You really can’t beat the squat when it comes to building your lower body and giving your fitness a boost.
Squats are going to target your quads, hip flexors, as well as the glutes, while also bringing your core muscles into play as they contract to keep you balanced.
I recommend that you perform a wide variety of rep ranges on this exercise, but if you are a beginner stick to sets in the 6-10 rep range. You should be doing at least 5 sets of squats per week at the minimum as it's arguably the most important compound exercise for building your foundation.
execution
- 1Rack a bar at about shoulder height
- 2Get under the bar, placing it in the middle of your traps
- 3Un-rack the bar and take a step back
- 4Place feet at shoulder width, toes pointing out slightly
- 5Keep torso straight, head looking forward and knees slightly bent
- 6Squat down slowly, until your legs are parallel to the ground
- 7Explode on the way up, without locking out the knees
- 8Repeat the movement pattern
This exercise is the king of leg exercises because it’s a test of your strength, endurance, as well as mental tenacity.
Make no mistake, this is no sissy exercise. If you’re doing heavy back squats, you’ve earned your place in the gym.
I recommend varying your rep range on this move and changing up your weights as well.
Anywhere from 4-12 reps works depending on what you want to focus on that day.
Keep track of the weight and reps you do so you can change it up over time, adjusting something upwards so you’re making progress each and every workout.
Note: Don’t expect the weight to constantly go up. Some days, you’ll need to focus on adding more volume instead. Aim to do it fresh in your workout for maximum performance
