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Squats are my secret to a firm butt and slim thighs
September 28, 2009
After being laid off from a corporate job for restructuring on the eve of the massive dot com crash in 2000, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands thanks to a very generous severance package. I decided that since I was set to go to Italy that year for a wedding for my then-sister-in-law, I needed to seriously get my body into shape to wear a killer dress. (Let’s be honest here — if you’re going to an Italian wedding, you better pull out the couture because Italian women dress to kill just to do their grocery shopping.)
That was also the year I started taking weight and strength training seriously. Before that, I went to the gym, but I was mainly focusing on aerobic classes. I’d sometimes take my fitness outdoors, too, but it was nothing to write home about. Fortunately, I’ve never had to deal with saddle bags (fat stored around the thighs) on my thighs like a lot of women. But after the lay off, I found myself with a few extra pounds and three months to get into a wedding-ready body.
I remember the first few times I did squats, I could barely walk the next day because my legs were so incredibly tired. I don’t think I really enjoyed the exercise very much because it was quite demanding physically and every time I’d come up from the squat position, I felt my heart beating really fast. But by the time I was ready to leave for Italy, many fellow-gym-goers started commenting on my slimmer and trimmer body, and I began to find squats quite enjoyable because they firmed up my lower body in a way that was really attractive.
The biggest compliment came at the wedding when I was strutting my stuff in a Canadian designer dress and many of the Italian women stopped me to say how incredible I looked. When Italian women compliment you on fashion and the way you look, you bow with grace!
Back to the saddle bags: During my time in Italy, my then-sister-in-law commented that she was jealous I had no saddle bags and I said it was due to my new hardcore fitness regime. She smiled and shook her head and said, “you North Americans with your gym-gym-gym!”
>>>> Man, do I love squats!
I would never give up squats as part of my fitness regime because it’s best exercise for the lower body.
Because you have big muscles (gluteus) below the waist, squatting is a fantastic way to target this large group of muscle in one exercise. Each squat gets you to work your hip muscles, quadriceps (aka quads) and hamstrings. Each squat movement will work your abs, spinal muscles and calves, so you can imagine how beneficial this exercise is for your body. Every time you squat, you engage loads of muscles, which means you’ll also be burning calories while you workout and when you rest.
If you caught the special Oprah did earlier this year with Dr. Mehmet Oz, where he and author Dan Buettner visited the 6 Blue Zones on the planet, you might remember that when they were in Costa Rica, they visited a farmer in his 80s who cut bushes every day (using a really big knife!). Dr. Oz commented about how, every time the farmer had to bend, he used his legs to squat and that was why he was able to keep his legs that strong as he got older!
I’m determined to keep this body functioning perfectly until I’m 200 years old, and if that means I have to squat on a regular basis to keep my lower body fit and strong … then that’s exactly what I’ll be doing!
>>> Won’t I get big legs if I squat?
I know a lot of women avoid squats because they are afraid they’ll end up with huge muscular legs. Well, my legs are muscular, I don’t have saddle bags, my butt muscles are firm and my legs aren’t huge at all.
I’ve squatted up to 45 lbs plates on each side on a bar that weighed about 25 lbs (that’s a total of 115 lbs on my back … which is almost my entire weight). I do not do squats that heavy any more because I don’t want huge legs that are too well-defined and I don’t want to put too much stress on my knees. These days, I squat half that weight and I end up with a toned and firm body that’s much leaner.
>>> Get squats right!
You can seriously injure yourself in the long run if you don’t know how to do squats properly, so I would always advise that you work with a personal trainer, especially if you’ve never squatted before or if you are unsure of your alignment. When it comes to exercising, you should do your best to protect your knees and back because when you start having issues with those two body parts … you’re in serious trouble.
So, if you are a woman and hate how you’ve lost the firmness in your lower body or if you are a man and you’d like to get toned, I encourage you to embrace squats! If you do them properly and seriously, you’ll notice a dramatic difference in the way you look and feel within about six months.
>>> If you’ve never done or seen squats before, here’s a video that will help you:
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Photo by Army.mil
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