December 5, 2024

Make the Squat Your Essential Exercise

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Make the squat your essential exercise!

A squat is a functional exercise. A functional exercise is a movement required often during your activities of daily living. How many times do you sit down and sit up during your day? Lots! Make the squat movement pattern your essential exercise. That means your main focus during a workout is to master, progress and challenge your squat exercise. Doing so will make this motion during your day much easier!

Here’s how to begin:

Hold a weight in each hand. Stand with your feet hip width apart. Bending from your knees and hips, sit back and lower your body down about ten inches. Pause for one second to reduce momentum, then stand up to complete one rep. Do eight to twelve reps in a slow and controlled pattern. Keep your spine aligned and belly button in.

 

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

Add Function to your Fitness

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Get Functional!

If you’re having trouble lifting or carrying, try adding a Squat with a Bicep Curl to your workout routine:

Stand with your feet hip width apart. Hold a weight on either side of your body. Bending from your knees and hips, lower your body down about 12 inches, keeping your elbows straight. Upon standing up, bend both arms into a bicep curl. Repeat the squat and extend your elbows again.

If you’re having trouble bending or reaching, add a One Leg-Hold and Reach to your exercise outline:

Stand on your right leg only. Stabilize your torso and reach your arms forward, without losing your balance. Hold for 2-3 seconds, then return to your standing upright position. Do 10 reps. Then, switch and stand on your left leg only, reach forward and hold.

 

*Consult your physician before performing exercise.

 

Get Functional with Your Fitness

Get Fit Quick Tip:

Get Functional with Squats!

If your fitness goal is to complete your activities of daily living with greater ease and less effort, consider adding functional exercises like Squats into your workout routine.

Squats: An effective exercise that strengthens the entire muscle chain of your body. Although you’ll feel the lower body working the most, your internal stabilizing muscles are also working to maintain proper form, posture and control.

Here’s how to get started:

Consult a Fit Pro to learn proper form based on your ability. Every body is different, and therefore approach to a specific exercise may slightly differ as well.

Maintaining posture is paramount. Maintaining proper alignment is a prerequisite to performing an effective squat.

Master form before adding the load of weights. Adding load without controlling the motion increases risk of injury. Technique matters!

Choose free-weights if appropriate. Free weights require stabilization, instead of relying on the tracking of machine.

Progressions are endless. Varying the mode of the load creates an increased challenge for intermediate and advanced exercisers. For example utilize an exercise band, hold one or two dumbbells, incorporate a stability ball, stand on a balance disk, add a simultaneous upper body exercise, vary pace or vary the range of motion.

 

*Consult your doctor before beginning exercise.