So, who is still hanging in there with the October Push Up Challenge? Just a few days left, you should be feeling strong!
We're gonna take the focus off of the upper body this month and move to the lower body with one of the most functional moves that can is used in every day activities. When you're getting old and struggle to get off the toilet in the morning, you will be so thankful that you started doing squats before it was too late!
On the calendar above you will see that the Technique Turkey advises the important elements of a squat so that it is safe and effective. You can always modify your squats by not going quite so low, maybe 3/4 of the way down instead. If you need a little extra, add some weight! Use the tips from the Technique Turkey for each variation, which are all described in detail below:
Traditional Body Weight Squats
Feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart, sit down to 90 degrees and come back up. Hands can be behind the head, raised up as shown in the photo, placed on the hips, or anywhere else that is comfortable besides leaning forward on your thighs.
Single Leg Squats
Keeping your normal technique in mind, (gaze lifted, chest stays high, hips press back like you're reaching for a chair that someone is pulling out from underneath you), elevate one leg in front of you to complete 15 squats on the first leg. Watch the knee here as you may notice it's a lot harder to keep it in line with the foot and from going over the toes. If you need a modification, keep the elevated foot on the floor in front of you, with the toes up, heel in contact with the floor and put as little weight as possible into that leg. You have 15 reps to complete on each side to get to your 30!
Plie' Squats:
Get into a nice wide stance with toes pointed out. Keep the knees in line with the feet as you lower down into your squat. An optional addition to this move would be to sit down into your squat and then as you stand up back to starting position you go right into a calf raise, bring the heels up from the floor. Lower the heels back down and continue in one fluid motion down into your next rep.
Narrow Squats
Feet are less than shoulder width apart, as close as they can be to each other without touching. Keep head and chest lifted to squat down, really keeping an eye on the knees to make sure they don't go over the toes on this move. You may only go down 1/2 or 3/4 of the way as shown above to ensure this. Also, it is common for knees to come in and press against each other in this stance so make sure that they stay in line with the feet.
Split Squats
You don't necessarily have to have a bench for this move. You can use any household object like a chair, table or even use a stair way with one foot on the ground and the back foot a few steps up. Make sure to take the front leg far enough away from the object that you are using to elevate your foot. You are looking for about a 90 degree angle in that back leg. Your back leg should rest on the object with your foot top side down as shown above. If this is uncomfortable for you, you can raise to the toes, just remember not to push up with them. You have 15 on each leg for this move.
Wide Squats
Refer back to Plie' Squat, the only difference is the feet angle. You're going to take a nice wide stance and then turn the toes out just slightly, no calf raise here. Keep knees in line with the feet!
Your Choice Squats
On this day you can choose 30 total reps of whichever style you feel like on that given day! If you wanted to get real crazy, you could even do a few of each, just make sure to get 30 reps in!
Happy Squatting!
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