The Squat – 8 Benefits of this Under-Appreciated (and Practiced) Exercise

Just in time for Week Two featuring the squat (the strength move of the week), I came across this article. (The original article is linked below.)  I have pasted and tweaked the eight benefits here.

I assess and work on squats with every person and group I see. If someone comes in with a bad knee, I assess their squat.  Want to burn more fat? Improve your squat. Want to improve your athletic performance? Yep, improve and strengthen your squat. So now is a great time to begin working these sit-to-stand exercises into your routine to reap the following benefits:

1. Builds Muscle in Your Entire Body Squats obviously help to build your hip and leg muscles, but they also create an “anabolic” environment, which promotes body-wide muscle building. In fact, when done properly, squats are so intense that they trigger the release of testosterone and human growth hormone in your body, which are vital for muscle growth (at any age) and will also help to improve muscle mass when you train other areas of your body aside from your legs. So squats can actually help you improve both your upper and lower body strength.
2. Functional Exercise Makes Real-Life Activities Easier Functional exercises are those that help your body to perform real-life activities, as opposed to simply being able to operate pieces of gym equipment. Squats are one of the best functional exercises out there, as humans have been squatting since the hunter-gatherer days. When you perform squats, you build muscle and help your muscles work more efficiently, as well as promote mobility and balance.All of these benefits translate into your body moving more efficiently in the real world too.
3. Burn More Fat One of the most time-efficient ways to burn more calories is actually to gain more muscle! While I am not a big proponent of counting and tracking the consumption or burning of calories, consider that research has shown that for every pound of additional muscle you gain, your body will burn an additional 50-70 calories per day. So, if you gain 10 pounds of muscle, you will automatically burn 500-700 more calories per day than you did before. If in doubt, and short on time, squats are much more efficient for increasing your metabolism and calorie burning than most cardiovascular exercise.
4. Maintain Mobility and Balance Strong legs are crucial for staying mobile as you get older, and squats are phenomenal for increasing leg strength. They also work out your core, stabilizing muscles, which will help you to maintain balance, while also improving the communication between your brain and your muscle groups, which helps prevent falls – which is incidentally the #1 way to prevent bone fractures versus consuming mega-dose calcium supplements and bone drugs.
5. Prevent Injuries Most athletic injuries involve weak stabilizer muscles, ligaments and connective tissues, which squats help strengthen. They also help prevent injury by improving your flexibility (squats improve the range of motion in your ankles and hips) and balance, as noted above.
   

   The Goblet Squat is a great way to challenge your squat. It builds total body strength, burns more calories and helps you build strength to pick things up off of the floor.

6. Boost Your Sports Performance — Jump Higher and Run Faster Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a mom who chases after a toddler, you’ll be interested to know that studies have linked squatting strength with athletic ability.ⁱ Specifically, squatting helped athletes run faster and jump higher, which is why this exercise is part of virtually every professional athlete’s training program.
7. Tone Your Backside, Abs and Entire Body Few exercises work as many muscles as the squat, so it’s an excellent multi-purpose activity useful for toning and tightening your behind, abs, and, of course, your legs. Furthermore, squats build your muscles, and these muscles participate in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism and insulin sensitivity, helping to protect you against obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
8. Help with Waste Removal Squats improve the pumping of body fluids, aiding in removal of waste and delivery of nutrition to all tissues, including organs and glands. They’re also useful for improved movement of feces through your colon and more regular bowel movements.

Check out the other exercise articles and videos on the PROGRAM RESOURCES page.

Here is the original article link: Eight Benefits of the Squat – Mercola