Description

Avoid knee pain and maximize results with the right form

Transcript

Michele Stanten: Hi! I'm Michele Stanten, Fitness Director for Prevention magazine. The squat is one of the best exercises to help you achieve a firm, shapely butt and strong toned thighs. Plus, it targets large muscles like the gluteus maximus and quads to fire up your fat-burning engine. But this move can be a pain in the knees, if you don't nail the form. The next time you do a squat, look in the mirror. See you knees jut out past your toes. If they do, you're shifting your body weight forward. This puts too much pressure on your knees and not enough on your butt and thighs. So you're more likely to hurt yourself and less likely to firm up those trouble spots. Now, stop and take it from the top. Stand with you feet, shoulder width apart and your ab high. Bend your hip and knees and stick out your butt. Then lower your body into a squat position, as if you're sitting back into a chair behind you. Now here's the trick. Shift your body weight on to your heal so you can wiggle your toes and keep your knees above your feet. If you're not using weight, it may help to reach your arms out in front of you for a counterbalance. Lower until you just brush the feet, then stand back up, keeping your knees behind your toes and weighting your heels to distribute the effort across the different muscles groups you're trying to hit. And you'll firm up faster. See the difference? Now that's how you do a squat. Check back soon for more quick trainer tips.