Greetings, friends! We continue to explore the topic of squats, and today we have nine very hot plyometric exercises on our menu. The editors of the site recommend these training elements to trained athletes, crossfit enthusiasts and avid fitness fans.
Plyometric squats
Plyometric exercises are exercises whose technique involves explosive muscle effort. These exercises almost always involve jumping. They burn a huge amount of calories, develop power, speed and reaction. Plyometric training is very popular among football stars and Hollywood celebrities. Why are you worse?
I don’t think I need to remind you about the mandatory warm-up before such a rigorous workout? Do you want to pump your body to the maximum? Forward!
Jump Squats
A movement is called plyometric when both legs leave the ground at the same time. In other words, it’s a jump. These exercises put maximum stress on your muscles and add cardio to your strength training.
Thus, to complicate it, add jumping to it. So, squat down, and then straighten your knees with a sharp effort and jump up. Land with your legs slightly bent.
Frog
Frogs are known to be great jumpers. Unleash your inner amphibian! Squat down with your legs wide apart. Socks apart, pelvis almost touches the floor. Place your hands on the floor in front of you. Now jump out with your hands up! Land back in frog pose.
Squat down with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and your arms out to your sides, as if you were standing on a surfboard with your right side forward. Now turn around with a jump, landing on the board on the other side.
Squat with jump on obstacle
This jump squat variation is for people who like a more challenging workout. Stand in front of a large, stable obstacle. Can be used . Do a regular squat, push hard off the floor and jump with both feet onto the obstacle. At the top, do a squat again and jump back. Land very softly! Start with small steps, then you can increase the height.
Then, when you master the movement well, you can increase the height. Be very careful, this is a difficult exercise. It is not worth practicing without good preparation, as it is very easy to get injured.
Jump Squat – Knees High
Lower yourself into a low squat, feet hip-width apart. Jump sharply, at the top point trying to pull your knees as high as possible and slam your hands on them (or on the side of your shins). Land in a low squat again. You should not stand in between reps. Crouched - jumped, crouched - jumped. Believe me, you haven’t warmed up like this in a long time!
Without leaving the squat
Do a regular squat. Make a springy movement with your pelvis down and jump without straightening your legs. Land on bent legs and repeat. Take small, quick jumps. You do not straighten your body throughout the entire exercise.
Squat down, place your hands in front of you. Jump your legs back and assume a plank position. Jump back into a squat and jump up. Land on your haunches again and repeat the exercise. Quickly straighten your legs, pulling them forward and landing in a low squat. Swinging your arms will help you boost your body and improve your agility. We kneel down carefully, and under no circumstances hit them on the floor.
Russian squats with jumps
The starting position is almost the same as for a sumo squat. Just put your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes apart. Shift your weight to your right leg and jump to the side with your left. Land on both feet. Shift your weight to your right leg and repeat the movement on the other side.
Well, are you still alive? Congratulations - you did a great job!
Cardio training– an excellent way to burn subcutaneous fat, especially in combination with a low-calorie diet. Such training includes running, swimming, cycling, and training on special cardio equipment. In the process of such exercises, not only active weight loss occurs, but also training the cardiovascular system, the overall endurance of the body increases. It is possible to carry out a full cardio workout at home without having any equipment or training equipment? Yes, it is quite! We offer an excellent set of five exercises that can be performed in any conditions. All that is required is your desire.
The proposed high-intensity training is circuit training. This means that all five exercises must be performed in the order in which they are given. Having completed one circle, you can rest for no more than 5 minutes and start the exercises again starting from the first. You must complete at least 4 laps.
Attention! You cannot rest between exercises until you complete the circuit!
They are also called "explosive". Starting position is the same as for regular push-ups: lying down. The difference is that at the moment of push-ups it is necessary to push the body upward with force, the arms must straighten and come off the floor. Then you need to land softly. You can complicate the exercise: at the moment you lift your hands off the floor, clap. We perform push-ups 15 times.
