Bored of Squats? Try Pistol Squats instead

                    

Research from the Allied Dunbar national fitness survey showed that 30% of men and 50% of women aged 65-74 did not have enough strength in their dominant leg to exert a force required to lift 50% of their bodyweight. When trying to get up from a chair for example, they had to use their arms and push down on the chair.

"Squats will wreck your knees" is something I hear a lot but it's like this. If you don't do something the right way it's no good and can be harmful but if you follow the rules, this is one of the best exercises. You don't need a squat rack, barbell, spotter or anything so if you haven't got access to a gym, this is it right here.

Technique for squatting

There are three simple but very important rules you need to follow.

1. Keep weight on the heels, not the toes.

See, most people here tend to put all their weight on their toes, and the heel is lifted off the ground. The correct way is to keep your heels planted firmly on the ground, no lifting allowed. This will take the stress of the knees.

2. Make sure the knees don't go over the line of the toes. For a lot of people, once their thighs go past parallel with the ground, their knees go over. The trick is to bend at the hip flexors (muscles on top of the thighs) rather than the knees. You might have tight hip flexors in which case you need to get that fixed with some hip flexor stretching before you start doing squats. Once you've learned how to bend at the hip flexors, you should be able to go past parallel without the knees going over the line of the toes.

3. Make sure the feet and knees are always facing the same direction. I followed previous two rules but noticed that I was still experiencing a sharp pain in the knees. I noticed that this only happened whenever I tried to spread the knees outwards, in which case the feet would be facing forwards while the knees would be going outwards. Then someone told me to just keep the knees and feet facing the same direction. Once I started doing this there was no more pain.

Now that the boring stuff is out the way, let's see how you can make this more interesting. You can of course add weight by either holding dumbbells or a barbell, but you can also add pauses during the movement, which makes it much harder. Try it. Then there are one leg squats. Personally, I do regular bodyweight squats first thing in the morning just to keep the joints healthy. To make the legs stronger I prefer one leg squats.

One legged squats or Pistols

The one leg squat or pistol as the Russians like to call it is one of my favourite exercises. Check out YouTube to see a demo. I like the convenience. If you're travelling somewhere and can't use a gym this is great. If you're at the office and you don't feel like going to a gym to work your legs after a hard day just do this exercise while at work. Obviously this will make your legs stronger as a lot of strength is required to lift your whole body off the floor on one leg but it'll also improve your balance and coordination. If you practice this regularly do you think you'll need assistance when trying to lift yourself out of a chair when you're over 60 years old? Hell no you won't.

What it's done for me

My legs are now a lot stronger. The strength has carried over into other exercises such as the leg press, even though I never do that but just test it once in a while

My front kick has benefited a lot since I started doing pistols. Others have told me that it's helped with their sprinting and jumping.

More advanced

When pistols get too easy but you want to build more strength in your legs, you can do the same thing as you do with regular squats. Add pauses or add weight. You can hold dumbbells, kettlebells, buckets of water or whatever. Oh, the same safety rules apply (do not lift heels up, keep knees and feet in same direction and don't let knee go over the toe).

How to train

The best way to train for this is to start off doing the exercise off a box or chair or something. Maybe every time you get up from a chair you could do it on one leg. Just remember to stay on your heels, keep your shin as straight as possible, keep your feet and knees in the same direction and make sure your knee does not go over your toes. As you get better, increase the depth and use a lower box or chair, or maybe a step. You can also practice without the help of any of these and just go as far down as you can and then push back up. To help keep balance you can hold your arms out in front of you. The quickest way to be able to do this exercise, and the way I did it is to use the "grease the groove" method, which you can learn more about with a quick Google search.

Not for everyone

I've been doing this exercise for about a year and have had no problems once I corrected my technique (keeping knees and feet in same direction). You don't have to make that same mistake, practice perfect technique from the start. Still, some people may have underlying medical problems and the exercise may not be for everyone. If you experience any problems such as back pain or anything else go see your doc and get the all clear for you to do this first.

