Tips for Proper Squat Form
To ensure you perform squats correctly and safely, follow these tips for proper form. First, start with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes slightly pointed outward, which provides a stable base.
Engage your core by tightening your abdominal muscles, helping to support your back.
As you begin the squat, push your hips back as if you are sitting in a chair, keeping your chest up and your back straight.
The video states to not worry about toes extended past knees, although this is acceptable when doing a body weight squat, I would not recommend knees extending past toes if you are using excessive weight.
Aim to lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the ground, or lower if you can do so without compromising form.
Throughout the movement, keep your weight on your heels, and ensure your knees are aligned with your toes.
Finally, push through your heels to return to the standing position, maintaining control and balance. Practicing these tips will lead to better squat form and enhance your overall strength and fitness.
Common Mistakes to Avoid During Squats
When performing squats, it’s important to be aware of common mistakes that can lead to improper form or injury.
One common mistake is letting the knees collapse inward, which can put strain on the joints.
Instead, focus on keeping your knees aligned with your toes throughout the movement.
Another mistake is leaning too far forward, which can lead to back pain. To avoid this, keep your chest lifted and your back straight.
Additionally, not going low enough is a frequent error; aim to lower your thighs to at least parallel with the ground for maximum effectiveness.
Lastly, remember to keep your weight distributed through your heels rather than your toes to maintain balance and stability. By avoiding these mistakes, you can perform squats safely and effectively.
Movement Snacks: Small Bites of Movement That Make a Big Difference
We live in a world where staying seated is the norm, whether we’re working, watching, or commuting. Many of us, despite our best intentions to stay active, spend hours on end in sedentary positions. And when we finally get to the gym or head out for a run, we often feel the aches and stiffness from all those hours at a desk. Yet, there’s a simple solution—a strategy that can bring movement back into our day without needing an hour-long workout: movement snacks.
A movement snack is exactly what it sounds like—a quick, bite-sized bout of movement that you can sprinkle throughout your day. It doesn’t require much time or equipment, and it certainly doesn’t mean you need to change into workout clothes. Movement snacks are small but potent ways to keep your body and mind engaged and energized.
Why Movement Snacks Work
In the traditional model of fitness, exercise is a single, dedicated session—a 30-minute jog, an hour at the gym, a yoga class. But emerging research suggests that breaking up movement into smaller chunks throughout the day has benefits that go beyond what a single exercise session can offer.
When we stay seated for hours on end, our muscles, joints, and even our metabolism slow down. Our energy drops, and our focus fades. Movement snacks help combat these issues. They keep circulation going, prevent stiffness, and give our brains a quick jolt of energy. These small bursts of activity not only improve our physical health but also help us stay more focused and productive.
Instead of seeing fitness as a single event, we can view movement as an ongoing part of our day. Movement snacks are a way to build fitness right into the structure of daily life, creating a rhythm that feels natural and sustainable.
The Benefits of Movement Snacks
Improved Physical Health
Movement snacks promote circulation, which is essential for joint health and muscle function. They help keep your metabolism active, support heart health, and may even improve posture by reducing the hours spent in one seated position. Over time, these small bouts of activity help keep muscles engaged and prevent the stiffness and aches that come from sitting too long.
Mental Boosts
It’s well-known that physical activity releases endorphins, which elevate mood and reduce stress. Movement snacks give you small doses of these “feel-good” hormones throughout the day. They also provide a mental reset, helping you to focus better and return to your tasks with a clear mind.
Increased Productivity
Short bursts of movement can help break up long stretches of work, which is essential for sustaining focus and productivity. Studies have shown that taking regular breaks increases overall output, and with movement snacks, these breaks are even more effective because they refresh both the mind and body.
Sustainable Approach to Movement
Movement snacks are not only easy to incorporate; they’re also adaptable to any environment. Whether you’re at the office, at home, or traveling, you can fit them into your day without needing any special equipment or planning. They help break down the mental barrier of “not having enough time” by making movement accessible in minutes rather than hours.
