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What Happens to Your Body When You Do Squats Every Day

Further enhance your performance with squats.

If you're a health-conscious individual and put a lot of effort into your wellness routine, it's always a good idea to learn new things to further enhance your performance. Any workout enthusiast may know the many amazing benefits of adding squats to your fitness routine. But are you overdoing them? We reached out to Dr. Mike Bohl, MD, MPH, ALM, the Director of Medical Content & Education at Ro and a certified personal trainer, to explore what happens to your body when you do squats every day, so listen up.

First off, squats target a ton of muscles. According to Dr. Bohl, they actually work a greater number of muscles than the majority of other exercises and will help boost muscle growth, muscle strength, energy expenditure, and joint stabilization.

Dr. Bohl explains, "When you do a squat, you're working out the muscles in your legs (including the quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, adductors, and calves), the muscles in your buttocks, and the muscles in your core. And, depending on the type of squats you're doing or the weight you're holding, you may also be working out muscles in the upper body and arms." So keep reading to learn more, and next up, don't miss What Happens to Your Body When You Work Out 7 Days a Week.

But how much is too much when it comes to squats?

fitness woman performing squats outdoors in sunshine
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What happens to your body when you do squats every day? Dr. Bohl clues us in, explaining, "Doing squats every day is a good way to maximize the benefits you get from squats, including building your leg muscles and burning calories."

Although it's not recommended to perform the same exercise several times in one day since it's important to provide your body with proper recovery time, he adds, "Doing squats every day is generally considered safe. However, if you tend to do squats with a lot of extra weight or are feeling tired the day after doing squats, you may want to give your body a break so you don't accidentally injure yourself."

Makes great sense to us! Once you learn the additional benefits of squats, you'll definitely be motivated to add more to your regimen.

There are more benefits to performing squats than you may realize.

Not only is this exercise beneficial to your physique, but squats are also an excellent calorie burner. You heard that right! The reason for this? Your leg muscles require a lot of energy and are the largest muscles in your body, so performing squats is a good way to assist in weight loss.

"In general, you need to burn 3,500 calories in order to lose one pound of weight. Some rough estimates suggest that doing one squat burns one-third of a calorie. Therefore, it would take over 10,000 squats to lose a pound of fat," according to Dr. Bohl. Be mindful, however, that eating at a calorie deficit and dieting is a greater part of losing weight. If you want to speed up the process, it makes good sense to combine dieting with your daily squats.

Alexa Mellardo
Alexa is the Mind + Body Deputy Editor of Eat This, Not That!, overseeing the M+B channel and delivering compelling fitness, wellness, and self-care topics to readers. Read more about Alexa
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