Press "Enter" to skip to content

How To Squat Properly

Squats are a great exercise to do whether you are a professional athlete, amateur athlete, or just someone that likes to keep their body in shape. The problem is and this goes for any exercise, people don’t use the proper form and then they injure themselves. Just like any exercise there is a proper form to do squats. Here is a list on how to do a proper squat, the benefits of doing squats, and the muscles that you work while doing them.

Correct Form

If you relatively have wide shoulders you are going to want to have your grip a little wider and if your torso may be shorter with longer thighs like some people have you are going to want to lean a little more forward than usual. When you stand to do your squats you are going to need to have your heels at the same width as your shoulders and turn your out 30 degrees. Bend your knees out towards your feet. You should bend your hips and knees at the same time and make sure your back is at a natural arch when you are standing. When you are holding onto the bar you need to make sure squeeze the bar hard so that you don’t drop the weights. You shouldn’t support the bar with your hands and wrists and instead you should use your upper back. After you have unracked the bar and as you are squatting down you need to bend your hips and knees at the same time. Go down until your hips are lower than your knees. In between each rep you need to make sure your hips and knees are locked when you are standing up. While you are doing your squats make sure you take a deep breath at the top, hold it at the bottom, and exhale when you go back up.

Muscles That Are Worked

A lot of people are unaware of what muscles are worked when they do their squats. There are several muscles and parts of the body that are worked when you do squats. The muscles or areas that are worked are the thighs, calves, lower back, abs, and arms. This is the reason why people really like doing squats because it works several areas.

The Benefits of Squats

There are several benefits when you do squats. You can gain strength by doing squats because the force of the weights pulls you down so in turn your muscles have to build enough force so that it can push against the weights. You obviously build muscles when you do squats because you are doing strength training. You burn fat because your body is fatter than what you are putting in. Doing squats trains your body to balance the bar so that you don’t drop it. All of the joints in your body get stronger because squats strengthen your muscles and joints. When you do squats it even strengthens your bones because the weight of the bar pushes down on all your bones which strengthens them and also increases the density of the bones. Since squats are hard it trains your brain. It trains you to be more disciplined and makes you more mentally encouraged to do the squats. This also will give you a better result while you are doing them in the gym.

Works Cited

Staff, S. (2015). Squat: Proper Form, Benefits, Muscles Worked – Definitive Exercise Guide. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from StrongLifts: http://stronglifts.com/squat/

For more information visit http://www.physio-cambridge.co.uk or call today on 01223 581 200 or find us at 2 Ely Road, Milton, Cambridge, CB24 6DD