I often do bodyweight squats at home when I don’t have time to get to the gym (I live in a pretty isolated area and the only gym closes at 8:30 pm, but you know, no excuses!) They really give you a burn and keep you feeling energized.
Things like the 100 squat challenge, where participants do 100 squats a day for 30 days are often touted to lead to body transformations. Sure, squats can build serious muscle and raise your metabolism while burning a few calories, but do they qualify as aerobic activity? Can squats be considered cardio?
Squats are a resistance exercise primarily designed to strengthen and build the muscles of the lower body. As anybody who has ever done squats will tell you, it is not something that most people can do continuously for a long period of time. It’s too difficult. Comparing squats to a typical cardio exercise like jogging is like comparing push-ups to dribbling a basketball. However if you structure your squat workout the right way, it can resemble cardio and have some of the same cardiovascular and fat loss benefits.
So how do you do squats in a way that will burn fat and train the heart and lungs? Let’s look a bit deeper and consider a few ways to tackle this.
What type of exercise are squats considered to be?
One of the greatest resistance exercises of all time, we all know the benefits of squats. Gym rats (hopefully) do plenty of barbell squats, an incredibly powerful muscle-building exercise, but for the purposes of this post, I am referring to bodyweight squats.
The squat focuses on the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. The lower back and hip flexors are also involved. Squatting to 90° (angle at the knees) will provide enough resistance to really work up a sweat and get a great pump after a few sets.
If you add some weight, in the form of a dumbbell for goblet or sumo squats, or a barbell, or weighted vest, other muscles are also stimulated. But again, we are talking about the unweighted variety which is still a powerful exercise.
Although there is no added weight, the squat is still a resistance exercise just like push-ups or pull-ups. Your body’s weight will be plenty of resistance to become difficult quite quickly. In fact, the average untrained person will probably have difficulty just doing a set of 10.
This exercise is anaerobic, or without oxygen. This means that the muscles doing the work rely on the stores of energy and oxygen within the muscle cells instead of the steady supply that comes from the cardiovascular system. This is what is used to fuel aerobic exercise.
The intensity is much higher in anaerobic exercise, and the muscles need the energy right away and cannot wait for it to be pumped to the site.
Squats, even just using bodyweight, can add some serious muscle mass and rev up your metabolism, but they are not practical for long, steady-state workouts. So they remain in the category of muscle building, anaerobic, resistance training.
Are bodyweight squats cardio?
Squats cannot be considered cardio in the normal sense. even though there is no added weight, they cannot be considered cardio just like push-ups cannot be considered cardio. Squats are definitely a resistance exercise that are primarily intended to increase your muscle strength and tone.
However, it is possible to structure your squat workout in a way that will mimic a cardio workout and yield some of the same benefits.
To achieve this you want me to do a high volume of sets, stopping well short of failure, with short periods of rest or a very light activity like walking.
How many squats do you do a day?
This number can vary according to your fitness level, weight, and age, amongst other things. 100 per day is a good place to be. But if you can only do 10 without feeling like you’re going to die oh, that’s okay – just start there. Stick with it and gradually increase, you’ll be amazed how quickly your capacity will go up.
If you can only do 10, try doing sets of 4-5, and increase the number of sets and reps as often as you are able.
Once you get to 50+ a day, you’ll be really making progress. Keep on going though, and aim higher!
Can I do squats instead of Cardio?
Squats will not really replace cardio… but, you can do your squats in a way which will keep your heart rate elevated over a longer period of time and give you some cardiovascular and fat burning benefits.
Here’s how:
Step 1 – Do as many squats as you can in 1 minute with good form, and keep count. It’s ok to take breaks, just get as many as you can within that 60 seconds.
Step 2 – Divide that number by 4. This is how many you squats you should do per set.
Step 3 – From the next workout on, Do 10 or 20 sets of this amount of squats (depending on your level of fitness). Do one set every minute, on the minute. Gradually increase the number of reps per set over the next few weeks.
The idea is that it starts out easy and gets progressively harder. Let’s say, for example, you get 40 squats in the 1 minute challenge. You would then do 10 sets of 10, or 20 sets of 10 if you’re up to it. If necessary, you could drop the number of reps per set by one or two as you get towards the last sets. OR you slightly lengthen the rest periods – but not by much – 15-30 seconds at most.
The short rest periods are the key to the cardiovascular and fat-burning benefits of this simple but effective workout. As the sets progress, they get harder and take a little longer. The rest period is the remainder of the minute, so as each successive set takes a little more time than the last, the rest time is less than before.
Can I lose belly fat by doing squats?
