Does the squat challenge work? 5 SCIENCE- backed FACTS must know
When it comes to working out and losing weight most of us think there is ALWAYS a slow and there is a FAST way to lose weight.
In reality there is only one way to lose weight and that is the right way. To do it the right, there are factors and ways you have to know and familiarize yourself with so when you start your weight loss or fitness program, you are fully prepared and ready to go.
It's really important for you to know the BENEFITS and the drawbacks of doing exercises like the squat challenges.
And most importantly I want to introduce you to workouts that are designed by fitness experts and they actually work and thousands of people have seen amazing results with these workouts.
Today, I want to show you what's the right way to lose weight and is the squat challenge the right way to do it or is it waste of your time?
The legend of 30 days workouts- myth or reality
The internet is absolutely overwhelmed with so many 7, 30, 50, 60 and 90 days challenges that are supposed to make you shred the pounds, lose weight and get the body of your dreams with minimum effort and time. The idea behind these challenges is very simple.
Instead of working out for 1 hour a day/6 days a week for god knows how long, you could do one single move for 5 mins a day for 30 days and you will get a tight butt and flat stomach that you always craved.
Sounds like a WIN WIN situation, right?
I wish it was that easy. Let me break it down into small digestible bits , so you actually know what it really means when someone asks DOES THE SQUAT CHALLENGE WORK? Are you ready? Let's get stuck in, shall we?
Will the squat challenge make you lose weight or NOT?
30-day squat challenges are one of these very popular workouts that whatever you do you can't ignore and the reason behind it, it's that they are :
- very easy to follow
- Take no time- 5 mins maximum
- No diet restrictions
- Can be done anywhere
- Low impact exercise, which means anyone can do it of any age group
Maybe you are going to hate me for it, But the fact of the matter is that WE LOVE TO TAKE SHORT CUTS AND WE'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO CHEAT OUR WAY TO LOSING WEIGHT OR LOOKING GOOD.
The thing that prompted me to write about these challenges is the obsession that I see so many people have about finding QUICK FIXES that require the least amount of time and effort. The sad truth is that these shortcuts never succeed or even if they do, they don't last for a long time, and guess what? we are back to square one looking for another type of a quick fix.
The question that I always find myself asking is
WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
I know I'm being really mean, but unfortunately, it's the truth that we don't like to talk about it or face. Maybe, just maybe it's time that we face the BITTER TRUTH. Enough with me being mean.. and back to our main topic.
How does the 30-day squat challenge work?
The promise is that by targeting specific area at a time you can focus on that part of your body that you want to trim down and strengthen. So, you will stay on your regular diet and you will keep doing it for 30 or whatever days the challenge states. After 30 days you should see some positive results in weight loss or in strength or toning those targeted muscles, and that's it.
This way you will get the results you always wanted without worrying about having a very strict diet and some fitness program that promises you wonders.
The GOOD and The BAD about PINTEREST and fitness forums
What I wanted to do is to find out if these challenges really do work or are they just pretty looking pins to make people click on them for the sake of publicity and that's it? The best place to find these challenges is of course PINTEREST.
You just type in the words squat challenges, and you will get an endless amount of colorful and beautiful pins that shows you how to do it and off you go.You are set on your way to sculpt the body of your dreams.
So, I decided to head off to pinterest.com and look up these challenges to see what they are all about. What I really like and dislike about Pinterest is that it makes everything look very appealing and attractive and that can be a good and bad thing.
The GOOD
What I like about it is that it inspires you to work out and eat healthy by presenting it to you in a very attractive way and you automatically find yourself motivated and drawn to it, which is a very positive thing.
The BAD
On the other hand, the bad thing about it is that these very appealing and attractive pins can mislead people to do the wrong things, and especially when it comes to working out and dieting. What do I mean by that? Let me tell you how I truly feel about it.
- Don't risk serious injuries
- pretty pins won't help lose weight fast
Over the years, I have learned that listening and reading other people's opinions when it comes to working out and dieting can have a very negative or positive impact on someone's life in general.
Here's the deal!.
It's really down to you to find out what's good or bad for you. As you know, we are all unique and our bodies react differently to different weight loss programs.. If you don't know what you are doing or new to working out, you can easily injure yourself just following someone else's advice that you read on a blog or a fitness forum.
Or even worse,
You try the workout and at the end you don't see the results you hoped for and wanted. I don't know about you but it can be very devastating and can have a negative impact on someone's confidence and self-esteem. Some people get affected so hard that they stop working out altogether because of it and that is the last thing you want to happen.
That's what I don't really like about pinterest.com is that by making everything look easy and appealing it can mislead most people to thinking that if I do this easy workout I will get faster results without worrying about having a new diet and a workout program. So, that's that. I'll let you think about that and don't forget to let me know what you think.
Back to my Does squat challenge work research...
When I was looking at the 30-day squat challenges, there were so many different squat variations. But the main idea was to do it as the following:
DAYS | REPITITIONS |
---|---|
DAY 1 | 50 reps |
DAY 2 | 55 reps |
DAY 3 | 60 reps |
DAY 5 | REST |
DAY 6 | 65 reps |
DAY 30 | 250 reps |
Basically, what you do is that you start with 50 reps and you increase it by 5 reps each day. You do will do it for 3 days straight and you take a rest on the fourth day and so on. By day 30 you will be able to do 250 reps in one go.
I have to admit that doing 250 squats in one go is a very impressive achievement and it's something that you should be proud of. My problem with these challenges is the way they have been presented and not the actual workout itself. No one can deny the fact that squat, push ups, and lunges do really work and they are proven to get you results.