This exercise is much more difficult. Starting position - on all fours, knees resting on the chest. With a sharp push we throw our legs back and go into a lying position. From this position we return to all fours again. Then we jump up, stretching out our whole body, with our hands above our heads making a clap. We return to all fours. All this must be done continuously, without stopping. Repeat burpees 20 times.
An excellent exercise for the abs, especially the side ones. Stand up straight with your arms outstretched. With a quick movement, pull your left knee towards your chest and bring your leg back. Then we do the same with the right leg. We alternately pull our knees to our chest as quickly as possible, as if we were running up a hill. Must be performed 30 times (15 on each leg).
Starting position – standing, hands behind your head. We squat and then sharply jump up, hands remaining behind our heads. We jump out in this way 15 times. It is worth noting that the squatting technique in the exercise must be correct. Your knees should not go beyond your toes, as if you were sitting on an imaginary chair. This technique puts maximum stress on the muscles of the buttocks and back of the thigh.
Starting position – standing, arms along the body. We squat with our legs spread apart, while our hands are placed point-blank between our legs. This is similar to the pose of sumo wrestlers, hence the name. From this position, we push our legs back so that we are in support while lying on outstretched arms. Return to the sumo squat and return to the starting position. We perform 15 repetitions.
Performing one round of exercises will take no more than 10 minutes. As the body gets used to the load, the speed needs to be increased. You need to train at least three times a week. The table below shows a list of exercises and the number of repetitions for each.
These exercises are part of the complex of the popular trend. What makes it special? CrossFit offers high-intensity workouts for all fitness levels that work every muscle in the body and build endurance. The main condition is that you need to perform the exercises quickly and without rest. It is due to this that high training efficiency is achieved.
The proposed exercises put a lot of stress on the joints. It's better if you wear knee pads. There are a lot of jumps in the complex, so you need to choose the right shoes. It must have a shock absorption effect. When jumping barefoot or wearing shoes with thin soles, there is a risk of damaging your knees and feet.
By performing this complex every day, the first results will be visible within a month. The body will become drier and more prominent due to the reduction. If you supplement exercise with a diet high in protein and limited in fat, the fat will gradually be squeezed out by the muscles. You will get a beautiful body without wasting time and money on the gym!
CrossFit at home
The habit of leading a healthy lifestyle is addictive, so fitness is increasingly gaining popularity. A favorite exercise both in the gym and among home workouts among weightlifters and fitness athletes is the squat. It can not only burn calories and help reduce fat, but also round the buttocks, give them a beautiful shape, tighten the hips and make the legs sculpted.
Types of squats
It turns out that squats can be varied and thereby pump up almost the entire body. You can use weights or fitness bands to increase the load. Experienced trainers identify several that can improve your figure.
- Gun. Its essence is as follows: you need to stand straight, lean on one leg, straighten the other leg parallel to the floor, stretch your arms forward, palms down. After this, you need to do a squat so that ideally your hips touch your heels. When performing the exercise at the bottom point, the second leg should not touch the floor. You also need to get up slowly to avoid injury. When performing the exercise, it is important to maintain balance and not lower your extended leg to the floor.
- One leg squat. Similar to the previous example, only the second leg does not need to be extended forward. It is enough to bend it at the knee and move it forward or backward. When performing the exercise, you need to go as low as possible and return to the starting position. At first, you can lean on a chair or a wall.
- Sumo. The starting position of this exercise: legs wide apart and toes turned outward. You need to lower yourself until you get a right angle at the knee joint. To complicate the exercise and increase the load, the trainer may recommend performing a sumo squat on the toes without supporting the heel. So the load on the gluteal and thigh muscles increases many times over.
- Pulse Squat. Looks like a standard exercise. The difference is that at the lowest point it is necessary to perform three springing movements of the pelvis (amplitude 4-5 cm).
- Surfer. The starting position is as follows: a squat is performed with legs wide apart, arms spread to the sides. The stance should resemble a surfer on a board. When jumping, you should turn around so as to land on an imaginary attribute on the other side.