It is quite possible that you can lose some belly fat from squats provided that your diet is good and you are not eating at a caloric surplus. Simply do the above described workout, 5-6 days a week, and it will start to melt off.
The fat loss benefits of squats are enhanced by the hormonal effects of training the legs, which are the largest muscle group. This is known to boost testosterone and growth hormone. These will help lead to better body composition by increasing lean mass and reducing fat reserves.
Diet is the key to weight loss, as you can exercise all day but if you’re still overeating, it’s not going to change much. Intermittent fasting is a great choice as far as an eating pattern which can benefit your fat loss in a sustainable way. More on this here.
Can I do squats everyday?
Yes you can absolutely do squats everyday if you so choose! Although this may not be completely necessary. Daily squats will definitely get your metabolism revving and keep it there. it might be a good idea to take one day off a week, or maybe alternate between heavier days (higher number of reps) and lighter days.
The main variable deciding whether you are ready for daily squats is your current fitness level. If you get sore the day after doing 20 squats, you’ll need to ease into it. Taking a rest day or two if you are sore is a wise idea. There’s no rush, you can gradually increase the volume (how many) and frequency (how often) of your squats until you are doing them daily.
Can I combine squats with walking or jogging?
This is actually a great idea for turning a squat workout into a cardio/resistance hybrid. When walking at the track, or the park, or anywhere that you won’t feel self-conscious, simply walk at a brisk pace and once a minute stop and do 10 to 20 squats.
This can be done with jogging, but it’s very difficult and you’ll probably burn out pretty quick, so walking is best for most people.
Alternatively, you could do squats at different intervals of distance, like every 100m, or 200m.
Another consideration is that instead of combining it with walking or jogging, you could consider an upper body dominant exercise. Speed bag, heavy bag, or even push-ups, are all good choices. Try alternating sets between each exercise with a short 15 to 30 second rest in between each set.
To get the most out of your squats it’s probably best to concentrate on just the squats during this particular workout. But if you want to really burn the calories and get the most out of each minute of exercise, combining squats with a light cardio exercise or an upper body dominant exercise makes a lot of sense.
Squats for time?
Another way to get the most out of this exercise is to do your squats for time. This simply means, instead of performing a fixed number of repetitions per set, you will set out to do continuous squats for a certain period of time, say 1 minute, or 30 seconds.
One great approach is to do 20 seconds of squats, followed by 10-15 seconds of rest/stretching, then repeat this process for 4-5 mins.
The advantage is that there are less ways to cheat (and rob yourself of results) because going faster doesn’t end the set sooner. So you will find yourself focusing on perfect form and going slower – which will stimulate the muscles more thoroughly.
This is a wonderfully effective technique that can be used for all resistance exercises. See here.
Can squats transform your body?
Any regular exercise, when combined with proper diet, can lead to a body transformation. As with all exercise, the key is to do it regularly and stick with it. Don’t slack off, and gradually increase the volume (number of sets and reps).
After just a few short weeks, the otherwise untrained individual should see a huge difference in their physique. Body fat percentage, the shape of your legs, and your strength and endurance levels will rapidly improve.
Squats are one of the simplest yet most powerful exercises that you can possibly do. No workout is complete without them and if you stick with it, you will surely not be disappointed with the results.
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Bench Press for Cardio: Can I Lift Weights For Fat Loss?
You want to employ moderate weights, high volume, high frequency training. Also keeping your rest periods between sets as short as possible. I recommend full body workouts with 5 to 10 sets per body part, four or five times a week. Stick to mostly compound exercises, with one forgotten but excellent explosive movement (the clean and press), and a couple of isolation movements.
Don’t train to failure. If you stop short of failure you will need less recovery time and will be able to bang out more sets! Do a lot of leg work. There’s no way to train for fat loss without training legs!
Don’t be scared of the volume. We’re talking anywhere from 5 to 15 sets per body part, 4 times a week. But you’ll see that a sensible weight selection and good planning will allow for short recovery time and more frequent workouts.
What’s The Best Way To Do 200 Push-ups?
I call it PPM (Push-ups per minute). Place a clock or timer near you. You could watch a movie or TV show and have the timer running. Listen to music, whatever. Every minute, on the minute, do 10 push-ups as fast as you can, then rest and stretch for the rest of the minute. Continue this for 20 minutes. You will notice that at first this is really easy, but once you’ve got a few sets under your belt, it’ll start to take a little bit longer. As the sets take longer, your rest periods become shorter, providing less recuperation for the following set. Your heart rate will be elevated for the entire 20 minutes, and for a few minutes afterwards. Providing a workout with a steadily increasing difficulty from warm up to final set.