How to Incorporate Movement Snacks
Set a Timer
The simplest way to start incorporating movement snacks is to set a timer for every hour. When the timer goes off, take just two or three minutes to get up and move. It can be as simple as standing, stretching, or walking around the room. You could even do a few air squats or calf raises. The point is to keep your body engaged and prevent prolonged periods of stillness.
Stretch at Your Desk
Not all movement snacks require you to leave your workspace. Simple desk stretches, like reaching your arms overhead, twisting side to side, or doing seated leg lifts, can bring circulation back into your muscles and prevent stiffness. These micro-movements may seem insignificant, but they add up over the day and keep you feeling fresh.
Walk and Talk
Next time you have a phone call or virtual meeting, consider taking it on the move. Walking meetings are a perfect example of a movement snack. You’re still able to focus on the conversation, but you’re also moving, which keeps your body active and mind engaged.
Mini-Workouts Between Tasks
Finish a project or wrap up a meeting? Take a few minutes to do a quick bodyweight exercise. A short set of push-ups, lunges, or even jumping jacks can be invigorating and provide a small energy boost. And if you’re working from home, you can even incorporate a mini circuit of exercises to keep things varied and interesting.
Use the Stairs
If you have access to stairs, use them as a built-in movement snack. Take a few flights every hour, or make a habit of using stairs instead of the elevator. The quick burst of movement and cardiovascular effort helps elevate your heart rate, which is beneficial for both physical fitness and focus.
Dance Breaks
For a fun twist, consider a short dance break. Put on your favorite song and move around for a minute or two. It’s an excellent way to boost your mood and relieve stress, and it hardly feels like “exercise.” Plus, it’s the kind of movement snack that’s sure to bring a smile to your face.
Building a Movement Habit
Movement snacks can be the start of a lasting habit. By sprinkling short bouts of activity into your day, you begin to view movement not as an isolated event but as a normal, everyday behavior. It’s a sustainable approach to staying active, especially for people with busy schedules.
For many of us, the idea of “working out” has become something that’s set apart from daily life—a session in the gym, a specific workout video, a dedicated run. But what if fitness wasn’t so compartmentalized? What if we could take fitness and weave it through our day like small breaths of fresh air?
Movement snacks remind us that our bodies are built to move, and movement can be as flexible and accessible as we need it to be. It’s a gentle, realistic approach to well-being, and it may be exactly the shift we need. Rather than “finding time to work out,” we can find moments to move—and feel better, minute by minute, day by day.
5 Common Mistakes Preventing You from Building Muscle
Building muscle requires more than just lifting weights; it involves understanding your training strategy and avoiding common pitfalls that can sabotage progress. Here are five critical mistakes that may be holding you back from achieving the muscle growth you’re after.
Relying Solely on Free Weights
While free weights are incredibly effective for building strength and muscle, relying on them exclusively can hinder muscle growth due to excessive fatigue. Free weights require more stabilization and can lead to quicker fatigue, especially as you progress to heavier weights. Over time, this can reduce the effectiveness of your workout as your muscles tire out before you’ve fully challenged them.
Incorporating machines after heavy free weight exercises allows you to target specific muscles without worrying about stabilization. Machines provide added stability, enabling you to focus solely on muscle contraction and exert maximum effort. For example, you might start with bench presses or squats and follow up with machine-based exercises like leg presses or seated chest presses. By combining free weights with machines, you’ll create a more balanced workout that targets muscles from different angles and intensities.
Performing the Same Number of Reps for Multiple Sets with the Same Weight
Many people assume that performing the same number of reps with the same weight across multiple sets is the best way to build muscle. However, this approach often leaves potential untapped, especially during the first set, where your muscles are freshest. If you’re doing three sets of ten reps with the same weight, you might not be pushing close enough to failure to stimulate muscle growth.
Instead, aim for a rep range—say, eight to twelve reps—and push closer to failure on each set. As fatigue sets in, you might hit twelve reps on the first set, ten on the second, and eight on the third, for example. This approach encourages progressive overload, allowing you to challenge your muscles with each set and gradually improve over time. By moving away from rigid rep counts, you can stimulate greater muscle growth by fully utilizing your strength in each set.
