Strong, developed muscles can aid in everyday activities and support your body through challenging exercises. Adding barbell squats can do wonders for your physical abilities. Read on to explore the benefits of adding barbell squats to your routine.
Targets Multiple Muscle Groups
The barbell squat is a useful exercise that improves muscle performance and endurance while aiding in everyday activities. It helps target important muscles, including quadriceps, adductors, hip flexors, glutes, calves, and hamstrings. Furthermore, it helps develop the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, erector spinae, and obliques.
Reduces Injury Risks
Barbell squats can help develop lower body muscles, such as quads, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. As you strengthen these muscles, you’ll have an easier time executing full-body exercises with balance, posture, mobility, and form. Develop proper breathing patterns by inhaling as you squat down and exhale as you push through the movement.
Incorporating squats into your routine can help strengthen bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments, thus reducing your chances of injury. As squats improve your body muscles, you’ll experience fewer injuries.
Strengthens Your Core
Did you know that your core muscles determine how well you perform and exercise while improving your posture and reducing back pain? One significant benefit of adding barbell squats to your routine is its physical improvement of your core muscles and endurance. Performing barbell squats can develop a strong, more stable core that helps perform other challenging exercises, such as deadlifts, lunges, chest presses, and more.
Improves Fitness Motivation
If there’s one thing that helps maintain consistency, focus, and passion, it’s through motivation. Whether it’s someone who inspired you or you want to make a drastic change in your life, motivation is a huge component of what can make or break your progress. Luckily, you aren’t the only one who goes through periods of burnout or lack of passion—it can happen to anyone at any time.
So, finding motivation in yourself can occur in a few different ways, such as changing your routine to fit your goals better. For instance, rearranging your fitness routine order or adding and substituting your workouts can benefit you greatly. Adding squats or squat variations with a barbell can help you feel stronger, more powerful, and more motivated.
Easy To Perform Anywhere
What makes barbell squats so appealing is the ability to perform them anywhere. You can do them from the ease of your home or at your local gym. It’s especially helpful if you perform squats from a sturdy, quality squat rack. However, it’s important to use squat racks as intended to avoid injuries. Practice proper form, incorporate squat rack safety accessories, and become familiar with the basics to start with a great foundation.
Otherwise, barbell squats are effective exercises you can do at home, at your local gym, or at a hotel gym while traveling. Furthermore, you can space out your squats throughout the day, especially if you have a hectic schedule. Consider doing squats with HIIT routines, such as a burst of them in the morning and wrapping up in the evening.
Dianne Pajo is a Certified Personal Trainer based out of the Chicagoland area with a passion for music, combat sports, and animals. She enjoys competing in amateur boxing and kickboxing, but in her other leisure time, you can find her performing music around the city. She is also a dog mom of 2.