12 Days of Fitness: Day 7 – Pop A Squat
Okay folks, there aren’t many days left between now and Christmas so the 12 Days of Fitness will be making an appearance everyday between now and then. Today on day seven we will be talking about popping a squat. No, not like the kind girls do when they are out in nature with no toilet nearby. I’m talking about a squat. You know what a squat is, don’t you?
There are several different types of squat movements – air squats, front squats, back squats, overhead squats, and I’m sure there are others I don’t even know about. The type of squat I am going to talk about is the air squat. The air squat is one of my favorite home workout exercises. It’s done simply with body weight and it’s highly effective. All you do is bend your knees down while keeping your back straight and come up. Sounds easy, right?
Here is a video on YouTube I found that demonstrates how to do a proper air squat. These Crossfit guys know what’s up!
This movement may seem easy but if you have tight hips like I do it may be a bit difficult at first. It took me some time to work on my squat and perfect it. I didn’t want to be doing an exercise with bad form. What benefit does that give you? None. A lot of people do 10-20 air squats as a warm up. They are a good way to warm up. If you want them to be your main workout, try some of the following exercises:
60 seconds Air Squats (As many as you can). 30 seconds rest. Repeat as many times as you can.
4 Rounds of 15 Air squats
100 Air Squats as fast as you can.
You can also incorporate air squats into other routines. Remember your planks from 12 Days of Fitness, Day 4? And your pushups from Day 5? You can mash them together for a nice little sweaty home workout:
- 15 Air Squats
- 15 Pushups
- 1 minute plank
Repeat up to 4x. If that’s too easy, repeat 5 times.
A lot of people swear by the air squat. In the 4 Hour Body, author Tim Ferriss swears by the idea of doing 60-90 seconds of air squats anywhere from 60-90 minutes after your meal to help divert your energy elsewhere and promote weight loss. I haven’t tried this method so I don’t know if it works, but I do believe in the power of the air squat. Get on it!
Today’s Fitness Inspired Product: I didn’t really have a fitness inspired product for today until I thought about the 4 Hour Body and it got me thinking how this book would be interesting to read during the holidays when we are all strapped for time. I have reads bits and pieces of this book but I think next week may be the perfect time to read the entire thing front to back. If you’ve read it before, post in the comments and let me know if you think it’s worth reading.
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