I have been working in the fitness industry for over 10 years. I have been in many different athletic training environments. I have worked in strength and conditioning rooms at the University level, managed corporate fitness centers and observed as both a personal trainer and simply as a member in countless health clubs across the country. I have noticed many things, but the overwhelming point to bring up is that the squat cage is almost always empty; and if it is not empty, there is someone doing bicep curls there. What I can plainly see is that when it comes to real results for fitness, people just don’t know “squat”.

Many fitness professionals have written before about squatting as a topic. In the strength and conditioning community, you would be hard pressed to find a program for almost any sport that did not include some form of squats. The general public however does not seem to grasp that without total body tension and overall increased strength one’s metabolism is not at optimal capacity and body fat reduction is limited.

Squatting accomplishes real-world strength because it is one of the functional movements the human skeleton performs. The exercise improves total body strength by training over 60% of the body’s major muscles. By working the largest muscle groups in the body we raise metabolism at a higher rate than if we were to neglect these muscles or even substitute other exercises of less intensity. Quite simply, stronger muscles are more functional and metabolic. Muscle functionality means they perform better – playing outback with your children or playing recreational sports like golf or tennis. Higher metabolism we know means a more efficient way to burn calories. Your body will be able to process the energy from food better, thereby driving an easier path to losing body fat.

Think about how much we sit and stand each day. We stand up from our bed every morning; we sit down at our desk, and then get up again 10 times a day. We sit and stand all the time! Amazingly, it looks a lot like squatting. To say that one cannot squat is preposterous. Most of us are already squatting, albeit not under load. For those that have trouble sitting and standing, it would be the goal of any physical therapist to build up the strength and flexibility in the muscles that support normal life movement – therefore the goal would be to build up to squats.

Since we are already squatting, and we support the notion that this exercise is so beneficial, all that is left is to understand how to do it correctly. It is not a complicated motion, but under load, it is important to make sure that our body remains in proper balance and alignment to not overdevelop or under develop any of the many supporting muscles. Our quads and glutes do most of the contracting to extend our knees and hips as we stand up. Our hamstrings support the eccentric movement in controlling our downward motion. But the deep muscles in our hips, our transverse abs, spinal erectors, and hip flexors, are just a few of the support muscles that need to be balanced in our movement to maintain proper anterior pelvic tilt.

To practice, use a bench at about 18” high. This is the height of most toilets, so it is familiar. Start with your feet slightly wider than your hips with your toes slightly turned out. This helps for better knee alignment with a slight external rotation at the hips. It will help to activate more glute contraction – the largest muscle in the human body. As you begin to sit down, keep your chest up. You will be reaching backwards with your hips, not straight down bending at the knees. Your hips have to move backwards in order to reach the target behind you. Keep your head and chest looking forward,  keep your low back slightly arched up allowing your erectae spinae muscles in your low back to protect those discs. Once those muscles stretch in a rounded back position, they expose those discs for potential injury. Once you reach your target, reverse the motion. Keep your head straight forward and your chest up. This again helps to keep your back tight and ready for the tension of fighting the pull of gravity. Pretend there are words written on your shirt across your chest. If the person in front of you cannot read your shirt, then your chest is down and your back is rounded.  Drive your knees out toward your hips, allowing your glutes to contract along with your quads. Think about putting your hips forward, not standing up. This shift in thought might help to focus on the major muscles working.  The next step is to gradually add load. That is the exercise has to be more difficult than the norm if we want to illicit a physiological change. If we want to get stronger and raise metabolism, we can’t simply squat with our bodyweight – we already do that 100 times a day. Dumbbell front squats are easier to learn than back squats at first, but back squats allow for greater load, and better balance.

As I said in the beginning of this article, I have been working in personal training, fitness coaching, and fitness education for over ten years. It is a major goal of mine to see people achieve their fitness and health desires through proper, safe, and effective means. I believe our bodies are amazing machines. We have the capabilities to move in fluid, strong, graceful, and complicated motions. I am not only talking about the world class athletes because their skeletons and muscular system moves the same way ours does. We extend at the knee and hips the same way that any Olympian does. Certainly we do not require the same expectation of speed or strength, but in attaining our own fitness goals, we can train in similar methods. The human body shows great response to squatting in regards to increased strength and raised metabolism. It is a personal vision of mine to walk into the next health club and see a line behind the squat cage.