Squats, what are they good for?

If you have just started on your fitness journey or have been at it for awhile, I'm sure that you have heard  how wonderful squats are for your butt, but why do you really need to do squats?

1. Improves circulation
2. Great for your core
3. Helps with back strength
4. They work for your digestion also

Those are just a few benefits that you wouldn't think of, that squats do.
There is so much information out on the web about squats so I thought I would touch on questions I had when I started out.


can you get the same results from other exercises
There are plenty of exercises out there that target the muscles in the legs and glutes, usually you have to do multiple sets of different kinds in order to accomplish what you can with squats. A squat targets multiple muscles all at once. Not that you shouldn't do those other exercises, you need those to build a strong foundation. Just start your leg day with squats!


how low and what type
Have you ever heard the limbo song? "how low can you go?" Well, you wanna go as low as you can while being able to keep your form. The saying "ass to grass"  helps me to remember how low I should be going. Now when I first started working out I would do a lot of videos and honestly they were not doing full squats, so I didn't realize that I was doing them wrong. I have since lowered my weight and have had to re-teach myself proper form.

I try to do a few different types of squats. Goblet squats and Plie squats. It really doesn't matter what type of squats you do as long as your form is good. Good form keeps from injury.


with weights or without
You don't want to lift heavy weights because you think it will make you look like a man, well,that is OK. Squats are still effective you just use your bodyweight to do them. I can say that you would have to lift really heavy for a long time to start to look manly so I advise that after getting your form down that you should add in a little bit of weight. The weight will help to better build the muscles.

*Do you make sure to do squats?

Will too much cardio burn up your muscles?

When I first started lifting, I was so excited when I was able to see muscle definition. It meant that I was achieving the look I thought I wanted. It meant I didn't need to kill myself doing cardio anymore...right.

Then I stopped seeing results because I had so much fat that still needed to come off. How was I going to get rid of some of the fat without getting rid of all the muscle I had managed to put on already?

I would need to get back on the cardio machine again in order to get my heart rate up to burn some fat.

What kind of cardio?
If you are doing cardio it should be something you enjoy or you will be miserable doing it. You will want to so it 2-3 times a week. Say you like to run, well go for that run, just don't go for over 45 minutes a couple times a week. You don't want to put too much stress on your body, that is when it will turn to burning up your muscle.

How do you gain muscle?
By having enough calories and protein for growth. The digested protein like mentioned in this post is needed for muscle growth, so over doing cardio will leave you at a deficit.

Don't forget diet
In an attempt to limit muscle loss when getting in cardio you need to remember that what you fuel your body with matters. Also making sure to start the recovery process right after a workout will help stop the breakdown of muscles.

My takeaway from this is that I need some cardio to be healthy but not overdoing it is the key. Everything in moderation. Helping to drop the fat also needs healthy fuel.


*How much cardio do you do?