8.30.2007
Why You Should Be Doing High-Rep Bodyweight Squats
| If you train - you should train your legs - that much should be obvious. And it should be obvious for a couple reasons: 1. High-rep leg work builds mental toughness, you can always push yourself to do a few more reps than you think you can. 2. Leg work stresses the heart and lungs, giving you a great cardio vascular workout in addition to building strength. 3. Intense leg work strengthens the largest, strongest muscles of the body allowing for more muscle growth and improvement throughout the entire body, not just the legs. |  |
4. Bodyweight squats provide much of the benefits of weighted Squats without the wear and tear on the body.
Im sure I could think of a few more, but those key points should be more than enough to go on for now, and more than enough to get you to start training your legs if you haven't been.
Over the last few thousand years, Indian Wrestlers have been doing a "swaying" form of a bodyweight known as a "Baitak" as pictured in Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning as a Hindu Squat:
The Indian wrestlers did thousands of them per day to build incredible power and endurance.
Of course, you can also do the regular style squat, often called simply "wrestlers squats" - like a barbell squat without the barbell.
Either way, the benefits are tremendous. I highly recommend starting at a very manageable level, (say only 50 if you are in very good shape) and building from there.
The soreness the next day will tell you that there's something youve been missing, and the spring in your legs from this kind of training will keep you doing them for a long time.
Labels: Baitak, High Rep Work Out, Indian Wrestling, Leg Work Out, Mental Toughness, Training Ideas