Note: Always consult your doctor before starting any kind of exercise programme. Try the exercises in this article at your own risk.

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The British Army now trains Squats, do you?

                      

If I had to choose just one weight training exercise that builds overall lean muscle mass and increases strength, it would have to be squats.

But it's important to learn how to squat correctly.

Having good form and technique is crucial to get the maximum benefit and to avoid injury. It's not a difficult exercise to perform, and I recommend it to anybody.

Originally, I had planned to make a list of "10 reasons why you should squat", but I ended up expanding the list as I went on.

Some of these I have researched and some are from my experience of squatting over the years.

People still have a misconception about squatting and think they are meant only for pro athletes and bodybuilders.

That's not true; squatting is suitable for anybody, both male and female, who are interested in building lean muscle and burning fat as well as improving their health.

Why Every Woman Should Squat

It is especially great for the ladies that want a great set of legs and a sexy butt. Think Jen Selter, Instagram Sensation.

Jen Selter has inspired thousands of women around the world to get a bigger butt.

If you don't know who Jen Selter is, you can do a Google search to get more information about her.

If you are on Instagram, you may have seen her photos.

It's quite possible that Jen Selter had a huge influence on a lot of girls wanting to follow in her footsteps to getting the body of their dreams. Who knows... ?

Okay, back to what I was saying before...

When you think about it, everybody, whether they realize it or not, we all have to sit down, stand up and pick something up off the floor.

We never think about making these movements. Our bodies have been programmed to do these things ever since we were kids.

It just feels natural.

Squats, when done properly, is the best compound exercise for building mass as well as increasing size and strength in the body.

Before I get into the 20 reasons why you should squat, I'd like to share my squatting story...

I remember when I first took up squatting in the gym. I used to squat with bad form for months without realizing what I was doing wrong.

And one day, while I was holding a 100 kg bar cross my shoulder, I lost my balance, and the weight came down on top of me.

Lucky enough, two guys rushed over and were able to grab the bar in time. This was all a result of bad form and not setting myself up to do them properly.

Not only did I have bad form, when I squatted, I didn't go all the way down, afterall, it's the deep squat that activates your glutes and hamstring muscles to it's full potential.

I still see guys at the gym, with bad form and usually point out the mistakes they make and the correct way to do them. Usually appreciate my guidance.

So guys, save yourself the time of causing an injury. Trying to impress your gym buddy, isn't worth it, unless you both know what you're doing.

For extra safety, you can even do your squats on a smith machine. So if you are a beginner, then I suggest squatting on a smith machine until you get used to doing them properly.

Squatting on A Smith Machine

Most good gyms have a smith machine, where the bar is connected within steel rails, for added safety.

This will prepare you for when you're ready to do them on a squat rack.

I think one of the main reasons why some people avoid doing squats is because they are afraid of risking the chance of getting injured.

But if you know how to do them correctly, not only will it increase muscle mass in your lower body, but it will do them same for your upper body.

It doesn't matter whether you want to lose weight, build muscle or increase strength, squatting will help you achieve each of these goals as long as you stay consistent and aim to lift heavy often.

I wouldn't recommend doing squats more than twice a week. Like any weight lifting exercise you do, your muscles need time to grow. So recover is essential.

If you keep exercising the same muscles every day, you're not giving them time to recover and could do some damage if your not careful.

If you're a skinny guy and you want to build muscle, a good start would be to do five sets of five, at your body weight. Once you can get to a stage where you can lift your own body weight, you can gradually increase the weight as you get comfortable lifting heavier.

It's a big achievement when you know you can lift more than your own body weight. That's how you know you are getting stronger each week.

When you can lift heavier weight each week, you will feel inspired so that you look forward to your next squat session.

Here are the 20 reason's you should squat

1. Increase Size And Strength In Your Entire Body

When you squat, you will also build muscle in your hamstrings, quads and calves. Due to the high amount of HGH released, you will also build size and strength in the rest of your body.

