Value of squats

UngratefulWhelp

Quick one. I'm not a gym rat and never will be. I work varying hours, so tend to try and do whatever exercise I'm at at home.

I'm doing the 100 push-up challenge thingy at home at the moment and it's pretty hard going. However, I'm also doing the 200 squat challenge and squats are obviously far easier to do than push ups.

My question is: how useful are squats in terms of overall fitness/tone?

Frogdog

Squats are boss.

In particular, squats with a barbell and plates on it. All versions of them; back, front etc. Squats work a hell of a lot of muscles (I think, but am not sure, that they work more muscles in your body than any other exercise). They work the biggest muscles in your body; your glutes, your quads and your hamstrings and possibly some more. So if your goal is to lose fat or build muscle, then they should be a prominent part of any beginner's workout, in my opinion.

deadlybuzzman

UngratefulWhelp wrote: »

Quick one. I'm not a gym rat and never will be. I work varying hours, so tend to try and do whatever exercise I'm at at home.

I'm doing the 100 push-up challenge thingy at home at the moment and it's pretty hard going. However, I'm also doing the 200 squat challenge and squats are obviously far easier to do than push ups.

My question is: how useful are squats in terms of overall fitness/tone?

fair play to ya if you suceed and even for just trying. We used to do 70-120 hindu squats at the end of almost every warm up session for grappling and MMA, it never put much of a demand on our cardio as we were pretty fit, what it did do though was serve as an excellent form of torture once you got past about 60 as it was very very tough.
it fatigued the legs very effectively and I suspect we only did them to increase our mental strength because after that getting your neck nearly pulled off you by some crazy russian didnt seem so bad :pac:

for fitness theyre not great on their own-look up metcons on here, much better and some will have bodyweights squats included

Transform

UngratefulWhelp wrote: »

Quick one. I'm not a gym rat and never will be. I work varying hours, so tend to try and do whatever exercise I'm at at home.

I'm doing the 100 push-up challenge thingy at home at the moment and it's pretty hard going. However, I'm also doing the 200 squat challenge and squats are obviously far easier to do than push ups.

My question is: how useful are squats in terms of overall fitness/tone?

very helpful but much like press ups, chin ups, kettlebell swings, etc its just one part of a whole plan so get them all going rather than just one exercise

MarkY91

ive a quick question about squats, they seem to do a large group of muscles but its only below the waist yes?..so somebody who isnt too intersted in building muscles on his legs would find squats useless?

im interested in my arms and shoulders to build and my stomach to tone.



maby what isaid there is totally wrong and seems stupid but for a beginner like me thats the vibe im getting about squats

SpookyBastard

Totally understand wanting to have a bigger upper bod MarkY. Of course the arms,etc are what people will see. Thing is, even if you're not intersted in working the lower body, you might as well just do it anyway.

Persoanlly, I'm looking for balance so I work everything I can. That may not suit some folks sure. I think I actually underwork my legs and am working on fixing that. At the end of the day you can do squats, etc because:

1. You want a good overall look/fitness level... squats also strengthen the lower back and hips... reducing risk of injury
2. You don't really care about the legs but you have to rest the guns sometime
3. Strong legs are awesome and useful!

You've got nothing to loose really and you can still work your upper bod as much as you want. It is ,of course, up to you but if you decide not to do any lower exercises, make sure you have a good reason and that your not doing yourself a disservice.

Elohim

MarkY91 wrote: »

ive a quick question about squats, they seem to do a large group of muscles but its only below the waist yes?..so somebody who isnt too intersted in building muscles on his legs would find squats useless?

im interested in my arms and shoulders to build and my stomach to tone.


maby what isaid there is totally wrong and seems stupid but for a beginner like me thats the vibe im getting about squats

It works everything I think, just different parts to different levels.
While you're squating your stomach and core will get a decent workout as it's used to stabilise yourself. At least that's what I think.
Do squats, strengthen leg muscles, burn more calories, get leaner body, show off a sixpack eventually with a good diet.

discus

I worked out my value of squats like this: Before, I could barely put anything on my back, and push upwards from a crouched position. Now I can put nearly 100kg on my back, and push upwards from a crouched position...

MarkY91

SpookyBastard wrote: »

Totally understand wanting to have a bigger upper bod MarkY. Of course the arms,etc are what people will see. Thing is, even if you're not intersted in working the lower body, you might as well just do it anyway.