- Squat with legs crossed. It is important to stand up straight, place your feet shoulder-width apart, and place your hands on your hips. It is important to remember that both knees resemble a right angle when performing the exercise. One leg is brought back and to the left, a squat is performed.
- Squat on a chair. The athlete stands straight and places his feet together. You need to perform a squat with your pelvis pulled back until your thighs are parallel to the floor. An outside view: a man sits down on a chair.
- Grand plié. You need to stand up straight, place your heels together and toes apart. When performing the exercise, you cannot move your hips back, but you need to sit down straight down. If it is very difficult to perform such a stance, you can lift your heels off the floor at the lowest point. You need to return to the starting position slowly.
- Buttocks to heels. The athlete joins his legs together and extends his arms forward, palms down. He needs to squat down so that his buttocks touch his heels. To maintain balance at the lowest point, you can rest your hands on the floor.
- Squat twist. Feet are placed shoulder-width apart and a standard squat is performed. When returning to the starting position, you need to touch the opposite elbow with your knee and twist your body.
- Jump squats. This particular exercise can have several variations.
Jump squat technique
Beginning athletes will be interested to know that there are exercises that can be used for strength and cardio. For example, jump squats. The technique of execution is that you need to perform a standard squat and jump sharply up from the bottom point. You should land with your legs slightly bent.
Jump squats require careful adherence to the starting position. Toes are turned outward, feet are shoulder-width apart. The hands are placed behind the head and fixed at the back of the head. You need to ensure that your back is straight and that the arch in your lower back is maintained. The emphasis when jumping falls on the middle part of the foot.
If you use a barbell when performing a jump squat, the technique of which is described above, you need to remember a few points:
- The apparatus must be held with straight, lowered arms throughout the entire exercise. The back should be straight.
- Exhale when jumping, inhale when squatting.
- You need to push off with your legs as much as possible to obtain greater amplitude when jumping.
- You need to land on slightly bent legs.
Errors in performing the exercise
Beginning athletes often make several mistakes when performing jump squats:
- Land on your heels.
- Lean forward too much, which shifts the load.
Variation of jump squats
- Frog. The athlete stands with his legs spread wide apart. The pelvis should almost touch the floor, and the toes should point outward. You need to jump out of the squat sharply. The hands touched the floor, and after the maneuver they were raised up. Then you need to return to the starting position: a deep squat while maintaining balance.
- Squat with jump and knee kick. The legs are placed hip-width apart. When performing a low squat and then coming out of it, you need to jump sharply. The knees are pulled as high as possible at the top point, the hands touch the shins or knees. You need to lower yourself into a low squat and immediately jump up again.
- Squats with jumping up onto an obstacle. This exercise is similar to the previous one, but you need to jump onto a platform, cube, etc. You need to make sure that the structure can withstand such a maneuver. The athlete should squat down and jump onto the obstacle with both feet. The platform should not be too high. Once at an obstacle, the athlete performs a standard squat and jumps back. As you gain experience, you can increase the height of the platform.
Benefits of doing the exercise
In general, squats allow you to develop muscles and increase blood circulation in the pelvic area. The general physical condition improves, and the figure is corrected due to the burned fat. The good thing about basic exercise is that it burns excess weight. But the benefits of jumping squats are as follows: calories are actively burned, and muscles receive additional tone. Thanks to the modified technique, in contrast to the basic exercise, the buttocks acquire a beautiful and toned shape, the quadriceps and hamstrings become prominent.
What muscles are involved?
You need to know which muscles work when performing a jump squat. The main ones are: quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks and calves. The core muscles are called auxiliary muscles.
Frequency and purpose of the exercise
Like other exercises, jump squats require stability in execution. All athletes who have no contraindications can perform them. These include:
- injured joints;
- back pain;
- large excess weight;
- spinal injuries.
If there are problems with the cardiovascular system, the athlete should consult a doctor.
You can start with 50 seconds, the number of rounds is 3, rest between rounds is 1.5-2 minutes.
Since the jump squat helps develop explosive muscle strength, the number of calories burned increases significantly. Therefore, cardio training is rarely complete without this exercise.
