Among the many bodyweight exercises that exist, squats are probably part of the most familiar ones—even to kids. But in spite of our familiarity with these exercises, it still pays to review what they really are and how they benefit one’s body. So here’s a little introduction and eventually, a demo on how to do squats.

What Are Squats?

A squat is a lower body bodyweight exercise. It’s a highly functional calisthenics that works your glutes plus all your major leg muscles.

If you’re new to bodyweight workouts, I suggest you incorporate some squats into your daily routine to tone your:

• quadriceps (or quads)
• calves
• hamstrings

Now squats are also fat-burning. The more controlled reps you do in one session, the more you’d challenge your heart to pump faster. So it’s quite one of my favorites—no matter how simple it is.

How To Do Squats

For a visual demo, you may jump straight into the video demonstration below.

Meanwhile, here are just a few tips on how to perform the bodyweight squat more effectively:

• If you find it a little hard to balance at the beginning, just keep your feet wider apart.
• To challenge yourself a bit (in terms of balance), you can always keep your feet a little closer.
• To keep your body stable, you can either put your arms in front of you (as illustrated above) or put your hands together with elbows bent (as in the video below).

How To Level Up Squat Exercises

Would you like to level up your squats? Well, like any of your basic calisthenics, you may modify it and focus on engaging other parts of your body as a result.

Examples of modified squat exercises are as follows:

• Air Squat
• Bulgarian Split Squat
• Pistol Squat
• Shrimp Squat
• Single-Box Leg Squat
• Single-Leg Box Squat
• Skater Squat
• Sumo Squat

Also, you may try any of these 4 bodyweight squat workouts to challenge yourself into sweating even further!

Now here’s a short demo:

Credits: Howcast /YouTube