Resting Too Little Between Sets
When it comes to building muscle, the time you spend resting between sets is as important as the time spent lifting. Resting too little between sets can limit muscle growth because it prevents full recovery, which in turn diminishes your performance in subsequent sets. This is especially true for compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, which require more energy and recovery to perform optimally.
For major compound exercises, aim to rest three to five minutes between sets. This ensures your muscles are fully recovered and ready to lift with maximal effort. For isolation exercises, where the muscle workload is smaller, two to three minutes is generally sufficient. Giving yourself enough rest helps maintain performance quality across sets, allowing for better strength development and muscle stimulation. Cutting rest times too short might make the workout feel harder, but it’s often counterproductive for muscle growth.
Not Utilizing a Full Range of Motion
Using a limited range of motion in exercises like squats, bench presses, or bicep curls can restrict muscle activation and hinder growth. Training through a full range of motion recruits more muscle fibers, increasing mechanical tension and metabolic stress—all key factors for stimulating muscle growth. Shortening the range of motion reduces the overall effectiveness of each rep, often leading to slower progress.
For optimal muscle development, focus on completing each movement through its full range, even if it means using slightly lighter weights. For instance, in a squat, ensure you’re lowering yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground or lower if flexibility allows. This approach enhances muscle fiber recruitment, engages more stabilizing muscles, and builds strength across the entire movement, resulting in better muscle gains over time.
Changing Exercises Too Frequently
While variety can be motivating, constantly switching exercises can disrupt progress. Changing exercises too frequently prevents your body from mastering specific movements, making it harder to measure progressive overload. Muscle growth relies on consistent stimulus over time, and each exercise requires a period of skill mastery and neuromuscular adaptation for optimal results.
Stick with a core set of exercises for each muscle group and monitor your progress over weeks or months. By doing so, you can track your strength increases and ensure that you’re applying progressive overload—either by increasing weights, reps, or both. Consistency allows you to gauge whether your muscles are adapting and growing. If you find your progress has plateaued, consider adjusting variables like sets, reps, or rest times rather than swapping exercises altogether.
Conclusion
Building muscle requires intentionality in every part of your workout routine. Avoiding these common mistakes can help you see better results by ensuring each aspect of your training maximizes muscle growth potential. Push closer to failure, take adequate rest, combine free weights with machines, use a full range of motion, and stay consistent with exercises to get the most out of your efforts. By implementing these strategies, you’ll be better positioned to achieve your muscle-building goals and develop a stronger, more resilient physique.
New Year’s fitness resolutions are often easy to make but difficult to maintain. As weeks pass and everyday life becomes busier, the excitement of your initial commitment can fade, and workouts can slide down the priority list. For many, the solution lies in building a morning workout routine that becomes as integral as brushing your teeth—something done automatically, without debate. Morning workouts have a unique advantage: they allow you to start your day with an accomplishment and eliminate many common excuses that arise later in the day. Here’s how you can stick to your New Year fitness resolutions by establishing a sustainable, enjoyable morning workout habit.
Set Realistic Expectations and Goals
One of the most common pitfalls of New Year’s fitness resolutions is expecting dramatic changes in a short period. It’s essential to understand that lasting fitness progress takes time and patience. If you’ve accumulated years of inactivity or unhealthy habits, don’t expect to undo them in a matter of weeks. Unrealistic expectations often lead to frustration and burnout, resulting in quitting by March. Instead, approach your goals with a sustainable mindset by creating short, medium, and long-term objectives.
Short-term goal: Set a goal that you can achieve within the first month, such as committing to three morning workouts a week.
Medium-term goal: Focus on building consistency over three months, working toward increasing your workout frequency or intensity.
Long-term goal: Envision where you want to be in six months to a year—whether that’s improving strength, endurance, or overall fitness.
