Basic Squat Moves for Strengthening and Toning Your Legs

You’ve been getting some great upper-body strengthening courtesy of our push-ups and advanced push-up segments. Now it’s time to focus on the lower half.

Squats (and lunges, but we won’t get into those today) are some of the most effective leg exercises. They incorporate lots of large muscles and again, require core effort for stabilization as well.
Some basic things to consider when doing a squat:

* Feet just slightly wider than your hips, belly braced, tailbone tucked under, chest lifted.

* Always keep your knees behind your toes. Too many people jut their knees forward and end up with ugly injuries because of it. Really focus on pushing your hips back, as if you were trying to sit in a chair that’s uncomfortably far behind you. In fact, practicing with a chair for real is a great way to begin.

* Squeeze your glute muscles as you stand, slightly pushing your hips forward at the top.

Here are 3 Basic Squat Variations to try:

1. Standard Squat (see instructions above).

2. Plie Squat. Step feet wide. Turn toes out 45 degrees. Tuck tailbone, brace core, keep chest lifted.

** Plus a bonus for the Plie Squats! Hold low and alternate lifting heels. Really works the glutes and calves.

3. Narrow Squat. Feet together. Squeeze inner thighs, all while keeping tailbone tucked, core braced, and chest lifted.

You measure yourself with either time (for 30-60 seconds at a time) or reps (10-20 squats) and then rest. Work on these every other day for the next couple weeks — because you know me…we’ll be advancing to Lunges next time!