The Squat: Much more than a Thigh Exercise

The squat, for reasons that will be revealed below, is one of the best moves for encouraging muscle toning and burning fat. This move involves working two of the largest muscle areas in the body (the “glutes” or butt and the “quads” or thighs). In addition to focusing on these muscle groups, this move also works the lower legs and core. In this move your upper legs are using the resistance from the weight of your upper body to tone muscles. The amount of energy put into moving these body parts is high meaning that the elevated heart rate that results will lead to calories being burned. There are also many variations on the squat that helps keep this move interesting and let’s you tweak some of the muscles being worked.

Here is how to perform the classic squat. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and squat, keeping your back straight, abs in and knees behind your toes. Lower yourself to about a 90 degree angle (imagine that you are sitting down in a chair) and stand up. Throughout this move, keep your butt squeezed, this is the area where you should feel the most work being done though you will also feel the burn in your thighs.

Some variations on the squat is the single leg squat where one leg handles the movement while the other is placed out to the side and is used only to stabilized the body. The standing squat helps to focus on the outer thigh and the area where the leg and hip meet. The pilate is a form of the squat where your legs are placed wide apart and you do the squat movement, this helps to focus on your inner thigh muscles.

Using weights with the squat move adds to its effectiveness. Dumbells, kettle balls and medicine balls can all be held while doing a classic squat to increase the intensity of the move. You can also incorporate various arm moves with weights while doing the squat to maximize your effort and to burn more calories. Introducing a barbell let’s you do either front squats (where the barbell is held in front of you against your chest) or back squats (where the barbell is held behind your neck and rests on your shoulders). Using an elevated step or balance trainer (it looks like half of a stability ball) can help work different parts of the thigh while also involving your ab muscles more because more stability and coordination is required.

Mixing the types of squats you do will help with the overall toning of these muscles while also toning the lower legs and the abs. Try a different squat move in each workout so see what works best for you and to keep your body adapting and changing in order to meet the new requirements you are demanding of your body.