Exercises you should be doing...Part 1

I am going to begin another one of my many series', one of these days I'll actually finish one. LIFTS YOU SHOULD BE DOING...will be a collection of exercises that you should be doing at least twice a week. These lifts are the most basic of lifts, but also the most powerful as far as changing your body, performance, and strength is concerned. So stay tuned.

The first lift in the series is the MOST basic of lifts. It's something we did as babies, teenagers, and possibly in high school. It is physically and metabolically challenging, and if I were to vote on the best exercise of all-time it would be. (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!). The SQUAT. That's right folks. The squat is the best exercise, and it is simply the most basic of all exercises.

Wait! What's that I hear? But Michael, squats are bad for your knees! They make my back hurt! My doctor told me not to do them! I don't like to be really sore, can't we do chest?"

BULLSHIT!! Squats aren't bad for your knees, but what YOU are doing is bad for your knees. And I can gurantee you aren't doing squats. Squats are a perfect total body exercise, but like any lift if done incorrectly you can get or feel pain. On top of that if our mobility, or ability to move your joints, is bad then squats can bother the knees or the back. Mobility in the hip joint often contributes to these two problems. So if you don't have mobility in your hips, then you will get lumbar flexion, and even knee pain from your knees shooting over your toes.

• Error #1- I see when squatting is not sitting the but back. So when beginning the movement, the first the to move is your knees, and not your bum.
• Error #2- is letting the knees cave in, instead of pusing your knees out in the same direction as your toes.
• Error #3- is not keeping your back nice and flat the entire squat. In this kind of squat, people are extremely rounded over at the bottom of the squat. This lumbar flexion will cause back pain. A lot of the time this will happen because we use too much weight too fast.
  

So instead of showing examples of all this crappy form, I'm going to show you a video of good frm from TheVideoFitcast. Notice how the squatter is not doing any of the above errors. This is what a good squat should look like, and in most cases it will not cause any back or knee pain. Don't rush to conslusion and decide you are one of the "special people" and squatting isn't for you. Try it first, get it critiqued by a fitness professional, but don't knock it 'till you try it.

Like I said earlier, lack of mobility can cause problems with the squat, so stretching the hips, calves, quats, and activating

the glutes will go a long way in making your a world class squatter, well at least you will squat more than all those panzies on the leg press machine.

Here is a great mobility exercise you should do as a warmup, or even on your off days.