Persoanlly, I'm looking for balance so I work everything I can. That may not suit some folks sure. I think I actually underwork my legs and am working on fixing that. At the end of the day you can do squats, etc because:

1. You want a good overall look/fitness level... squats also strengthen the lower back and hips... reducing risk of injury
2. You don't really care about the legs but you have to rest the guns sometime
3. Strong legs are awesome and useful!

You've got nothing to loose really and you can still work your upper bod as much as you want. It is ,of course, up to you but if you decide not to do any lower exercises, make sure you have a good reason and that your not doing yourself a disservice.

im not far into my workout so i havent reached bench press, squats etc yet but for my legs im doing machines so im not leaving them out, did you notice with squats they did anything for your abs?..or anywhere aswell as your legs? im here to learn:)

think monday ill be ready for the bench press:D maby with no weights at first:o

Elohim wrote: »

It works everything I think, just different parts to different levels.
While you're squating your stomach and core will get a decent workout as it's used to stabilise yourself. At least that's what I think.
Do squats, strengthen leg muscles, burn more calories, get leaner body, show off a sixpack eventually with a good diet.

really do squats will help me tone my abs and other upper body parts too?

SpookyBastard

MarkY91 wrote: »

really do squats will help me tone my abs and other upper body parts too?

I've seen it said that squats help with overall muscle building but I'm not sure I buy it really. I haven't seen any papers on it so can't say (think there was a thread where hanley asked for papers on just that... I'll see if i can find it).

As for 'tone' your abs. That's almost entirely diet controlled. Of course, to look more toned you want to build muscle and loose fat. As exercise will help reduce body fat as you're burning more calories... then yes squats will help your whole body (you cant spot reduce fat remember)... but you could also say that by the same logic doing lots of bench press will help 'tone' your abs or lifting heavy boxes, etc etc. As I said, reducing body fat is about eating better and burning calories... depending on where you tend to hold body fat you may find some places get toned before others so get your diet right and work out consistantly and you'll get there.

MarkY91

SpookyBastard wrote: »

I've seen it said that squats help with overall muscle building but I'm not sure I buy it really. I haven't seen any papers on it so can't say (think there was a thread where hanley asked for papers on just that... I'll see if i can find it).

As for 'tone' your abs. That's almost entirely diet controlled. Of course, to look more toned you want to build muscle and loose fat. As exercise will help reduce body fat as you're burning more calories... then yes squats will help your whole body (you can spot reduce fat remember)... but you could also say that by the same logic doing lots of bench press will help 'tone' your abs or lifting heavy boxes, etc etc. As I said, reducing body fat is about eating better and burning calories... depending on where you tend to hold body fat you may find some places get toned before others so get your diet right and work out consistantly and you'll get there.

i work out 3 days a week since november and totally changed my diet im eating all the right food, high protein food etc etc, i may aswell turn into a giant egg lol....im 6"3 and almost 12 stone or maby 12..so im really skinny just my stomach damn you stomach lol...ill give squats a shot.


what do you mean by spot reduce? like reduce fat on a certain part of the body?

SpookyBastard

Ooops. Double post.

SpookyBastard

Exactly. When you lose body fat you lose it over the whole body. Genetics will govern where you tend to carry a little more of it. So with a lot of us its the midsection but you can't, say, do 1,000 crunches a day to 'tone' that one area. Sure, you can increase the size of the muscles but you'll still have the layer of fat over them if your bodyfat % is too high.

MarkY91

SpookyBastard wrote: »

Exactly. When you lose body fat you lose it over the whole body. Genetics will govern where you tend to carry a little more of it. So with a lot of us its the midsection but you can't, say, do 1,000 crunches a day to 'tone' that one area. Sure, you can increase the size of the muscles but you'll still have the layer of fat over them if your bodyfat % is too high.

yep i know but how do you reduce body fat in your stomach when the rest is very skinny allready?..i wana be fat so i dont have to be in this situation lol

SpookyBastard

Sadly you have to keep reducing the overall % until you get to a level where you're happy with your stomach. Some people carry the extra fat on their hips and will have hip handles even though their arms etc have very little fat on them. You may have unlucky genetics in the show-off-abs department but if you really do want the visible abs thing then you reduce your bodyfat% more. When you say the rest is very skinny already. Do you mean very low body fat or just 'skinny'. The reason I ask is that skinny looking arms could still have the bodyfat (although a lot of us carry less, percentage wise on our arms in general) but the arms look skinny due to lack of muscle development if that makes sense. For example, two guys with 10% body fat, one has muscled arms the others are skinny. It might not be a bodyfat issue y'see.

