Coach Sharm, MSc

Thank you for coming over. I'm Sharm - a personal trainer for over 20 years, and I help men and women to lose inches around their tummy and get fitter without sacrificing their favourite food and spending countless hours in the gym! The exercises here are just some that I do with my clients, and they work great to burn fat, increase endurance and metabolism. If you'd like me to help you out, please click here. In the meantime, let's get started.

SQUATS

This is a great exercise that works your whole body, with a great emphasis on your lower limbs. It raises your heart rate quickly and fires up your metabolism in a jiffy!

Alright.. before you perform your exercise, make sure you've warmed up and done your dynamic stretching - this will help you perform better and lower the risks of injury.

Also, always remember you can regress (make it easier) and progress (make it harder), any exercise or workout that you're doing. Using this system of Rest Based Training  will help you LOVE exercise as you can customise it to your level.

Video: In the first part, I showed how to do full range of motion, proper squats. But if you're not ready for it, or have joint issues, the next part teaches the different ways to regress (change, make easier).

Why is this exercise great for burning body and belly fat?

Fat is burnt throughout the whole body when we exercise and when we rest after exercise. Doing abs exercises would do the same but to a much lesser level of effectiveness. This is a much superior exercise. It is also a compound exercise, so every repetition that you do burns more calories as compared to do isolation type of exercises.

Squats are compound movements - they involve using more than one muscle at one time. Squats activate the quads, hamstrings, knees, ankles, glutes and hip joints while being performed.

Research shows that as more muscle fibres are recruited in compound movements like squats, they will burn more calories than an isolated movement, for example, a bicep curl, when being performed. Squats are also a beneficial exercise for preserving muscle mass – during weight loss, sometimes muscle can be lost as well, so it is essential to practise exercises like squats which will help you lose unhealthy weight while maintaining a taut, toned body.

The effort of squatting consumes a great deal of effort (but you can always scale it back and make it easier when you're starting) and burns lots of calories in the process and after your workout.

Squats work out the complete lower body for an intense metabolism boost. Move on to adding weights to keep boosting your metabolism and burning fat.

How to perform your bodyweight squats?

- Stand with your feet parallel and a comfortable distance apart with your weight evenly distributed between your legs.
- Hands by your side
- Elongate and keep a neutral spine. Push your shoulders and ears as far apart as possible and maintain a perfect posture at all times.
- Engage your core by drawing your tummy towards the spine and pelvic floor (the muscle you would use to stop yourself from peeing) up towards your navel.
- Keeping your chest up, bend your knees then hips to lower your butt down toward the ground behind you.
- Butt down and back
- Knees don't go too much beyond your toes
- Upper body slight forward lean, keep it as upright as possible, just like an elevator moving up and down.
- Go as low as you can with control. Ideally, your hips should go below your knees. Swing arms gently to the front for balance as you lower yourself down.
-Then while keeping your heels on the ground push up to the start position.
- Exhale when you exert (Exhale when standing up)

If you are a beginner and have no knee/joint pain, you may want to regress (make it easier)

- Do less range of motion
- Use a fixed structure to help your balance (For now)
- Do what you can, and work towards perfect form.

How many should you do? Here are my recommendations.

Level 1 (Beginner): 10 Repetitions, Rest 2 minutes, Repeat 3 times (10 reps x 3 sets - 2 minutes rest)
Level 2 (Intermediate): 20 Repetitions, Rest 1 minute, Repeat 5x
Level 3 (Advanced): 40 Repetitions, Rest 30 seconds, Repeat 5x

These should be part of your workouts, which means add them if you don't have them in your current workout.

Remember, you can regress and progress anytime! As much as possible, try to progress 5 to 10% every week as you get fitter.

Here are more ideas on how you can progress to increase intensity (make harder).