There are many ways of exercise that can be done at home, but this 15 minutes squat workout routine focuses on the major muscle groups exercises for your legs.
What’s a Home Workout Routine?
Here’s a simple definition about the meaning of Home Workout Routine:
A home workout routine is a weight training regime that can be performed at home with minimal equipment, usually targeting the upper and lower body muscles.
This type of workouts is great for someone who is beginner to weight lifting or looking to build muscles or simply to maintain fit and to improve cardiovascular health, by following a healthy lifestyle.
Squats Leg Workout Routine
Squats Definition
Squats are a compound exercise that work over 90% of the body and requires no to very little equipment. Squats are great for building strength and size of legs and burning a great number of calories.
Squats Form
To do squats proper form, stand with your feet apart, toes pointing straight ahead or slightly turned out. Keep your knees behind or in line with your toes as you lower your bottom by bending at the waist. If you need help maintaining this position, hold on to a chair.
Squats Video
Enjoy watching this squats video to demonstrate about squats proper form:
Squats Benefits
Squats are a great way to work out your legs using your body weight or in addition to an extra weight as you go stronger. You can do them just about anywhere and they will make your legs look fabulous and remain strong.
Squat workout can be done using dumbbells or a barbell. In addition to this, they can be performed in many different ways, to target specific muscles within the legs such as quadriceps, hamstrings and even glutes.
Here are 6 Squats Health Benefits:
- Squats burn calories, hence, increases weight loss
- Squats can improve your explosiveness
- Squats help to develop your glutes, quads and hamstrings muscles
- Squats are great for developing speed, strength and power in athletes
- Squats help to build up lower back muscles and spine stabilizers (spinal erectors)
- Squats can help prevent knee injuries as this exercise increases the strength of the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves which support the knees
Squat Workout Program
How many squats should I do a day?
Here’s a simple and easy squat workout program for beginners to start with:
- Days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
- Preferred Time: Morning before breakfast
- Sets: 5 sets
- Repetitions: 15 reps per set
- Duration: 3 minutes (1 min per set with 30 sec rest between sets)
Please make sure to warmup by walking for few minutes while remaining in the same spot (perform simple walk movements) or to walk on your home treadmill, in addition to stretching your legs before starting the squat workout. This is important in order to avoid any injury.
Squats Ideas
Here are 4 ways to enjoying squats at home:
1. Squat Jumps
Squat jumps are a great exercise for your leg muscles and the whole body. They work your quads (front of thighs), hamstrings (back of thighs), calves, buttocks and lower back muscles.
The benefits of squat jumps are: Great for explosive power; Increase strength in legs; Improve coordination; Improve fast twitch muscle fibers – which helps speed development; Good for balance.
2. Squats with Dumbbells
Squats with dumbbells are one of the best exercises to build both your legs and glutes. It is a very effective exercise when used in conjunction with other strength-training exercises, such as the deadlift and the back squat.
However, there are some important things you should know before you start doing this exercise. A couple of these include: Do not throw heavy weights over your head. Always use weight that allows you to perform 15 repetitions for each set.
Dumbbells must always be on a flat surface. Do not carry dumbbells out over uneven ground. This can lead to serious injury.
3. Squats with Barbell
Start with an empty barbell, you can usually squat deeper and easier than with a loaded barbell. The empty barbell gives you a sense of what your body is capable of without additional resistance or weight. With the empty barbell you can also perform the actual squat for maximum depth safely.
Some people prefer using a barbell over dumbbells because they found that using a barbell makes it easier to keep their backs straight and upright (rather than hunching forward with the upper body).
Squats with barbell also gives a better range of motion, particularly at the top of the movement when returning the weight to starting position.
4. Squats Challenge
This type of squats is done with a partner or a group of family or friends at home. It’s fun and energizing!
Studies have shown that squats challenge with a group is more effective than individual squats. For instance, there is greater muscle activation in the gluteus maximus when squatting with a group, especially when rest periods are short between sets.
Squats challenge with a group also forces you to maintain proper form throughout the workout, which can be difficult for some people to do by themselves because they’re in a hurry. Squatting with a group provides motivation and accountability.
5. Squat Rack
The squat rack is the single most important piece of equipment for your home gym. You can do a lot with just the barbell, some plates and a power rack or squat stand.
Squat racks can be a great tool for anyone looking to build bigger, stronger legs at home. They are very versatile and can be used for many different exercises. The most common use of a squat rack is to squat into the rack, but they can also aid in deadlifting and benching by providing safety while you lift heavy weights.
Can Squats Hurt My Knees?
Yes. Squats can hurt your knees in two conditions: If you have bad knees or if you don’t know how to squat properly!
Squatting (and doing any leg exercise) can potentially cause injury to your knees. However, if you’re trying to lose weight and/or get in shape, then by all means squat! The main danger is when someone starts out with poor or no technique. Using a bit of common sense here is critical.
If you don’t know how to squat properly then ask someone who does, or find some YouTube videos about the different squat types and learn from them.
Whenever your knees hurts during the exercise, stop and take a rest till the next workout routine.
Why is Squat So Hard?
Squat is not hard. You are probably making it hard :)… however, most people at the beginning finds the squat is hard because it uses all the muscles and joints in the body. You use your legs, hips, back, shoulders, arms and chest to perform a squat.
Additionally, the squat requires great flexibility and coordination of many different muscles. It is also important that you keep your spine straight during a squat.