Breaking your journey into manageable segments ensures that you’re always working toward something. These milestones will keep you motivated, allowing you to experience progress while avoiding the burnout that often comes with unrealistic expectations.
Start with Small Steps and Ramp Up Gradually
When enthusiasm is high, it’s tempting to make drastic changes to your routine, diet, and lifestyle all at once. However, going from zero to 100 overnight often leads to overwhelm, exhaustion, and unsustainable habits. Instead, take a gradual approach. In the first week, focus on simply waking up early and making it to the gym a few times. In the second week, add a small adjustment, like incorporating one nutritious meal daily or dedicating an extra 10 minutes to stretching.
Over time, small adjustments to your diet and lifestyle will accumulate, making the process manageable and setting you up for long-term success. By avoiding the “all-in” mentality, you’ll build a solid foundation that’s both effective and sustainable, allowing you to stay consistent without feeling like you’ve “thrown the kitchen sink” at it.
Prepare the Night Before
Building a successful morning workout habit starts the night before. Set yourself up for success by preparing all of your workout essentials ahead of time. Lay out your clothes, pack your gym bag, and make sure your water bottle and any snacks are ready. This eliminates the need to make decisions or search for items in the morning, which can be a deterrent when you’re still groggy.
As a powerful additional trick from The Power of Habit, place your phone in one of your running shoes by your bed with the alarm set for your wake-up time. When the alarm goes off, reaching for your phone will require you to physically touch your workout gear, reinforcing the intention to get moving. This small yet effective cue helps bridge the gap between intention and action, making it easier to follow through.
Commit to an Earlier Bedtime
Adjusting your wake-up time for morning workouts doesn’t mean sacrificing sleep. Create a habit of going to bed earlier to ensure you’re well-rested and prepared for an active start. Set a reminder or an alarm to signal winding down each evening—powering off electronics, dimming the lights, and avoiding stimulating activities at least 30 minutes before bed. Over time, this new bedtime will feel more natural, and you’ll find it easier to wake up without feeling sluggish or tempted by the snooze button.
Accountability and Commitments
Accountability can be a powerful motivator when it comes to staying consistent with fitness goals. A few ways to create accountability include:
Sign up for a class: Many gyms offer early morning classes, and reserving your spot holds you accountable. The commitment, especially if there’s a cancellation fee, makes it harder to back out.
Work with a personal trainer: Even a weekly session with a trainer can provide structure and guidance. Trainers can design a workout plan for you to follow independently, ensuring that your workouts are well-rounded and effective.
Find an accountability partner: Having a friend or colleague who shares your goals can provide a valuable support system. Checking in with each other can make a significant difference in staying motivated and consistent.
Knowing someone else is counting on you makes it easier to show up, especially on days when motivation is low.
Go, Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
Establishing any habit requires consistency, especially on the days when you’re not feeling motivated. On mornings when you’d rather stay in bed, remind yourself that these are the moments that truly shape your commitment. Push through, knowing that skipping today will only make it harder to get back on track tomorrow. If you’re genuinely ill, make a conscious decision the night before to skip the gym and reset your alarm. That way, the decision is intentional rather than impulsive.
Track Your Progress and Celebrate Milestones
Tracking progress is a powerful way to reinforce your new habit and maintain motivation. Start by keeping a workout journal or using a fitness app to record details of each session, such as exercises, weights, reps, and duration. Watching your improvements over time serves as a tangible reminder of your dedication, making it easier to stay committed to your morning routine.
Celebrate small wins along the way. Reaching a milestone, such as completing your first full month of consistent workouts, deserves acknowledgment. These celebrations don’t have to be grand—simply recognize your progress and the effort you’ve invested. Each milestone reinforces your confidence and commitment, helping you stay on track in the months to come.
Conclusion
Forming a lasting morning workout habit is about cultivating consistency, not expecting instant results. Building new habits takes time, and some mornings will be easier than others. Be patient with yourself as you adapt to this new routine, trusting that each small step is contributing to a larger transformation.
By focusing on consistency over intensity, you’ll develop a habit that can serve you well beyond the initial excitement of the New Year.
