Week 8 Challenge - 7-Days of Squats

Here it is.  The final week of your 8-week challenge.  I know, technically it's week 9 but with last week being a holiday week, I decided to give you all a break!  Hopefully you are keeping up with your new-found habits of daily water intake, daily exercise, packing your lunch, and dealing with "life happens".  Your last challenge was a big one, seven days of push-ups.  How did you do?  Were your arms and chest sore by the end of the week?  Did you meet the challenge?  Did you improve your upper body strength?  I sure hope it went well for you.  This week is another tough one so let's just jump right in.

This week's challenge is 7-days of squats.  Before I get into the details of this challenge, let's first talk about squats because I'm sure I lost a few of you with just the title of the challenge.  I can't tell you how many times I hear gym patrons or training clients say "I can't do squats".  But what they don't realize is they are doing squats all day long...sitting down in chairs, getting in and out of their cars/vehicles, bending down to tie shoes, picking up small children...the list goes on.  Granted you are not formally squatting with the true squat form when you perform these tasks but you are using the same muscle groups.  So unless you have a true mechanical issue with your hips and/or knees, then you should be able to perform squats. 

Let's talk about form first.  When properly performing a squat, you should think about how you sit down in a chair.  Your hips are pushed backwards, you lean forward slightly, and your weight is on your heels.  Try it.  Grab a chair and sit down.  Now stand back up and let's practice the squat with that chair still behind you.  Stand with your feet about hip- to shoulder-width apart and toes facing forward.  Push your hips backwards as if you were going to sit in that chair but don't sit down.  Keep your chest and head up, in other words, don't look down.  Lightly touch the chair with your tushy then stand right back up.  You just performed a squat with proper form.  Now move the chair away and try it again.  Imagine that you have a ball between your knees while you squat.  This will prevent your knees from caving in or bowing out.  Remember, weight should be on your heels, not on your toes.  Click on this link to see pictures/demonstration of a body weight squat.  Depending on the strength of your lower body, you may or may not be able to go as low as what is shown in that link.  Once you build up your strength, you should be able to get your thighs parallel to the floor.  Remember, this is also dependent upon previous injuries to the hips/knees and/or other mechanical issues (i.e., joint replacement, severe arthritis, etc.).

So now you know how to do your squats, let's move on and talk about the challenge.  I hereby challenge you to perform 30 squats a day for the next seven days.  As with week 7 challenge, I will give you a couple of options since some of you may be a little more advanced with your ability to perform squats.  Regardless of your strength level, everyone will perform 30 per day.  You have the option of performing them all at once or break it up into 2 sets of 15 per day.  By the end of the week you should be able to do all 30 in one set.  For beginners, you have the option of performing a stability ball wall squat (click on that link to view instructions).  For intermediate levels, perform a body weight squat as described above.  For advanced levels, you may either add weight (dumbbells, medicine ball, barbell) and/or change to a squat jump (click on that link to view instructions).  

Can you do it??  Are you game??  Give it a try...this is your last challenge.  As always, check in with me on Facebook on the PROMATx trainer page or comment at the end of this blog.  Let me know how you are doing throughout the week.  Good luck but remember, if you feel pain when doing any version listed above, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!  This challenge is designed to "challenge" you NOT injure you!!

Have fun with it and get some of your friends involved.  You'll get a great butt/hips/legs workout this week!!  Until next time.......