Squats

     I love squats, no secret there. They are excellent for you in countless ways but I'm going to list my favorite 3.

         1) Fullbody exercise that builds strength. When you squat raw, no belt or knee wraps etc, weighted squats are a complete full body exercise. Your upper body and core has to work really hard to stabalize the weight. And your lower body is fully involved once you are going to paralell or lower. They also  build strength, as our muscles are designed to work in unison with each other. So if you train them in unison (compound movements) they'd work properly in unison i.e. practical strength. Also a point to note on lifting raw, the trick is to start light. Start at a weight where you can squat raw and only progress when you're body can handle it, meaning your core and stabilizing muscles. Remember you are lifting for you, not to impress other people.

         2) Injury Prevention. Strengthening the muscles around the knee drastically decreases the likelihood of injuries. To do this though, it is important that you go paralelle or below parallel when squating. Reason being, if you are too high when switching from lowering to going up, the torque applied on the IT band puts extra stress and pressure on the joint. When you reach paralell or below, the knees are in a more stable position to transition from bending to straightening.

         3) Conquering Fear & Will Power. The squat racks have safety pins for a reason. Many times I go to the gym and see guys have spotters literally hold them down and up on each rep. Personally I believe exercise is not just for the body but also for the mind. And squats, when done correctly, help you conqure fear and train your will power & mental fortitude. When there is a heavy weight on your back and you're squatting down there is a fear that you wouldn't be able to get back up or worse, fall down. That's good, that's normal. What's not good is not facing that fear. Remember danger is real but fear is in your mind and the safety pins are there to minimize the danger so go low and face that fear.

Most spotters jump in too early in the sticking point. But the sticking point is the best part of squats, it is where your mind and will power kicks in(refer to my last post on Trying vs attempting). Get to know it and learn it. You'd never learn your body if every time you stall someone helps you out. So have your spotters if you prefer, but know that they are there for safety but the squat is all you. Nothing is wrong with failing on a squat and letting the pins catch the weight. If you've never done it before, try it with light weights so you feel comfortable trusting them. If you are worried about what people would think if you fail, you have bigger problems but that's another post.

     Last month though I stopped lifting due to a chest injury that needs some rest. I'm waiting until the end of January to start back. However I've been missing it desperately, as evident by this post, lol. So I've decided that while I'm not in the gym doing squats & deadlifts I'll do something to improve my squats when I start back. Squat depth and one leg squats are the two things to work on for my squats while I'm out of the gym.

         1) Depth. While I'm able to go to parallel in my squats I know I can go lower. Ideally I'd like to reach ass to grass levels. I believe more mobility with the same amount of strength means stronger. So heres to strong(er). lol

         2) One Leg Squats. I've tried these before and they are mad hard. You need basically 3 things to execute them correctly; flexibility, balance, and strength. The good thing is yoga should help me with these once I add a few poses to my routine. I'm not sure exactly how one legged squats are going to help my weighted squats, but I'm pretty sure they will, so not spending too much time thinking about that.

     I basically have two months to get the depth and one leg squats before I start back lifting. So look out for another post where I'll highlight all the stuff I'm doing to achieve these two goals. As usual you can follow my progress on my Instagram(nbengo) and twitter(@nBengo) accounts.


Jah Blessings