As you might have already discovered, the squat is one of the most advantageous all round workouts for stimulating muscle gain and fat loss.

This is mainly because exercises like squats use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight work outs known to man. Squats use hundreds of muscles all through your body to move the load and also to stabilize your body while undertaking the work out.

Hence, these workout routines stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (raising fat-burning & muscle building growth hormone, testosterone, etcetera.) of all workout routines.

Another odd fact: College research studies have shown that inclusion of squats into a training routine increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, although upper body actions are not performed during the squat. Whether your aim is gaining lean muscle mass, losing body fat, developing an overall solid body, or enhancing athletic performance, the plain squat is among the ultimate work outs to realize this.

Squats can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or even just body weight. Squats really should only be performed with free weights NEVER with a machine! (This post shows why machine squats are a horrible exercise for your body)

The type of squat that individuals are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the upper back. Various specialized strength coaches feel that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic effectiveness and carry significantly less danger of lower back injury.

The mix of all 3 squats (not necessarily during the same phase of your exercise regimen) will yield the best benefits for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic efficiency. Front squats are somewhat more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are drastically more complicated than either back squats or front squats.

If you are only accustomed to performing back squats, it will take you a few attempts to become comfortable with front squats, so start out light.

To carry out front squats:

It can be slightly tricky to learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are two approaches to perform this exercise.

Using the first method, you move under the bar and cross your forearms into an X position while resting the bar on the dimple which is produced with the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your elbows up high so that your arms are parallel to the ground. You then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your fists against the bar for support. This strategy is a little tricky so you want to ensure to have the weight resting on muscle and not bone!

You can also hold the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on your fingers against your shoulders. For both ways, your elbows have to stay up high to prevent the weight from falling. Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground during the squat. Figure out which bar support method is more comfortable for you.

Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back and down keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs are nearly parallel to the floor, then press back up to the beginning position. Keeping your weight more towards your heels is the key factor in squatting to shield your knees from damage and develop strong injury resistant knee joints.

Remember squats done properly actually strengthen the knees; squats done incorrectly can damage the knees. Practice 1st with an un-weighted bar or a relatively light weight to determine the movement. Most people are stunned how hard this activity works your abs once you learn the correct form.

You also need to use a lighter weight on front squats. For example, you may wish to use about 250 lbs for 8 reps on the back squat, but on the front squat, use close to 175 lbs for 8 reps.

So there you go! One of the best exercise activities for both rock hard abs, and a rock hard physique from head to toe! There are several more, but the front squats are one of the most under-utilized.