Squats are a major component of most lower body exercise programmes. The movement is also part of many daily activities. Whether you’re squatting down in order to pick up something heavy or just standing up and sitting down from a chair, the squatting movement is part of your everyday life.
Squats necessitate a certain amount of flexibility in your hips, knees as well as ankles. In addition, they necessitate the muscles of your lower body to provide sufficient force in order to move your weight, as well as any other weight you stack on.
What’s more, squats — especially when done with resistance — challenge the stability of your trunk and pelvis. They’re an excellent addition to any resistance programme.
A Very Effective Exercise
The humble squat may just be the most effective exercise which you can do. It is responsible for engaging the entire lower half of your body, including your hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings as well as calves, while also hitting your core, shoulders and your back.
The perfect squat is a masterpiece of muscular coordination throughout your entire body, achieving the rare feat of simultaneously building muscle as well as burning fat thanks to its high metabolic demand.
What’s A Deep Squat?
There are several different definitions of a deep squat, however it is generally accepted that a deep squat involves a knee angle greater than 120 degrees. This means that the crease in your hip drops below your knees and your bum nearly touches the ground.
Squats are very beneficial no matter how deep you go. Your squat form is dependent on your flexibility, range of motion, strength as well as training goals. However, there are a number of extra benefits if your body gives you the opportunity to go deeper.
- Greater body workout – A deep squat needs more than only your legs. It takes the full range of motion from your ankles right up to your shoulders and mobility in your core as well as your spine. All the joints and muscles recruited are getting exercise.
- Increased knee stability – It was once felt that deep squats lead to instability in your knee, therefore the conventional wisdom. Research since then has demonstrated that the opposite is true: deep squats really lead to stronger ligaments as well as better knee stability.
- Increased activation of gluteus maximus in addition to other hip extensors – As you go down deeper, it becomes increasingly difficult. The additional difficulty makes your bum and hips work harder, which boosts their strength.
- Lessened forces on the ACL and PCL – Your knee is far more stable in a deep squat, so it’s putting less force on the ligaments which are holding it at all together. At the bottom of a deep squat, there is not a lot of pressure on your ACL as well as your PCL — most of the stress actually takes place at the start of a squat.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
Would you like to learn more about deep squats then you should do our Personal Training Diploma. Read more about this course here.
