3 Reasons the Squat Exercise Burns More Fat

Get more fat burn doing shorter, effective workouts. You do this by using more full body strength exercises like squats.



Some form of squat exercise should be a part of every strength workout you do. The squat will help you build more muscle, burn more fat and speed up your metabolism. The squat will not injure you if you do the exercise correctly.

Here are 3 reasons to do squats and burn more fat:

1. The squat works major muscle groups. To recruit more muscle fibers during workouts and improve your fat loss success, focus more on multi-joint or compound exercises like the squat.

Compound exercises will help you burn more fat because of the intensity of working large muscle groups in your body. You will also burn more calories and fat after your workout.

There is probably no other exercise that has a greater impact on your body's muscle-building, metabolism and energy expenditure (deadlift is also a great exercise).

This means your legs (especially quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes), abdominals and lower back are targeted. Even your arms and shoulders will feel the effects of the exercise.

2. You will tone your bulky and shapely fast twitch muscle fibers better with the squat exercise. I am talking mainly about your butt, hips and thighs. Everyone wants to shape these areas.

3. Work your core with squats. Research shows that the abdominal muscles are engaged more when doing squats than they are doing many of the more popular ab exercises.

Your lower back will also get quite a workout. If you do the exercise correctly, you won't injure your low back.

If your fitness goal is lean and tone, you will lose inches from your waist, hips, neck, arms, legs, etc. and your body fat will decrease by doing full body strength exercises. You should take these measurements at least once a week to measure your progress.

Don't worry about the weigh scale at first. Since muscle weighs more than fat, your weight might even go up a little at first. But you will be on your way to acheiving max fat loss and permanent weight loss because your lean muscle mass will gradually replace your burned fat mass. And this will help speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain muscle mass.

I would recommend doing squats without machines or weight belts (unless you are hurt or rehabbing). This will help you learn how to stabilize your body without artificial support. And, there's no reason to "max out" on squats. There are other ways to calculate your one-rep max on the squat exercise.

If you are not able to perform squats with barbell or dumbbell weights because of injury, then start with bodyweight squats.

There are many variations of the squat exercise. Some are: barbell squats, dumbbell squats, bodyweight squats (pictured above), one-legged squats, Bulgarian split squats, side squats, prisoner squats, sumo squats, sissy squats, hack squats and front squats.

They are all good to work into your routine at some point. Keep in mind that one-legged exercises are more intense than two-legged exercises.

How to Do The Traditional Two-Legged Squat

--Get a tight grip with the bar resting on your shoulders. Your elbows should be pointed downward to help you keep your upper back (trapezius muscles) contracted and to keep your back from rounding. Lift the bar off the rack, step back and stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder width. The toes should be turned slightly outward to keep undue pressure off of your knees.

--Take a deep breath and begin the lift. Push your head and shoulders up and back (keeps the bar from coming forward) and push your hips back as you bend your knees. The bar, knees and feet should be in a vertical line. Sit back on your heels as you lower the weight. Maintain the normal arch in your lower back at all times while keeping your posture as upright as possible (don't let your shoulders fall forward). You don't have to lower your thighs to below parallel.

--Don't let your knees cave in at any point in the squat exercise. As you lower the bar, try to push your feet outward without actually moving them. This will keep your knees aligned properly. Once you have lowered to the desired squat position, contract your glutes and thighs and explode upward to the starting position and exhale. You have done one repetition.

Don't substitute the squat exercise with lunges, leg presses, leg extensions, etc. Instead, supplement the squat exercise with these other leg exercises.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
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About Mark

Hi, I'm Mark Dilworth, Nutritionist, Dietary Strategies Specialist, Nutrition for Metabolic Health Specialist and Lifestyle Weight Management Specialist. Since 2006, I have helped thousands of clients and readers make lifestyle habit changes which includes body transformation and ideal body weight.