The pros and cons of squats

Squats are a form of physical exercise that can effectively train the leg muscles. However, incorrect technical movements may damage the knee joint. In addition, insisting on doing squats can also help lose weight. In physical exercise, squats are a compound, whole-body exercise that trains the thigh, buttocks, and calf muscles. Squats can also improve lung capacity and heart function.

Squats are an effective exercise for strengthening the lower body muscles. The muscles in the lower body are strong, so you won't feel tired even after walking or standing for a long time. Landing on the soles of your feet when squatting can exercise your thigh muscles, while landing on your toes can exercise your calf muscles.

The calf muscles are important muscles used to transport blood from the lower body back to the heart and are even called the second heart. When this muscle is exercised, blood circulation throughout the body will improve, which can prevent cold hands and feet and eliminate fatigue and weakness caused by poor blood circulation. In addition, this exercise also has a good shaping effect on the abdomen and thighs, so it is also very suitable for people who want to lose weight. As muscle strength increases, body fat is easily burned.

Squats are not without their disadvantages. The first is that the exercise is very tiring and requires a lot of effort to achieve satisfactory results. In fact, this is also one of the reasons why squats are gradually abandoned by people and many alternative exercises have emerged. In addition, improper squatting movements may cause injuries to the legs and waist. Therefore, in order to avoid the disadvantages of squatting caused by incorrect movements, it is important to master the correct squatting movements.

1. Get into position. Beginners must first determine the exact location of the barbell. Keep your head up, chest out, and back straight, but don't hyperextend. After retracting your shoulder blades, place the bar on your raised trapezius and deltoid muscles to adjust your balance. The weight of the barbell is shared by four points, with the trapezius muscle bearing most of the weight, so there is no need for cushioning materials such as sponges. Even if you are thin and have weak deltoid and trapezius muscles, you can still eat heavy weights without any pain or other discomfort. Raise your arms to the side and hold the bar with both hands for stability. Place a wooden board or barbell plate about 3 cm thick under your heels. After the shoulders are loaded with weight, the total center of gravity of the human body and the barbell moves backward, but the back cannot lean forward. Only by raising the heels and passively moving the center of gravity forward can the body be restored to a stable supported state. The restored balance also allows the quadriceps to be more stressed during the squat. After lifting the barbell, adjust the position of your feet. The distance between the two feet is generally the same as the width of the shoulders. If the feet are too far apart, the inner adductor muscles will be overstressed and overdeveloped, which is not good for aesthetics and life. Your feet should be in a natural stance with an angle of 30 to 45 degrees. Placing the barbell on the cervical vertebrae will cause pain and also form a chest-hunching and waist-arching movement, which will increase the tension of the waist and back muscles, straighten the limbs and straighten the back.

2. Squat. After getting into the ready position, slowly bend your knees and squat down in a controlled manner while taking a deep breath. When squatting, the direction of the knee joint is the same as the direction of the toes, and squat until the thighs are parallel to the ground or slightly lower than the knees. If the hips fall to the ankle joints, you are squatting too low, which is not only unnecessary but also easy to cause injuries to the knees, ankles and other joints. The speed of squatting should not be too fast, the rhythm should be mastered. At least the speed of squatting should not be faster than the speed of squatting up. Because there is an obvious time effect after muscles are stretched, the longer the time, the more the muscle strength decreases, and vice versa. Therefore, the weight that a weightlifter can lift immediately after squatting, he may not be able to lift if he pauses too long after squatting. The reason is that he immediately squatted down and took advantage of the stretching of muscle groups such as the gluteal muscles and quadriceps, which increased muscle elasticity and enhanced muscle strength. The requirements for bodybuilding exercises are different. You need to hold the squat for 1-2 seconds after reaching the lowest point, and then stand up again. Although the weight of the squat is smaller, the actual force on the lower limb muscles is not reduced, and it is relatively safer.

3. Squat up. The most valuable part of squat exercise is the squatting phase. During this phase, the focus is on the legs, using all the strength in the legs while exhaling. Keep your head up, and imagine pushing your legs hard to push your head upward, rather than lifting your hips first and then straightening your back. Keep your center of gravity stable throughout the entire squat process and do not move your feet.