You could always chuck the ab thing and just become a powerlifter though

MarkY91

SpookyBastard wrote: »

Sadly you have to keep reducing the overall % until you get to a level where you're happy with your stomach. Some people carry the extra fat on their hips and will have hip handles even though their arms etc have very little fat on them. You may have unlucky genetics in the show-off-abs department but if you really do want the visible abs thing then you reduce your bodyfat% more. When you say the rest is very skinny already. Do you mean very low body fat or just 'skinny'. The reason I ask is that skinny looking arms could still have the bodyfat (although a lot of us carry less, percentage wise on our arms in general) but the arms look skinny due to lack of muscle development if that makes sense. For example, two guys with 10% body fat, one has muscled arms the others are skinny. It might not be a bodyfat issue y'see.

You could always chuck the ab thing and just become a powerlifter though

im skinny and not muscely to answer your question, but since ive joined the gym in octoberish ive noticed a slight increase in arm muscle, only when i flex my arm really though not really when i aint flexing them...im lifting weight/machines way highter now than i could a few weeks ago:)

i guess im just impatient and in time ill get the results?

SpookyBastard

Yeah, give it time. Good diet, Good exercise and Time. Heck, I've been at this a couple of years now and I'm still not where I'd like to be but I'm miles ahead of where I was. You'll get there, just keep at it.

Bottle_of_Smoke

MarkY91 wrote: »

ive a quick question about squats, they seem to do a large group of muscles but its only below the waist yes?..so somebody who isnt too intersted in building muscles on his legs would find squats useless?

im interested in my arms and shoulders to build and my stomach to tone.



maby what isaid there is totally wrong and seems stupid but for a beginner like me thats the vibe im getting about squats

The bigger your muscles the more calories they consume. Doing squats builds large muscle groups so if you develop them they will help with fat loss. Most definitely worth doing.

howtomake

"They" also say that exercises like squats will increase your natural levels of testosterone and GH, thus helping muscle growth for all your muscles.

Besides you don't want to look like a light bulb do you :eek:? It makes some girls cry.

grimloch

howtomake wrote: »

"They" also say that exercises like squats will increase your natural levels of testosterone and GH, thus helping muscle growth for all your muscles.

Can we please stop saying this.

Tigger

grimloch wrote: »

Can we please stop saying this.

in my experiance squats have totally changed my body/strength

i've worked out at home for years but i only got a power cage a year ago
till thgen i didn't do squats i did curls deads presses etc
squats changed everything all over
explain that if they don't increase yer growth and testosterone levels

Bottle_of_Smoke

Tigger wrote: »

in my experiance squats have totally changed my body/strength

i've worked out at home for years but i only got a power cage a year ago
till thgen i didn't do squats i did curls deads presses etc
squats changed everything all over
explain that if they don't increase yer growth and testosterone levels

Well your leg muscles got bigger. So you burned more calories and ended up looking more ripped. Or maybe your strength all over was heading that direction anyway

Obviously I don't know but they're just two possible examples - you certainly can't base it on one person. I don't know if there's any truth in squats/deadlifts increasing testosterone production, it sounds plausible but really there's no point claiming it to be true unless strong evidence is made for it.

dacookie

MarkY91 wrote: »

ive a quick question about squats, they seem to do a large group of muscles but its only below the waist yes?..so somebody who isnt too intersted in building muscles on his legs would find squats useless?

im interested in my arms and shoulders to build and my stomach to tone.



maby what isaid there is totally wrong and seems stupid but for a beginner like me thats the vibe im getting about squats

Doing squats will increase your bmr(its the calories you burn at rest) so it will help you lose fat on your stomach.

So in the end even if you dont want muscles on your legs, it will help lose the fat everywhere if you do because you metabolically need more food.I also think you cant trick the body to just put muscle on your upper body, or well you can but only to a certain extent, dont really have any science on that part though :P

deadlybuzzman

grimloch wrote: »

Can we please stop saying this.

If you take a step back from the bar after a good solid set of Squats or indeed Deadlifts and you look at the load and think "Damn thats heavy"-even if its only heavy to you- that feeling of satisfaction and achivement will result in an increase in test as you will now be the man!!

......its also for the same reason that fellas test levels go up after their football team wins-probably not quite the same as getting hold of Ronnie Colemans weekly meds though