A squat from a fitness exercise

What are squats?

The literal translation of squatting is "crouching down," and that's exactly what you do. You bend your knees, keep your heels on the floor, and push your glutes back. The exercise is easy to perform, and you can do it with or without weight. If you want to use weights, you can use a kettlebell across your chest or a barbell on your back.

Which muscles do you train with squats?

You'll primarily be training your leg muscles. By bending and extending your legs, you'll primarily feel the muscles in your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. But that's not all. If you perform the squat exercise correctly, you'll also need to engage your abdominal muscles, especially if you use heavier weights.

What sqUAts can you do?

Half squats, full squats, jump squats, static squats… There are various types of squats you can do to train your legs. A full squat involves lowering your glutes below your knees, while a half squat involves lowering your glutes to knee height and then coming back up.

Want more high intensity? Then you can do jump squats. You bend your knees into a squat position and then jump up to return to the same position.

Want to train heavy? Then you can use weights in squats. You can do both front and back squats. For front squats, hold the weight in front of your chest, and for back squats, place the weight on your back.

Want to focus on your inner thighs? Then you can do sumo squats. Stand with your legs as wide as possible and repeat the motion by lowering and raising your knees.

Want to test your endurance? See how long you can hold a wall sit! Stand in a squat position with your back against the wall and see how long you can hold it.