You don’t have to rely on squats to get a perky butt! These two tricks also work

Most girls do squats to make their buttocks more beautiful, but there are more ways to exercise the buttocks than just squats. You can gradually build up the strength of the back of the legs and buttocks through other movements.

Knee pain, you can’t ignore it!

You must have heard this question before: "My knees hurt when I do squats, what should I do?" There are many reasons for knee pain, and no matter how serious it is, it is recommended to see a doctor and physical therapist for evaluation. Your doctor can check whether your knee joint and surrounding ligaments and tendons are "really" inflamed or damaged. If there is a problem, seek treatment immediately. If there is no problem, you should pay more attention to where the discomfort is coming from. Often knee pain problems come from weak hips.

In our experience, excluding cases where pain is caused by damage to the joint or soft tissue, knee pain is usually not caused by exercise, but by:

Incorrect daily posture causes the joint tendons and ligaments to light up yellow

The joints of the human body from the feet to the head are interconnected. If the ankle is crooked while walking, the knee and pelvis cannot be in the correct neutral position. If you hunchback for a long time, the pelvis connected downwards will also be crooked. In daily life, the symptoms of wear and inflammation are not obvious due to the limited range of motion. However, large movements during exercise and incorrect postures causing compensation in other parts of the body can easily make the symptoms of joint injury caused by unbalanced postures prominent.

Sitting for a long time and lack of exercise, muscle deterioration causes imbalance in movement

Every joint in the human body is controlled by many muscles, especially the knee joint. When any muscle in your leg degenerates, it may cause incorrect angle of movement of the knee joint and cause problems with the joint ligaments.

A few years ago, when I didn't exercise, my knees would make a "cracking" sound every time I went up the stairs. There would be a sound for each step, and there would be a crackling feeling in the joints. I went to see a doctor at that time. The knee joint was not injured, but the sound did not go away. I didn't know what the problem was. Until I started exercising, my muscle strength became stronger and my muscle mass increased, and the problem no longer occurred.

Exercising and increasing muscle mass can allow muscles to share the burden of supporting joint bones; doing more resistance training can increase bone density, increase joint strength, and avoid the incidence of osteoporosis and joint degeneration after menopause. If you have seen a doctor and confirmed that there is no problem with your joints, but you still experience knee pain when doing squats, what should you do?

Squat, an exercise used to assess human functionality?

The squat movement is a good "assessment indicator" when we help students do physical fitness assessments. It can reveal many imbalances from the soles of the feet to the back caused by daily postures, or even congenital physical problems.

For example: the hamstrings are too tight, so the hip advantage cannot be activated during squats, resulting in the force being applied to the front of the thighs; when squatting, the body leans forward too much, which may be caused by sitting for too long and causing tight hip flexors; the back cannot be straightened, which may be caused by a tight chest or a low hip range of motion; when squatting, the heels leave the ground, which may be related to insufficient ankle range of motion or tight calf muscles; the knees are

Straight inward contraction may be due to weak leg abductor muscles; inward collapse of the foot is more likely caused by congenital arch problems or muscle imbalance.

Safe Squat Indicators

You may not understand how to evaluate physical fitness from squats, but you must understand that squats are a very difficult movement; if you keep squatting in an incorrect posture, sports injuries are bound to occur sooner or later.

Safe squat indicators should at least meet the following points:

1. Point your toes forward (turn outward no more than 10 degrees).

2. Align your knees with your toes.

3. During the squat process, do not bend your knees inward.

4. Place your center of gravity on your heels, but keep the soles of your feet flat on the ground and use your hips to exert force.

5. Keep your back straight.

Most people start to experience knee pain after squatting. In addition to not knowing how to exert force with the hips, they put the force on the front of the leg during exercise (putting force on the quadriceps, that is, the front of the thigh, is not a wrong method, but it puts more pressure on the knees), which causes excessive pressure on the knee joints; especially insufficient muscle strength, which causes the knees to be unconsciously clamped inward during exercise, causing the knee joint to twist, which can indeed cause knee injuries in the long run.

Most girls do squats to make their buttocks more beautiful, but squats are not the only way to exercise the buttocks. You can start with other movements, such as bridge pose, deadlift, split squat, etc. to gradually build up the strength of the hind legs and buttocks, and then after training other muscle groups, put squats in the exercise menu after you have basic physical fitness.

Tips:

There are many reasons for knee pain. The accumulated pressure from upper cross syndrome and lower cross syndrome is likely to explode in the knee joint. Finally, I would like to appeal to everyone, whether it causes trouble in life or discomfort in the knees, to see a doctor and physical therapist to evaluate the condition first, and then rely on exercise to increase muscle strength and correct unbalanced posture and movements. This is the most fundamental solution!

Must learn! The most basic hip exercises

Squats may not be an option for beginners, but you still have to learn them through exercise. If you don't have a trainer to guide you, you can try doing this first to wake up your hips.

★Single-leg bridge pose

1. Lie flat on your back with your knees bent. Lift your hips until your shoulders and knees are in a straight line. Put your center of gravity on your heels, the forefoot can leave the ground, and the heels should be closer to your buttocks. At this time, use your core and squeeze your buttocks.

2. Stretch one leg forward, keeping your hips tight, hold the position for 20 seconds, then switch legs and lift them up.

Chair squat

1. Sit on a chair with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, knees aligned with toes

2. Straighten your body and lean forward, put your center of gravity on your heels, use the power of your hips to push yourself up, and practice hip dominance*.

* The so-called hip advantage refers to the hip muscle group being the main force initiating the movement.

3. When standing up, do not bend your knees inward.

This article is from Sancai Culture's "Use resistance to meet a better self"