Image Credit: physicsman
Squatting is the best way you can build overall muscle mass. Period.
There are a lot of people out there who fear the squat. They think that doing the leg press machines or squats on a smith machine will somehow be safer. Using these machines is just like using any other machine in the gym.
The advantage of using a machine is that you really don’t have to know what you are doing. The machine forces you to do an exercise in a certain way and along the machine’s motion path.
While machines might be easier to use, you simply get less benefit out of them. Using free weights is the key to building your base of muscle, no matter what muscles you’re working. The bench press is better than a bench press machine, and doing real squats beats the squat machine or the leg press machine. That’s all there is to it.
Doing squats properly will work about 75% of the muscles on your body either directly or indirectly. And regardless of what others will tell you, squats are a safe exercise as long as you do them right.
In fact, squatting correctly will strengthen your knees and back muscles in a way that makes future injuries less likely. Let’s walk through the squatting movement in detail:
1. Start with the bar: Yes, just the bar. Practice for a while and get a feeling for how this movement should work. Pay special attention to your squat stance, keeping your knees out, keeping the back alignment, (more…)
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