Do you love to squat? Then you should do it every day… here’s why.
Squatting is one of the greatest exercises you can do. It’s a compound movement that trains your entire body and with countless variations, it’s an exercise that never gets old.
Our bodies are meant to squat, it's how we evolved, yet over the years we have become much more desk-based, finding easier and more unnatural ways to limit our movement.
This leads to tightness in the hips, reduced mobility, and can lead to injuries or other health issues that can impact us as we grow old. Squatting is a natural movement and it should be done every day, and in this article, we’ll tell you why.
Benefits of Squatting Daily
Prevents Injury
One of the biggest issues we have today is people are living an increasingly more sedentary lifestyle. They don’t move as much as they should which can lead to muscle and joint tightness, immobility, and injury. As more people work from home or take employment in office-based jobs, this is only going to get worse.
Sitting down all day isn’t good for the body. It can impact your hips, ankles, knees, and mobility as your joints become tighter and less flexible and increase your risk of getting injured.
One of the key complaints is the development of muscular and joint imbalances which leads to more injuries such as hamstring strains, unbalanced hips, Achilles tendonitis, and issues with the IT band.
Squatting daily can lower the risk of many of these issues occurring and enhance the durability of your body.
As you continually take your body through its natural range of motion and open up your joints, you can reduce the chances of you getting a long-term injury or developing problems that stay with you for years to come.
Strengthen Your Body
The squat is considered one of the best exercises for a reason, its impact on your entire body and its ability to combine different joints and muscles to create a powerful action is great for building strength.
By completing strength-based movement daily, you can begin to build a stronger and more efficient body and enhance your natural strength.
There are many squat variations available, including the back squat, split squat, goblet squat, and more and all have a place in helping you to build and develop a stronger body. Some squats are more explosive, such as the jump squat, whereas others are signs or pure strength, such as a back squat, but they can all be useful.
As you age, your strength is often one of the first things to go, however, by building a stronger body now; you can put yourself in a better place for the future.
Improved Mobility and Recovery
You should be doing all you can to increase the mobility of your hips. It can help to prevent injuries, aches, and pains and also improve your physical performance, what you may not know is that the squat is a great way of improving the mobility of the hips.
With deep squats, such as the caveman squat, or by trying something more advanced, such as the Cossack squat or the rear foot elevated split squat, you can train your muscles and improve your mobility both at the same time.
It’s also a great way of supporting recovery post-exercise or on an off day. Once you have finished exercising it's good practice to stretch and perform some mobility drills. Performing a range of squats that take you through different ranges of motion can do wonders for your overall mobility and recovery.
Build Your Core
As a compound movement, squats work more than just your legs, and your core is one of the main beneficiaries, working the rectus abdominis, oblique’s, transverse abdominis, and the erector spinae.
While the names may not sound familiar the main concern to you is that they are all muscles in your core and they work together to help you build a stronger frame.
The effectiveness of so many movements, from high-level athletics to carrying your shopping bags can all be impacted by how strong your core is, so the more you can do to build your core, the better.
People who squat regularly, often end up having stronger cores so it makes sense that if you want a stronger core, you should look to add more squats into your routine.
Whole-Body Improvements
We should aim to perform some sort of movement every single day. It doesn’t have to be a maximal weight lifting session or a challenging run, but we should be moving our bodies daily. By following a traditional format of taking days off to relax, and rest your body, you could be doing more damage than good.
Instead of taking days off and letting your body seize up, you should aim to keep your body moving and continue to open up your joints and positively impact your mobility.
Squatting can help with this and is the perfect way to contribute towards a better functioning and more efficient body.
It doesn’t mean you go to the gym on your off day and complete a punishing day of exercise, it simply means you keep your body moving instead of sitting on the couch or at your desk all day.
Variety is the Spice of Life
Squatting every day can be very beneficial for your long-term health and fitness, and the good news is, there are plenty of options to ensure you don’t get bored.
Squats come in many different forms so to ensure the maximum effectiveness of squatting daily, you should add different variations of squats into your routine.
Let’s take a look at some below.
Weighted Squats
When you think of weighted squats you probably think of putting a barbell on your back and completing 3 sets of 10 in the gym, but back squats aren’t the only type.
You also have front squats, overhead squats, Zercher squats, sumo squats, Goblet squats, and split squats. All of which are perfect for building muscle, improving strength, and changing your body. We recommend leaving a day’s rest in between doing any heavy weighted squat, giving your body a chance to recover before your next session.
Mobility Squats
These are great options for rest and recovery days or if you’re someone who likes to start your morning by unlocking your body and opening up your hips. Deep squats such as the caveman squat are great for this and are a fantastic way for you to support your movement and mobility. Cossack squats are another good option and are great for opening up your hips. Both of these are perfect for rest days and could form part of a bodyweight program to keep you active, but at a lower intensity than if you were to use weights.
Bodyweight Squats
Jump squats, pop squats, wall sits and eccentric squats are just a few of the squat variations that can challenge your body, without using weight. These types of squats are good options when you haven’t got any equipment or you can’t make it to the gym. You can make your own routine and dictate your own level of challenge and you don’t have to worry about sticking to a rigid program. Bodyweight squats are often included in faster, HIIT type workouts and are great if you’re looking to improve your overall fitness and conditioning.
Final Thoughts
It’s clear that squatting every day is something you should do. It will bring about improvements to your health and fitness, protect your body against long-term injury, and help you to improve your mobility and flexibility. It is however worth noting that you should pick your type of squat carefully. Not only will this be fun but it will also keep you safe.
We’re not advocating for you to try and reach a new PR on the back squat every day of the week as that would be silly, but we are encouraging you to try different squat variations.
We’ve even given you some examples above which you can use to build your own schedule. There’s no reason why you couldn’t complete heavy weighted squats 4 times a week, recovery squats twice a week, and a faster, HIIT style squat circuit once a week and enjoy the full range of benefits that regular squatting brings.
The format and style can change and some days it may even be as simple as 5-10 minutes of recovery work, the key thing, however, is in this increasingly inactive world you should be moving your body as much as possible and squatting to keep your body strong and healthy.
