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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/

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Spain is a country with a long sporting tradition. It has contributed with great athletes to the international arena, such as Rafa Nadal, Mireia Belmonte and Pau Gasol, among others. Most of the national success in sports is due tothe importance we see in health and fitness. Another important factor, is that we count with excellent facilities and high performance centers spread throughout the country: from the high performance tennis academy ,managed byour most successful national player, to a remarked center “of high flights” in the Natural Park of Sierra Nevada. So, which are the best high-performance centers in the country?

The Rafa Nadal Academy: with the guarantee of a champion

One of the last to arrive but which have greater significance in so little time is the Rafa Nadal Academy of Manacor (Mallorca). And it’s because the success isguaranteed by one of the best players in the country. It follows the same methodology as the technical and human team that has made Rafa Nadal the champion he is today: a champion inside and outside of the courts. Proof that this facility offers the best tools to excel in tennis.

But not only the name of the most international tennis player catches our attention: 26 regulated tennis courts, 2 olympic swimming pools, a football field, 7 paddle tennis courts and a fitness center with the latest technology are just some of the magnificent facilities that we can find in this high level center.

High Performance Centre of León: ajump to glory

Athletics is one of the sports disciplines considered a key one. Without this discipline, the Olympic sports would miss many of its attractions, and Spain could not lack of atraining center for this discipline.

This is the case of the High Performance Specialized Center for Athletics and Launch Sports (CEARD) of Leon, where 26,000 square meters accommodate launching areas, a straight field of 130 meters and areas devoted to long jump, high jump and pole vault, among others.

Sant Cugat, Madrid and Sierra Nevada: excellence is the main course

If Mallorca has its specialized tennis center, and León counts with an equivalent one for athletic disciplines, the two great capitals and Granada host the best high performance centers at all levels in their mountains.als and Granada host the best high performance centers at all levels in their mountains.

These three centers alternate

Notably,out of these three centers, we must highlight the one located in Sierra Nevada (Granada) for having the peculiarity of being a high performance center t level: home of the World Cup of 1995). Its orography allows the physical adaptation to a very appropriate environment for training as moderate height.

Other specialized High Performance Centers

The city of Seville counts with a rowing and canoeing specialist center: the CAR (the Spanish acronym for“High Performance Center”) at La Cartuja, on the banks of the river Guadalquivir. Santander, up in the north of the country, counts with specializesin sail thanks to the Center Principe Felipe. Langreo (Asturias) counts with gymnastics areas; Cantoblanco (Madrid) with olympic shootingcenters and, last but not least,cycling is a famous sport in Valencia. These are the five proposals that complete the map of high performance centers in Spain that complements the already strong offer of football and basketball clubsaround the country. It must be said that Swimming is alsobecoming a popular sport.