The reason this happens is because when you perform a squat the correct way, your body is forced to naturally increase its own anabolic hormones that will cause other muscle groups to get bigger quicker the next time you train them.

2. Improves Circulation In The Body

Squat exercises get the blood pumping in your entire body and improves your health all round.

3. Increase Testosterone & Growth Hormones

Exercises such as squats and dead-lifts release essential growth hormones that contribute to muscle growth and strength gain in the entire body.

4. Increase Core Strength

Squats hit your entire core muscles from every angle, so it gives you every reason to do them if you want killer abs.

5. Improve Flexibility

Because the deeper you squat, the more flexible you become. Squatting will also increase hip flexibility. A lot of people carry a lot of stress in their hips because they have bad posture so they feel the need to sit down more often.

6. Great For Burning Fat

Most of the muscle you gain from squatting heavy will come from your lower body, and the more muscle that you gain the more fat you will burn.

7. Squats Strengthen Joints

Once you know how to perform squats correctly, not only will it prevent injury, but it will also strengthen your joints too. When you squat down, with all that weight on the bar, you are engaging your ankle, knee and hip joints at the same time.

8. It's Functional For Completing Daily Tasks

What I mean by this is that It makes your daily tasks easier, like if you are carrying groceries' home or lifting or moving furniture in your house. So it makes your body safer during real world activities.

9. Reduce The Risk Of Getting Injured

Squatting is a safe exercise; once they are done correctly it will reduce the risk of injury. Because as you expand the depth of each squat, you will increase strength in your quad muscles that will also enable you do perform other compound exercises with ease.

10. Become A Better Athlete

It doesn't matter what sport you do; you need to be squatting. It's essential to have a strong lower body, whether you're doing swimming, playing tennis or basketball. You should squatting.

11. Increase Vertical Jump

Squats are great for increasing your rate of force development that is important if you want to be able to jump high. I found barbell jump squats a great way to increase vertical jump.

12. Improved Workout Efficiency

I'm a strong believer that squats improve strength, stability and efficiency when it comes to doing other weighted exercises such as bench press, deadlifts and even pull-ups. I find that it gives you that extra edge over that's crucial when you're trying to squeeze out one last repetition, when you've reached failure.

13. Develop A Great Set Of Legs And Butt

It makes no difference whether you are male or female. Squats will give you a great set of legs and butt. So ladies, If you want to activate those butt muscles, do deep squats with a wide stance so that it gives your butt a better workout. Your friends will want to do what exercise you did, while the lads will be drooling over you.

14. Get Killer Calves

For those of you who are ashamed of having skinny legs, like I once had. When you squat heavy, it will gradually build muscle in your calves. No more chicken legs.

15. Squats Are Cheap

All it takes is a barbell or a set pair of dumbbells. You don't have to buy them brand new either.

16. Increase Sprint Times

According to research, studies show that sprinters can increase their sprint times by a significant degree as a result of squatting.

17. Improve Athletic Performance

Not only will you gain size and strength in your legs, squats will also increase your performance capacity to run faster and jump higher.

18. There Are More Than One Variation Of Squats

Not just the traditional bodybuilders squats where you place a barbell over your shoulders. You can do dumbbell squats, kettlebell squats, wall squats, plie squat and barbell front squats. There are lots more ways to squat.

19. You Can Squat Just About Anywhere You Like

You don't have to be in the gym to squat, and you don't even need gym equipment. You can do them at home, at work or the beach.

If you do a Google search for "Squat without equipment, I'm sure you will find lots of variations. Try doing 100 bodyweight squats, and I'm sure you will feel the effects from it. Even 50 is good enough.

20. Squats Are A Universal Compound Exercise

Other than dead-lifts, squats are a mainstream exercise that uses more muscles in the body.

Now It's Your Turn

Now that you have read all the reasons why you should squat, it's time to add squats to your next workout. It doesn't matter whether you're a pro bodybuilder or a beginner, you can start squatting and will notice almost immediate results as long as you stick with it.

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