Squats

This exercise is a squat and its aim is to improve your general leg and trunk strength.

Start in standing with your weight evenly distributed on both sides. Keeping your chest up, start lowering yourself down by bending your knees and moving your hips backwards. You may find it easier initially to have your arms out in front of you to help counterbalance the movement. How far down or deep you can go with the movement will depend on your strength and mobility. Aiming to have your thighs parallel to the ground is a good marker. Once at the bottom of the movement push through your feet to return back to the start position.

Try and have your weight distributed evenly between the heel and balls of your feet during the movement, and try and keep some space between your knees as well so that they aren't touching. Some people will have their knees come forward during the movement whilst others won't, it doesn't hugely matter and you will find which movement is more comfortable for you. Throughout the up and down phase of the movement remember to keep your chest up and look forward, that will help make sure your trunk remains in a nice stable position.

If this exercise is too easy, to make it more difficult you could increase the amount of reps you are performing, or hold onto a weight with your current number of reps, or progress onto a single leg sit to stand.

If this exercise is too difficult you could reduce the range of the movement, or try perform a sit to stand exercise instead. We have videos of these exercises on our channel for you to view.

EXERCISES 🎦