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transformation challenge weight loss

Fix Your Form: How To Squat

If you come to MA Fitness, you do squats. There’s no getting around it. Nor should you be getting around it, because squats are the best exercise you can do for your lower body.

According to What’s Cooking America, squats burn .096 calories per pound, per minute. So if you weigh 150 pounds, multiply that by .096 and wham bam thank you ma’am, you’re burning 14.4 calories a MINUTE. The only exercise higher than that on this list is skiing uphill (???) and who in their right mind would do that.

Of course, the emphasis here is on doing squats correctly. Proper form is a non-negotiable, as you’ve probably heard a time or two. If you are not performing squats correctly, you risk injury to the knees and hips, and even if you don’t hurt yourself, you won’t reap the many benefits of squatting anyway. And believe me, the benefits are, indeed, many.

There is a good way to squat, and there is a bad way to squat. First, we examine the bad way.

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I want you to know how much it hurt me to even demonstrate this. My soul crumpled inside of me and I blacked out from the agony. This is everything that is wrong with America. Immediately, I had to do a squat properly to save my eternal soul.Wow. I feel so much better now. See the difference? If you don’t, please see a doctor immediately because I do not trust you to drive without getting new glasses. Let’s address the main points seen here, as Drake once said, “starting from the bottom now we here,” but also really we’re just starting from the bottom and I’m sorry I said anything. 
 
Your feet Plant your heels firmly on the ground. As you descend, your heels should remain in contact with the ground throughout the entire movement. Your toes should not be bearing your weight. 
 
Your knees You knees should remain somewhat in line with your ankles. If you can’t see your toes, you’ve probably gone too far. How do we do this? Your hips. 
 
Your hips Ah, what a seamless transition from my last point. Your hips, rather than sinking straight down, should sit back. This will help your knees go in the right place and your heels stay on the ground. 
 
Your back Your back should remain upright. Generally, if you physically cannot keep your back straight and upright, it is probably due to poor flexibility. But honestly, 85% of you are physically capable of doing this, so just do it. 
 
Your head Your head and your eyes should be up, preferably gazing into the instructor’s eyes and making as much uninterrupted eye contact as possible. Just kidding, never do that. But you should keep your eyes up and ahead, because if you look down, you’ll go down. Chin up, kid! 
 
Those are the main components of a good squat, and maybe this was a revelation to you or maybe it was common sense. Either way, you know that as long as you’re with us, you’re going to be doing squats for days, so let’s do the best squats we possible can.
 

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