Squats When Pregnant
Squats during pregnancy help reduce the stress on the joints and ligaments. They also help strengthen your core, which helps you maintain a good posture during your pregnancy. Also, many women tend to lose muscle mass when pregnant, so squats when pregnant will help with that as well.
Squats are absolutely fine for pregnant women. In fact, it is encouraged women to do squats (for the pelvic muscles) throughout the whole nine months.
However, if you do them correctly, of course! Make sure that your knees are in line with your toes before bending down to avoid straining your knees. The key here is to go as low as possible without pain and always remember to use good form when doing any type of exercise.
Please speak with your doctor before starting the workout of squats when pregnant.
Squats For Butt
Can Squats Make Your Butt Bigger?
Yes. For sure squats can make your butt bigger, but in a roundabout way. Squats build large, strong legs which can carry more weight. Lifting heavy weights targets the fast-twitch muscle fibers. These fibers respond by getting larger and stronger, which makes them look bigger too.
Squats will make your butt bigger if you do them right! The Quadriceps (thighs) muscles consist of the 4 major muscles on the front of your thighs. Squats are a great exercise to strengthen the quadriceps, but you want to make sure that your form is correct and that you’re doing them correctly and effectively.
Squats For Abs
Are squats good for abs?
Can squats reduce belly fat?
Yes. Squats are good for abs and reduces belly fat! Squats are a great way to strengthen your core muscles. They also increase Testosterone and HGH (Human Growth Hormones), which speeds up muscle building and fat burning. Squats actually tone your belly, making it more firm instead of just flattening it out.
Squats are one of the most effective exercises for building overall strength in your abdominal muscles. The various core muscles, such as the transverse abdominals, obliques and rectus abdominis are all strengthened when you do squat workout.
Squat Jump Benefits
Squat jumps build explosive power. This is the ability to exert maximum muscular force over a very short period of time (less than one second). Exercises that develop explosive power include: Squat jumps, broad jump, vertical jumps, medicine ball throws and weightlifting.
Squats Without Shoes
It’s an urban myth that squatting barefoot is more stable and gives you better balance. In fact, the opposite is true; it makes you less stable and puts you at greater risk of falling over!
A recent study comparing squatting with shoes versus squats without shoes found that: Squatting with shoes caused 2-3x greater knee flexion (i.e. bending) compared to going barefoot.
Going barefoot caused the knees to track further forward (towards the toes) during the squat compared to wearing footwear. In addition, going barefoot significantly reduced knee extension strength.
Sumo Squats
The sumo squat places more emphasis on the inner thigh muscles and groin. The wider stance will also help to strengthen and condition the hips, adductors, and abductors.
Sumo squats are great as a warmup or a way to recruit muscles you haven’t recruited in a long time. They are not a productive exercise with respect to your ultimate goal, which is to get stronger and more muscular.
Squats Progression
The squat workout is a compound, full-body exercise that works the legs, butt and hips. It’s also one of the most effective ways to strengthen your core because it requires you to balance and maintain stability in a deep squat position.
Many people with weak knees have found progression after doing squats over a period of time. They say they’ve noticed an increase in their leg and core strength, their knee stability has improved, and they can now maintain their speed when running for longer distances.
Squats Burn Calories
Yes, you burn calories while doing squats. You burn more calories than in an average day, assuming one eats a normal diet. Squats burn calories by building muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn constantly.
The average person gains between 1-2 pounds of muscle a month, so even if you only do squats once in the beginning, you’ll see results soon.
Squats vs Lunges
Squats and lunges are great for improving your leg strength and shape. They help to build powerful legs that will help you in your day-to-day activities as well as athletics. When it comes to deciding between the two exercises, it really depends on what you are looking for.
Squat workout are generally a more difficult exercise than lunges because they require more strength and balance. Lunges, on the other hand, engage your glutes better than squats do because they require an almost 90-degree bend at the hip.
Squats or Lunges?
If there is one exercise that you should do most it would be squats! The reason for that is because lunges are not as effective as squats which helps you build up strength in your muscles.
Lunges are place in the category of leg exercises so they can cause a different level of muscle activation. Squats, on the other hand, are meant to develop your general strength and power.
Conclusion
Squats is the best workout to strengthen your lower body muscle and increase thigh size. If you do it daily, it will help you burn fat from the inner thighs easily as squats burn calories.
Squat workout can be done with your body weight only or with some fitness tools such as barbell and dumbbells. The extra tension helps in improving your leg strength and your overall endurance.
Squats definitely have their role in a solid workout routine, and there are many benefits to this activity. Squats can help you get stronger, bigger, lose fat and gain muscle.
Squats improve your thighs and calves. They also improve your core muscles, or abdominal muscles. Squats mainly target the quadriceps, which is the muscle on the front of your thigh that runs from your hip to the top of your knee. It also works on other muscles in your hips, butt and lower back.
Can squats hurt your knees? Sure it can, unless you first learn how to perform the exercise before starting squatting and to respect the limits of your knees. Start with a simple 15 minutes squat workout plan that suits your age and physical condition.
Remember, whenever you feel pain it’s better to stop your squat workout till you are relieved.
If you have enjoyed reading this article about squat workout home workout routine for beginners, checkout Bodybuilding Workouts for Mass and Tone of Muscles and Men’s Sports Over 40: Your Guide to Top Recommended Healthy Sports.
Useful references about squat workout: