How About That Leg Day?
Leg day. It’s no doubt that leg day is the most beloved day of a training split, especially if your mission is to build the perfect peach. To ensure you’re maximizing the time spent working on your glutes you should be incorporating a staple move; squats.
Squats are a staple when training on leg day. Though they are classic, that doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time under the squat rack. Squats have many variations that target different muscles more than others all while the most important part is worked; the glutes.
Benefits of Squatting
As you may know by now, squats build the legs but more specifically the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves. Squats are a fundamental movement. When performed properly the entire body can get a workout which also allows the benefit of burning fat while building muscle at once.
Not only is the lower body targeted but so is the core. By doing squats you don’t even have to worry about fitting in some isolated crunches when worn out. Though there are many more benefits to doing squats, you won’t get the gains nor make major progress if you don’t have the correct form.
Importance of Correct Squat Form
Correctly squatting is difficult for some. When performing a squat you should feel the glutes and quads working as well as the core. If you don’t, you may be doing something wrong such as performing the squat incorrectly and pain or discomfort can occur in the lower back and your joints.
Professionals often advise wearing a lifting belt when squatting. Lifting belts may help increase power and strength in lifting. For squats, it’ll help keep the back safe and force core stability. If you’re doing body squats a lifting belt isn’t necessary instead implement resistance bands to keep tension on your muscles.
Though there are many variations of squats, the most basic set up to perform a squat is to make sure the weight is on the upper back, feet are shoulder-width apart and to hinge your hips back when going parallel to the floor. The range of motion for your body may be different than others, this is why some may be able to squat low with their glutes touching the ground.
5 Variations of Squats
Next time you head to the gym for leg day try to incorporate one of these variations of squats. Who knows, you may enjoy it more than the regular barbell squat!
- Bulgarian Split Squat: Brutal but allows for quick results for the quads and glutes as they are under higher tension. The Bulgarian is a single leg squat with the back foot elevated on a bench… it is essentially a one leg lunge.
- Lateral Step Squat: Pair this squat with a band or dumbbell to burn your adductors. You’ll begin standing with the feet together, then when ready, one leg will step to the side and you’ll squat down then go back to the start position and repeat.
- Squat Pulse: As you figured, you’ll set up as if you were performing a regular squat, but, instead of coming up completely you’ll keep the motion midway and pulse.
- Sumo Squat: These may be a bit more comfortable to perform than a regular squat as the width of the legs is wider. Make sure to keep the toes pointed outward, hinge at the hips, and go a little lower than parallel but not to the ground.
- Plié Squat: Another wide stance squat. For this you’ll begin in a plié form and squat down, but in this position it’s important to keep the glutes tucked to feel the burn.
Some of these squats require different ranges of motions that not everyone has. A way to combat this is to practice your stretching which can enhance flexibility, that way when you squat on leg day you can make the maximum gains.
If you would like to keep reading, check out our other article related to Why 1200 Calories a Day is Not Enough (Despite What Fitness Magazines Say)