My respect, dear readers! Today, as part of a traditional technical note, we’ll talk about the squat-jump exercise.
After reading, you will learn everything about muscle atlas, the benefits and technique of performing the exercise, and we will also find out how to “cheaply and cheerfully” work your legs at home.
So, take your seats in the hall according to the tickets you purchased, we are starting.
Jump squats. What, why and why?
With this note we continue our four-part series on analyzing various exercises that can be performed at home without special equipment (or with minimal availability). In general, it is generally accepted that work on changing yourself must begin with going to the gym, purchasing an annual subscription and connecting with a local trainer. Of course, all this costs a pretty penny, so you have not yet received any results, but you have already spent N amount of money. So, this approach is fundamentally wrong, but the following is correct - you independently adjusted your diet and at the same time included physical activity at home (later it is possible to purchase fitness equipment, for example, collapsible dumbbells). In this situation, you will begin to see results very soon. and responsibility for them will rest entirely with you.
Of course, to be active at home, you need special exercises. And today we will add one of these to our four-walled database. So, please love and favor - jumping squats.
Note:
For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.
Muscle atlas
The exercise belongs to the dynamic/plyometric class and is aimed at working the leg muscles.
The muscle ensemble includes the following units:
- targeted – quadriceps and hamstrings;
- auxiliary - gluteus maximus, gastrocnemius, soleus, lower back muscles, rectus abdominis.
A complete muscle atlas looks like this.
Advantages
By performing the squat-jump exercise, you can expect to receive the following benefits:
- development of strength and explosive power in the front and back of the thighs;
- increase in leg muscle mass (option with weights);
- increasing the overall endurance of the body;
- development of the cardiovascular system (strengthening the heart muscle);
- increasing the anabolic and metabolic responses of the body;
- elevated (compared to regular squats) calorie consumption;
- development of jump height;
- development of coordination and balance;
- strengthening the patella tendons and reducing the risk of knee injuries;
- improving the circulation of body fluids (cleansing waste/toxins).
T execution technique
Jump squats are an intermediate/medium difficulty exercise. The step-by-step execution technique is as follows.
Step #0.
Stand up straight, place your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and point your toes slightly to the sides. Lower yourself into a squat position until your thighs are parallel (or slightly lower) to the floor. Extend your arms in front of you at shoulder level. This is your starting position.
Step #1.
As you exhale, push through your heels and jump up as high as possible. At the same time, move your arms back and straighten your toes completely in the air. As soon as the flight phase ends and your toes touch the floor, perform a deep squat. Repeat the specified number of times.
In the picture version, all this disgrace looks like this.
In motion like this:
Variations
In addition to the standard version of jump squats, there are several variations of the exercise:
- from a sumo perspective;
- with dumbbells/weights in hands;
- with a barbell.
Secrets and subtleties
To get the most out of the exercise, follow these guidelines:
- from a squat, try to jump up as high as possible;
- first land softly on your toes and only then place your feet on your heels;
- during squats, spread your knees to the sides and try not to let them go too far beyond your toes;
- do not perform the exercise if you have knee problems or are overweight 10 kg;
- As you progress, use additional weights;
- help yourself with your hands, pushing back with them;
- breathing technique: inhale - when lowering down, exhale - when jumping up;
- numerical training parameters: number of approaches 3-5 , holding position from 30 seconds
We're done with the theoretical side, now let's look at some practical points.
What effect do jump squats have on the buttocks?
Surely many girls are familiar firsthand with the phenomenon of cellulite on problem areas of the lower part, in particular the buttocks. Well, numerous studies show that cellulite begins to decrease when the affected area improves/establishes optimal blood circulation, and jump squats do an excellent job of this task. Thus, if you want to remove the orange peel, then include this exercise in your leg training program.
My legs have stopped growing, what should I do?
Some of the male population of gyms are familiar with the problem of stopping volumetric progress in the development of leg muscles. As they say: “...I have them this way and that, with words and without words,” but they don’t grow in either eye and that’s it. Yes, such a phenomenon does occur, and it is called a plateau or stagnation of results.
