Of Course You Do Squats!

Do you get up from sitting in a chair every day? Do you, um, perch to conduct your, how shall we say, body business? (If that was too indirect and confusing, I direct your attention to the Jessica Simpson analogy of "dropping the kids off at the pool".)

You get the picture. If you sit and rise from a sitting position, you do squats. The question is, do you do them safely?

I'm not a big fan of the barbell squats, where you place a bar loaded with plates on top of your shoulders for two reasons:

1. It stacks an unnatural load at the top of your spine.

2. It puts a strain on the low and mid-back as you pitch your spine forward to keep your knees back (and protected) at the low point of the movement.

I do have some clients use dumbbells (much easier to balance and control than a bar and no direct pressure at the top of the spine), but some who have strong legs have trouble holding the additional load they need to push their legs and glutes in their hands for the duration of the set.

For those reasons, and to have an exercise that is challenging without the requirement of additional weight, I've used this variation to make it harder than simply doing a set with one's own body weight, which is not enough for many people:

1. Do five, slow, controlled, full-range repetitions like the man in the picture above.

2. Come down for the sixth and then go up 1/3 of the way five times (very controlled tempo - not a hint of a bounce!)

3. Finish with a 30-second rep (count to ten slowly as you drop your seat to knee-height, hold it there for a ten count, then rise evenly over the final ten count.)

Repeat that circuit (if you can).

Unless you have very strong legs for your body weight, a couple of circuits should just about do it. Try it out and let me know how you like (hate) it!

Side Note:

A couple of days ago I received an e-mail from Blogged.com, a blog review site. They gave me an "8 out of 10" rating (Great) and listed me in their directory under the home and family section.

Check it out!: http://www.blogged.com/blogs/the-45-year-old-six-pack.html