The best way to train your legs and buttocks? Many women do this through group classes or cardio training. But in this article, we want to introduce you to another way to do this. Ladies, meet the squat for women.
In addition to training the muscles in the legs and buttocks, squats also work approximately 70% of all muscles in your body, including your back muscles, abdominal muscles, and arm muscles. Squats have become increasingly popular in recent years, not only for men but also for more and more women who incorporate squats into their workout routines.
Meaning of Squats
Squats are performed by standing upright with your feet shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be slightly (30 degrees) pointed outward. The literal translation of a squat is “to crouch”. This is exactly what you should do; you crouch by bending your knees, keeping your feet in place, until you reach an angle of about 90 degrees. Once you’ve reached the 90-degree angle, slowly rise back up, ensuring your knees remain slightly bent (so they don’t lock). Maintain a straight back and face during squats. You can make squats more challenging by using weights such as a barbell or dumbbells.
Execution of Squats
When performing squats, you can make them more challenging by using weights, but this is certainly not the most important aspect. What is equally important is the depth of the squats. With shallow squats, where you don’t squat deeply enough through your legs, you only train half of the muscles you could train. Squatting extra deeply through your legs will activate muscles you’ve never felt before. This significantly increases the size of the muscles in your legs, and your quadriceps can double in size. Additionally, deep squats promote perfect coordination between your joints and muscles, making muscle building and strength gains more effective.
Squat Benefits
There are several benefits associated with doing the squat exercise. Below is a list of these benefits:
Increase in Strength
Deep squats lead to an increase in strength due to muscle activation following a previous muscle contraction. This means that the activity, in this case, the squatting motion, enhances muscle strength performance, improving aspects such as jumping, peak power, and explosiveness.
Strong, Firm Glute Muscles
Deep squats increase activity in the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteal muscles. Particularly, the electrical activity (electromyography) in the gluteal muscles significantly increases when performing deep squats. This results in firmer buttocks and more muscle mass.
Additional Strength in Back and Thigh Muscles
In addition to engaging your leg and buttock muscles, you also develop muscles in your back and thighs. Deep squats provide extra resistance to your back and contribute to strong thigh muscle development.
Hip Stability
When performing squats, you squat deeply through your legs, placing tension on your buttocks, hamstrings, ankles, knees, and your hips also move. The movement of the hips during squats helps to make the hips extra stable. For women, squats help stabilize the pelvis, which can be beneficial during and after pregnancy.