To overcome this stagnation, use squats + jumping jacks with dumbbells according to the following scheme: 4-5 sets with weight 20-25 % of 1 RM on 20-25 repetitions and amount of rest per set 40-45 seconds A more advanced scheme may involve tying exercises into supersets. For example, first you perform a basic heavy squat with a barbell at 8-10 repetitions, and then without rest you jump with dumbbells for the amount.
Try this technique, and after a while you won’t recognize your legs!
Afterword
As the number of likes to home technical articles shows, they are becoming quite popular, so we decided to continue broadcasting in this direction. And today they added +1 exercise - jump squats, in the four-walled pantheon of notes. I’m sure that you haven’t done this before, am I right?
That's all for now, see you soon this Friday!
PS: Do you do plyometric exercises? Which?
PPS: did the project help? Then leave a link to it in your social network status - plus 100 points towards karma guaranteed :)
With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.
This is a classic plyometric exercise that involves a powerful upward jump from a squat. A so-called explosive load is created, that is, a quick effort is made in a short period of time, which develops muscle strength and increases their volume.
Jumping can be done with a minimum level of training, but do not forget to strictly control the technique and monitor your own sensations. In most cases, additional equipment for the exercise will not be required, unless you use weights.
What muscles work?
The main load falls on the quadriceps femoris muscle or, more simply, the quadriceps. The buttocks are also strengthened.
To a lesser extent, jumping loads the back muscles and lower leg muscles. Additionally, the abdominal muscles work, but only slightly.
Correct technique
If squat jumps are performed without weights:
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart and straighten your back. You can cross your arms in front of you at chest level.
- The squat is done while inhaling. Lower yourself until parallel with the floor. You can go a little lower, the main thing is to watch your feelings.
- As you exhale, you need to make a powerful jump up, pushing off with your full feet. Try to jump as high as possible, your hips should “spring” as much as possible.
- Once your feet have fully touched the floor, squat down again. Repeat squat jumps as many times as necessary.
It is especially important to control your landing: try to plant both feet on the floor at the same time. You should land on slightly bent legs (as softly as possible) and immediately go back into another squat.
It is advisable to use soft and comfortable sports shoes designed for such training, ideally with shock-absorbing soles that can effectively absorb shock. It is also better to choose a surface for practicing, focusing on a softer surface (accordingly, concrete or asphalt surfaces are not the best options).
We use weights
Some athletes use additional weight (for example, dumbbells) or a complication in the form of jumping onto an elevated surface. But this option increases the risk of joint injuries; if you land poorly, you can damage your ankle and sprain ligaments.
If you plan to do weighted jump squats, we recommend using comfortable dumbbells for this purpose. In this case, the technique is adjusted:
- It is better to hold dumbbells in straight arms pointing downwards. The squat is also done while inhaling, the back is straight.
- Push off the floor and jump as high as possible. The arms are still straight and pointing down.
- Soft landing with a squat.
Contraindications
Jump squats are contraindicated if you have joint injuries (especially knees) or problems with your back and spine. The presence of cardiovascular diseases is also a signal that requires special caution, and it is better to consult with specialists (doctor and trainer).
Overweight people should also refrain from performing the exercise. In this case, an unacceptable compression load on the spine and knee joints may occur.
Benefits of the exercise and notes
An unconditional positive effect is the development of “explosive” muscle strength. This type of training results in significant calorie consumption, so it can be used as a fat-burning workout. It also helps increase the working weight used for leg presses or barbell squats.
In a professional environment, plyometric exercises are used, for example, in training football players, basketball players, and even bodybuilding.
Plyometric exercises also include:
- jumping using a skipping rope;
- jumping over obstacles and barriers, with legs tucked in, etc.
Of course, don't forget about a light warm-up before starting class. It should not be too intense, do not overdo it, otherwise you will quickly become exhausted while jumping.
If you are performing this exercise as part of a complex aimed at training your legs, it is recommended to do it first.