What's with all the Squats?

For those of you that train with me, you will be used to some form of squat exercise in most, if not all of your workouts. So why do we do them, and why all the focus on correct technique?

Firstly, for many of us, the glutes (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus - or the muscles that make up your backside) are underactive, fairly week muscles. This is a lifestyle issue - too much sitting, be it at your desk, or driving etc, has seen us switch off the glutes for the most part of the day. When it comes to tasks that require glute function, it is common for other muscle groups to kick in to compensate for weakness of those muscles.
Glutes are not the only muscle group recruited during a squat exercise, you will also use the front of the thighs - quads (though with good technique, the glutes should be doing more of the work), abdominals and core stabilisers in the back, hamstrings (back of thighs), calf muscles, and hip flexors.
With this amount of muscle recruitment for one exercise comes; greater calorie burning, increased heart rate, strength in the lower back and midsection, muscle gain (also important for continued burning of calories even at rest), increased flexibility of lower body (particulary with full range squats) and of course, toning of the butt and thigh muscles (woohoo!).
Poor execution of squats, espescially when weights are added, can cause upsests with the back and in particular, the knees if you allow it to be a quad dominated movement. Though, as mentioned above, good technique can strengthen the back and can also help prevent, improve, or eliminate problems with knee injuries.

Here is a little test for you, when you stand up out of your seat or off the lounge, are you using your arms to push you up, twisting and wriggling to stand up or leaning very far forward? If you are, it would suggest that your glutes aren't funcioning well. If you're not doing any of these things, and find that you stand up straight out of your chair, with both feet planted on the floor, and maybe even notice a little tension through your glutes - good for you! Your squats are really paying off!
So every time you perform squats, be it with me as I continue to repeat 'let your hips stick out behind you and push through your heels', or in a group fitness class, or in your own training time, just remember all the benefits this one exercise can have - and all the things that could go wrong if you're not doing them.