of weight you add, or the amount of stability you use.














Start with your feet shoulder width aprt, stand tall looking straight ahead, and sit your bottom back and down (as if it is dark and you are trying not to miss the toilet seat).  Try to have your hips reach the same height as your knees, and then push strongly through your heels to return back to a standing position – focus on squeezing into your buttocks as you come back up.

I use squats, or at least different variations of them, with almost all of my clients, but especially with any people with ankle, knee, hip or low back complaints. By getting people stronger in the squat pattern I can almost always rid them of pain and improve their function.

You may see Asian people sitting into a deep squat position while relaxing, or waiting for a bus – this is a very natural position for many people born in Asian countries and, not surprising, they suffer far less from knee, hip and low back complaints.

Now think about young babies and toddlers who spend a great deal of their first few years in this same deep squat position.   They play like this without a worry because they have the strength and flexibility.

Somewhere along the line, after countless years of sitting we lose the ability, and what we gain is a recipe for large medical bills.  

Take my 30 second test -as above stand up. Start with your feet shoulder width apart, stand tall looking straight ahead, and sit your bottom back and down.  Try to have your hips reach the same height as your knees, and then push strongly through your heels to return back to a standing position – focus on squeezing into your buttocks as you come back up.

Most of you won’t be able to – yet you sit down (and therefore stand up) every day of your life.














My advice is quite simple – start squatting.  At home simply practice sitting down in a controlled way, and repeat the exercise numerous times. At the gym use a swissball, or some other form of support if you can’t do it to start with.  Dumbells and barbells are only needed once you can perform the movement properly.  Take note – this is an important point – only add weight (or load yourself) once you can perform the movement perfectly and repeatedly.

I begin many of my clients squatting by having them hold on to a firm immovable object such as a table or door frame.  This way they are able to practice the movement without having to do all the stability themselves.  They can build up muscle strength, flexibility and balance in a safe and controlled way.

As a general rule if you can’t do 20 unsupported squats, reaching a good range of motion pain free, alarm bells should be ringing.  Doing squats will improve the strength, flexibility, and balance in your leg and hip muscles, and look after your knees and hips in the process.
 

print