Squat variations

SPLIT SQUATS
Get into a lunge position with your right leg forward and your left leg behind you. Your left heel should be off the floor, and there should be plenty of space between your feet. Lower your body weight straight down, and then straighten back up. That's all there is to it. Just straight down and straight up. Your back knee should almost touch the floor. Do not lean forward into the squat. Keep your chest lifted, shoulders squared, and posture tall. Make sure you can see the toes of your front foot throughout the movement; if you can't, you need to shift your weight back. Add weight as you can. Do 10-12 with your right leg in front, then switch your legs and do 10-12 more.

SPLIT SQUATS WITH A TWIST
Do the split squat as described above, but add an upper body twist. Holding a weight or medicine ball in front of you in both hands (shoulders relaxed, weight no higher than shoulder level, arms straight with a slight bend in the elbows), squat down with your right leg in front. Hold yourself in that split squat position and twist your entire upper body to the right. The twist should originate from the bottom of the ribcage; your whole upper body should twist toward the side wall. Then come back to center, then up to the starting position. Repeat for a set of 10-12, then switch your legs. When your left leg is in front, your twist should go to the left.

STAGGERED SPLIT SQUATS
1. Same as the regular split squat, but place your forward leg on a raised platform -- a step, box, or BOSU Balance Trainer.
2. Even harder, place your BACK leg on a raised platform.

With both of these alternatives, form becomes even more important. Do NOT lean forward. Remember, your knee should remain above your ankle when you are all the way down in the split squat position.

PLIE
Stand with your feet much wider than shoulder width apart, toes pointing out toward the side walls. Lower yourself down into a plie squat, thighs parallel to the floor. As always, your knees should be above your ankles. Make sure those feet are wide enough apart to make that happen! Inhale down, exhale up.

PLIE WITH A SIDE BEND
Hold a stability ball or light dumbbell over your head with your shoulders relaxed. The ball or weight should be slightly in front of your forehead so that you can see it clearly if you just glance up with your eyes without moving your head up. Plie down and do a side bend to the right. Think about bringing your right shoulder down toward your right thigh. Then bend back up to center, then straighten your legs. You can do either 10 on the right and then 10 on the left, or you can alternate. Or both.

STAGGERED PLIE
Get into that wide plie stance, but this time put your right leg up on a step or box -- about 6-10 inches high (depending on your level of ability and your height/leg length). Now do your plies. You'll find that you probably cannot go down as far here. That's OK. You'll feel it; trust me! Do 10 and then switch sides, putting the left leg up.

Squats!

Squats are probably my favorite lower body exercise. There are so many things you can do with them to challenge your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluts, hips, core, lower back... Good stuff.


BASIC SQUAT

Stand with your feet hip distance apart, spine nice and aligned, head neutral, shoulders relaxed and down. On an inhale, bend your knees and keep your hips back as though there were a chair behind you. You should be able to see your toes throughout the movement if you glance down. If your knees are farther forward than your toes, obscuring your view of your toes, you are doing more harm than good! Keep those hips back. This girl has great form:









As you can see, her hips are back, her knees are bent to 90 degrees, and her thighs are parallel to the floor. She is holding one dumbbell. If you can handle more weight, you can place a weighted bar across the upper part of your back (NOT on your spine), like this:










Here is an example of really bad form. And bad clothes. And bad hair, frankly. See how his knees are in front of his toes? His knees should be back over his ankles or shoelaces, like the woman pictured above. She rocks. He does not.





Please note that I found these images by doing an Internet image search. My apologies if I wasn't supposed to post images thusly. :)

More later.

More Core Exercises

Here's a tough medicine ball routine.

1. Russian twists. Sit up on the mat, holding a medicine ball in both hands in front of you. Legs extended, knees bent. Lean back until you feel your abs engage (if they don't engage, you'll just fall backward). Now lift your feet off the floor. Ah yeah. Now twist side to side, bringing the medicine ball to the floor at your hips. Make sure you twist from the top of your ribcage, shoulders going side to side (not just your arms). Keep those shoulders down away from your ears. If you need to, you can put your feet down. Do 50 twists -- 25 each side, alternating.

2. IMMEDIATELY lie down and put your legs straight up in the air, arms extended behind you over your head, still holding the medicine ball. (So your arms are down toward the floor.) Bring your arms straight up in the air and crunch up as you take the arms and ball toward your feet, then lower down. Do 25.

3. IMMEDIATELY go up one more time with the ball toward the feet and PULSE straight up into the air 25 times.

4. IMMEDIATELY put the medicine ball between your knees, take your hands behind your head like you're going to do a crunch, and just do a reverse curl. On an exhale, pull the belly button in and lift the hips very slightly off the floor. You should not rock your legs; they go straight up and straight down. It's a small movement. Do 25.

5. IMMEDIATELY do 25 more but add a crunch at the same time. Do 25.Rest for about a minute.

6. Start with #5 and work your way back down to the Russian twists. So full body crunch, then just reverse curl, then pulses, then overhead reaches, then twists. No breaks until you're done.