ALSO READ:
The ugly truth about squats and similar challenges
- 1-no warm ups & no stretching
- 2-muscles need 24-72 hours to recover
- 3-risking INJURIES
- 4- 30-day challenges = time wasting
- 5- zero progress
After you are done with your workout, your body starts the repair and recovery process and that can takes up to 72 hours depends on the intensity of the workout you are doing.
Your muscle fibers get torn apart and weakened during intense and hard workouts, and that means the only way they are going to heal and repair themselves is by you resting them for at least 24 hours.
Resting those muscles and letting them recover is the only way you will see faster results, HOW?
It's very simple.
Giving your muscles an adequate time to recover will make them stronger and healthier and you will feel so energized and refreshed when you start working out again after a good rest.
Going back to the wonderful world of squat challenges, these undeniably important rules don't really exist, do they?
Let me tell you what those squat challenge PINS are telling you.
Squats challenges are telling you to overwork and exhaust your muscles every day till you get the best results possible. I mean seriously, what kind of logic is that?!
In simple terms, overworking your muscles will only weaken the muscles and you will see no improvement whatsoever.
What type of challenges should I do?
Well, the very first and most important rule when it comes to working out is to stay SAFE at all times, so we avoid serious injuries. How do we do that? it's very simple.
we mix it up.
Don't train the same muscle every day to avoid injuries by exhausting and weakening that muscle. What you need to do instead, it is to train different muscle groups every time you work out so you give different muscle groups enough time to recover and get stronger.
By now, hopefully I convinced you that 30 day squat challenges are not the way forward. Next, let me show you what workouts you should try and what workouts you should avoid.
The WORKOUTS that you should do and DON'T do:
Let me start with the one's you definitely should NOT do:
- 1-YOUTUbE exercise videos
- 2-Single muscle workouts
- 3-exercising and diet do hand in hand
Working out and eating clean and healthy diet go hand in hand. This is the number one reason why so many workout programs simply don't work.
They show you all these cool moves but they forget to educate their subscribers/followers about what foods to eat and what you should eat pre/post workouts and so on.
Do your home work before you commit.
The workouts that you should invest your time and effort in
There are so many easy and yet very effective workouts out there that are guaranteed to give you the desired results in terms of weight loss and muscle toning. These workouts are only 30-40mins long and they incorporate exercises that are scientifically proven to work.
Exercises like:
The workout programs that I would recommend are the WHOLE BODY WORKOUT PROGRAMS regardless of your fitness level. Whole body workouts are great for your heart, muscles, and joints and help to boost your energy levels too.
The benefits of doing whole body workouts are truly endless, so If you incorporate these workouts in your daily routine, you are going to be ……….
- You are doing cardio and strengthening your heart muscles
- Strengthens your joint muscles
- Keeps you spine healthy and pain free
- Boost your energy
- Strengthens your core muscles for more stabillity
BeachBody are known for making these type of workouts, like
P90X, P90X2,P90X3
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are very effective for weight loss and muscle building .They are perfectly suitable for all ages and fitness levels. You will be doing so many very effective exercises like
1- different push up moves
2- pull ups
3- so many different types of squats and lunges
4- yoga
5- plyometrics
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are high-intensity cardio and strengthening programs that will beat your body to shape. Insanity is all about fast-paced moves that will get you to drench in sweat while your heart rate will bounce off the roof. If you love to combine cardio and plyometrics exercises to strengthen and lose weight at the same time, then this is the perfect program.
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A muscle building workout that will help you build serious physique. If you love weightlifting and pumping iron then you have to try this BODYBEAST.
The thing I love about this one it's that you will be doing all the hard core weightlifting exercises that you usually do at the gym. But, you will be doing them in just 40-50 mins instead of 1hr 30min.
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The newest workout that is a combination between serious muscle building and high-intensity workouts. You will targeting every muscle individually with HAMMER workouts and you will do multiple muscle strengthening with the CHISEL workout.
Yoga based workout that will make sweat so much without doing any high intensity workouts. if you are a beginner and just started to exercise then this is for you. You can do yoga while sweating and working your ass off.
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Combination of cardio, weights, and yoga. It's complete workout program that covers every part of your body. They are all come with meal plans that suit your fitness goals, so it helps and encourages you to embrace a new healthy lifestyle.
The beauty of doing these workouts is that they incorporate so many different types of exercises, which is vital in keeping you motivated and not bored and most of all you will see positive results if you follow through with it, of course. There are other workout DVDs that you can try if you are not big fan of BeachBody, like:
- Julian Micheal's Body revolution is a 90-day extreme workout that incorporates so many different exercises and a complete meal plan.
- Tapout XT 1,2 are martial art based workout programs that uses resistance bands instead of weights. If you don't like using weights then this workout gives you another option to lose weight and build muscle without pumping iron.
If you don't like DVD workouts and want to go old fashion, then I would definitely recommend you check out REDDIT FITNESS WIKI PROGRAMS.
I promise you won''t be disappointed. You have to check it out, seriously!. As you can see that all the workouts that I have mentioned are complete workout programs that include:
- So many different types of exercises that cover a range of muscle groups like, cardio, yoga, high intensity, hypertrophy and more...
- 60-90 days workouts
- All include meal plans
These are the 3 things you need to do whenever you start a workout program even your own one. Finally, I would love to get your opinion about these challenges and any other workouts you have done. Or you have any questions about working out, in general, fire away and I'll do my best as usual.