How to squat

I've spent a lot of time at the gym and I see a lot of mistakes when it comes to squats. There are many different kinds of squats but there are some basic principles that apply to most if not all of them. 

1. Hips should initiate the movement. Imagine sitting in a chair. When you sit down your hips move backwards into the seat.( this is a good way for beginners to start squatting ) This action brings me to my next point

2. If your knees are behind your toes, the power for the squat is coming from you Glutes and hamstrings. When your knees fall forward in front of your toes you are putting a lot of stress on your knees. Another good indication is that you will feel the weight in your heels. If the weight is in your toes it's wrong. ( this applies to leg press machines as well)

3. Keep your chest up.  Each person is shaped differently and will have different ranges of hip mobility  but despite your range, you want to try and keep your chest as vertical as it will allow. A tip to help with this is to keep your gaze above eye level. When your eyes fall your head tends to go with it and when your head falls, your back tends to go too. 

4. Stance. Because there are many different squats I'm going to focus on the basic squat. You want to be hip to shoulder width apart.  From my experience very few people can do a correct squat with their toes absolutely straight forward so turn them out slightly. Think 11  and 1 o'clock. Stick your butt out ever so slightly while keeping your chest up. 

A retirement plan for your body.

I had lunch with a very good friend today and amidst our conversation he shared that he has high cholesterol. His doctor expressed that he should get a nutritionist and I also asked what he was doing exercise wise. He hadn't really made moves In either direction and explained it was because his focus wasn't in there. He's been focused on his work and I have to say I'm very proud of what he's doing but I could not help but ask the question, "If the doctor said that you had to change your lifestyle now or else... How would you have reacted?" Needless to say he started to see things a little different.  I wanted to share this story to talk about how a lot of us wait until our health is being threatened to start making lifestyle changes. 

      Growing up, my father always used to say, "take care of your body, you only get one." And for a long time I never paid attention to those wise words until I discovered my passion for health and fitness I really started to see their value. Unfortunately, some people don't come to that realization until they are faced with a life threatening situation. And until that happens, we tend to make excuses to explain why we can't do it. " I don't have the time." "I would go to the gym but I don't know how to use weights and I don't want to hurt myself." "I'm to big to go to the gym and people will make fun of me." 

From my experience, I've learned that people function in two capacities; fear or faith. Fear is the voice making the excuses and faith is the voice that finds a way to make it happen. I'm not religious but I do understand that the key to success in any aspect of life begins with your mindset. But that topic is for another post. 

     We spend so much time focusing on our jobs to make money for our retirement that we often neglect our health. And I ask, what good is your retirement going to be if you are laying in a hospital bed? Look at health and fitness as a retirement plan for your body. The work that you put in now will pay for itself down the road. Any person would ridicule someone if they waited 5 years before retiring to start saving. Why don't we apply the same thinking when it comes to our bodies?