SQUAT EXERCISE BENEFITS: The 100 Squats Challenge

Squats! No leg workout is complete without them. If you have skinny and weak legs and can’t face the embarrassment anymore, squatting even at home can do wonders, but there is a lot more than just the aesthetic outcomes. 

So let’s find out the numerous squat exercise benefits and what happens to your body when you squat atleast 100 times a day. 

BENEFITS OF THE SQUAT EXERCISE 

1. Increases Weight Loss & Muscle Tone

Beginning with the muscle groups, the squat exercise target almost all muscles in your legs, including quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, lower back, and even your abdominal muscles. This makes squats one of the only few exercises that target these many muscle groups. Although many people looking to lose weight may think of squats as only a muscle building exercise meant for bodybuilders. But in fact, doing squat exercises helps burn around 35 calories per minute. 

Weightlifting also burns as much if not more calories than cardio. Therefore a workout combination of both these crucial exercises helps achieve the best result with weight loss. A balance of squats for your weightlifting together with cardio exercises helps tone and builds lean muscle mass for your legs and also improves your muscle mass in other areas of the body. 

Doing squat exercises are a fantastic way to increase EPOC levels in your body, resulting in increased muscle breakdown for growth and hence more calories are burnt from the body. 

EPOC refers to excess post oxygen consumption, which refers to the volume of oxygen required to bring the body back to normal after exercise.

For ladies looking to increase the size of their glutes muscles, doing squats are just just for you. Numerous females have recorded more defined and toned butt after doing a squat challenge for an entire month. There are various variations for this exercise such as ball squats, bodyweight squats, front squats, and back squats. So you can really get creative with the exercise and never get bored.

2. Improves Body Strength & Mobility 

Apart from cutting calories there are many more benefits to squat exercise as well. For those wanting to increase flexibility for gymnastics or functional mobility, squats can help you too. Squat exercises involve the range of motion of your joints and muscles. you enhance your mobility and lower back strength as well. 

With age, mobility becomes one of the most enduring things you might face. Therefore, you need to have strong legs to be able to manoeuvre around freely and that’s where squats come in. Only the frequent routine with various squat workouts can retain the balance and strength of your legs as you age.

With that said— this does not mean that you should do squats as the only exercise and your routine should change with time. 

Firstly, you should introduce different workouts targeting different muscle groups from your triceps to your legs. 

Secondly, you should spread your workouts across different days each week and stick with the routine. Don’t try to over exhaust your body as you can end up straining your body and setting yourself back for weeks. 

Thirdly, during leg days each week, you should carry out the same exercise routines as usual. Switch up to different leg workout variations and reps after a period of time to avoid the body getting used to the same exercise and causing a plateau in your results.

For example, include exercises other than squats, such as lunges, and plank, leg raises etc.

3. Improve Joint Health.

 While many exercises can damage your joints and ligaments if not done correctly, squats can actually strengthen those connective tissues and help prevent possible injuries. However, that does not mean that you can do squats without proper body form and technique as this can do more damage than good to your body. Even though you may not notice the benefits or feel any change at all. You will definitely experience the benefits of squat exercises over an extended period of time from sitting down to standing up, lifting objects and moving around. You will not physically feel weaker than others who do not frequently do the squat exercise, making your body feel the youngest around your peers.

4. Improved Digestion & Blood flow

By doing deep squats, you improve digestion and blood flow in your body which makes your gut and intestines work better with smoother peristalsis and bowel movements.

Peristalsis- is a series of wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract. Starting from the esophagus to the stomach where strong wave-like motions of the smooth muscle move masses of swallowed food.

Squat movements also improve the blood flow of your body and increase the amount of oxygen and nutrients transported to your muscles for energy.

5. Corrects Poor Posture 

If you’re one of those people who are insecure about their slouch posture and wants to walk into the public with confidence, doing squats can help correct poor postures. Since squatting exercises can feed your lower body muscles and build stability for well supported spine. This helps to improve better posture, stand straight up and fix slouching.

HOW TO SQUAT CORRECTLY 

So now that you know the squat exercise benefits to your body. How do you perform them correctly? 

Well, that may seem like an odd question because of course, who doesn’t know how to squat– right.?

However, there is the full range deep squats and the half range squat. Both of which still can be done in so many variations. And as with any other exercise, squat should be carried out with precaution, the right form, technique and the right dietary requirements. You may be surprised how some people are still squatting incorrectly, which can result in prolong injuries on your lower back, hips and knees.

So let’s look into the exercise in detail.

Stand up with your feet shoulder width apart. With your hands out or in front of you or behind your ears, whichever makes you comfortable. Your thighs and chest protruded out, bend down with pressure on your heels in a sitting position.

Remember to keep your knees aligned with your toes (to mostly target your glutes) and don’t let your knees cave in. For more quads targeted squat, then you can let you knees move past your toes.

You should always keep your heels on the floor as you squat. Then hold for a few seconds before using your heels to push back up. 

Perform this movement across multiple repetitions. Like the title of the post says instead of doing 100 squats in one go,  you can instead do four sets of 25 reps or five sets 20 reps, or 2 sets of 30 and 1 set of 40 which will be a much better routine with minimal rest break in between. 

As an added reminder focusing only on squat exercise is not enough. You should work on your diet as well by increasing protein intake so that your body gets the necessary nutrients needed to repair torn muscles and build them back stronger.

For precautionary measures keep your back straight so they don’t strain it. Furthermore, performing deep squatting is not recommended for people with knee pain, since the most pressure gets exerted on the knees and on your heels. However, when performed correctly, squats are a great exercise to engage different core muscle groups around the body to build strength, balance and mobility.

So— onto the 100 squats a day challenge. According to numerous people who tried it, the squat exercise benefits for physical mobility have been positive. A visible improvement around leg and glute muscles can be seen with enhanced strength on core muscle groups, enabling improvements on athletic performance, body posture, flexibility and balance while increasing metabolism for weight loss. 

So what do you say? Will you try the 100 squats a day challenge? Let’s get it going !

Follow a squat exercise routine for the next 15 to 30 days to start seeing results. If you have already done so. Let us know about your experience in the comments down below so that others can get motivated to experience the benefits of squats as well. 

Fitness is health!! 👌🏾

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