Lower Body Workout: Squats with Tubing

Series Summary

Working out is time consuming. Many of us have busy schedules that hinder our ability to get proper exercise. Getting a good workout doesn't have to be that hard and you don't need to join an expensive gym. Working out from home is an easy option and you don't need to buy weights to get a good resistance workout. Get in shape now in the comfort of your own home. In this free fitness video series, let a personal trainer take you through a step-by-step workout that will get you toned and trim. She uses tubing for resistance to get a better workout. Learn how to use tubing for squats, lunges, standing abduction, hacksaw squats, dead lifts, calf raises and leg circles for a complete workout. Getting in shape is right around the corner after you watch this fitness series.

Video Transcript

"I'm going to show you how to do a squat with variable tubing resistance. You want to make sure that you have your form down, without any resistance first. Squat is a very dynamic movement. So, to set yourself up, the same principle applies, by putting your feet square with your hips, center your weight on all four corners of the feet. For the tubing, some are made where its elastic tubing all the way across, this just happens to have a band in between. Now the further out I put my feet, the more resistance I'm going to get to the movement. So, if I bring them in closer, it lessens the resistance; take them out wider, it makes the band tighter. I'm going to put them right here, about shoulder width and height and I'm going to think about my chair, leading with my chest, the analogy of the chair is one of the best ways to teach somebody a squat. And when we come back, any lower body exercise knee has to be behind the toe, stacked with the ankle. So, in order to do that, we have got to put our weight in heal because the primary mover for this exercise is going to be the glutes, then hamstrings, quads and the whole leg gets to kick in but when we first push off with our weight in heal, it's going to be the glutes. So, a big inhale, before we start the movement, and exhale and push off, weight in heal. You're going to find a stopping point, it's called a gold's eye tendon. That's that tendon near your joints, that's going to tell you, look, this is as far as I'm going to go, and that's peak contraction for you. There's really no reason to go any further than that. That's peak contraction, that's where you are going to get your strength; on your way down, on the way back up. So, we inhale, and exhale on the exertion. From a side view just turn sideways with the band so you can see because we've got to take care of the knee joints, so, one of the most important things again in lower body movement exercise is to keep the knee stacked with the ankle behind the toe. Push back, leave the chest lifted, nice, neutral, cervical posture, nice tall spine, no arching in the back. And, keep practicing and you will have perfect form. You want to work in the up range of anywhere from ten to twelve, maybe, fifteen reps but that's if you are doing with good form throughout the repetitions then you should reach fatigue with that amount."