Don’t Shy Away From Doing Squats For Weight Loss

by Steve Dooley

Many people shy away from doing squats, because they fear getting big and bulky. But you can do squats for weight loss by following the advice given in this article.

When most people think of doing squats the imagine a 300lb power lifter with like a 500lb bar on his back. He’s screaming and grunting as he struggles to get the lift done. Well, there is so much more to doing squats than that. When you do squats for weight loss the objective is much different.

Let’s go back to our powerlifter. He was doing barbell squats. His goal is to build strength with his squats. That’s why he had a ton of weight on the bar and would only do 3 – 5 reps at a time.

When doing squats for weight loss you’ll do much less weight for higher reps.

Why are Squats Good For Weight Loss?

First of all, they incorporate almost your entire body. When performing squats you engage your core muscles, your lower back, gluteous maximus, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. You also engage different stabilizer muscles with different variations of squats. This works a wide range of muscles and is called a multi-joint exercise.

Next, due to the fact that the majority of the major muscles in your body are engaged during squats you can get some cardiovascular benefits from them. This is especially true when doing body weight squats for weight loss. In fact, a person who is terribly out of shape can actually do machine-assisted or body weight squats as they begin a new workout routine. These individuals will usually get a great cardiovascular response since they are not used to exercising at all.

There are many variations of the squat. These range from the super-heavy barbell squats that our power lifter was doing all the way to body weight or wall-ball squats. That’s another reason why squats are great for weight loss. They are so versatile! You can start out with body weight squats. When your body adapts to these then add some dumbbells. Then add heavier dumbbells. Then progress to barbell squats. You get the idea. Some of the toughest are single-leg body weight squats. They are killer.

The best attribute of doing squats for weight loss is the overall thermic effect they produce on the body. They can actually increase your fat burning! Now simply doing squats of any kind won’t produce this result. Our power-lifter wasn’t getting this effect doing heavy weight with 3 – 5 reps. The best way to do squats for weight loss is by doing body weight squats! Do at least 20 reps of body weight squats per set. Take very little rest between sets. In fact, the best way to maximize fat loss doing squats is to incorporate them into a circuit training workout.