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Squats

This exercise targets your quadriceps, activate your core and just about every other muscle of your lower body including your glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

How to Squat

1) Stand as tall as you can with feet spread shoulder-width apart. Your lower back should be naturally arched. Hold your arms straight out in front of your body at shoulder level. Brace your core and hold it that way throughout the entire exercise.
2) Lower your body as far as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees. Pause and slowly push yourself back to the starting position. Your torso should stay upright and your arms should stay in the same position from start to finish. The tops of your thighs should be parallel to the floor or lower.

  • keep your core tight and don’t let your lower back round.
  • Keep your weight on your heels, not your toes throughout the entire exercises. You should be able to wiggle your toes at any given moment during your squat.
  • Knees should always follow the direction of your toes.

By adding a jump at the end of your squat, you will increase your heart rate and switch your body to fat burning mode. Try 10 squat jumps at the end of every circuit throughout your workout. By the end of your workout, you will have added 120 squat jumps. Increase reps each week and also add in some weights every few days to really challenge yourself.

Let me know below how you are doing each week and make sure to add the strength you gained and the inches you’ve lost around your thighs!

 

Join the discussion 29 Comments

  • Heather says:

    I’m in! I need a kickstart with working my lower body as all I’ve been doing over the summer is biking, hiking, rollarblading and upper body workouts. I’m saving your program for the winter when I have to be in the gym everyday instead of outside.

    So how many circuits do we do and how many reps in each?

    Starting stats

    Thighs – 22in.

  • Hi Flavia
    Just a comment on what a great time Lisa and I had at the Live Large Convention! I had a load of information to take home from every segment of this event. We were inspired to re-energize our workouts from the Q & A Pros panel, inspred by Luciano and Jeff’s inspiring talks, learning more on Nutrition with Vince. We have focus and are hard at work implementing our first “new habit” for this month. It was great meeting you and I’m certain that one day we will be attending your first convention. From our first arriving at the hall we were warmly greeted by Mama Del Monte (who knew we were from Beeton without us telling her!), family members and yourself. We spoke with great people who gave us inspiration, ideas and a lot of information on various aspects of life. Lisa and I are just elated and believe we may have made some life-long friends. We look forward to seeing you again. Keep up the inspirational work that you and Vince are doing. I’m always looking for great workouts from you.
    A true fan
    Ginette Kitchener

  • Carolyn says:

    These are brutal brutal BRUTAL! I love jump squats after heavy weighted squats to fatigue that last little bit.

  • Irene says:

    I love your postings, please keep all this neat info coming. I like how you break up your advice into little things that I can incorporate into my life immediately. (If something requires a complete revamping I just cannot maintain it for long because all the other parts of my life pushback) By making these improvements slowly over time-they are things that I tend to keep in my routine. By following you, I am improving my life steadily and consistently. Thank you so much. You are a wonderful role model.

  • Andrea MacDonald says:

    I just started your program this week and I am sore!!! It feels great and I can’t wait to see my results. Loving all of the circuits.

  • Anna Smith says:

    Thanks Flavia. 1 quick question, how long does it take you to workout? I have been doing FBL for about 5 months now, and I absolutely love my results! I do 15 – 20 reps of each exercise and usually use 10 – 15 lb dumbells. I started doing the killer abs warm up and it takes my about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete a workout.

    • Flavia says:

      That’s ok if it takes you that long as long as you are still seeing results.

    • Neha Sheth says:

      I have been following this workout for 3 months and I am doing more like 12 reps of each exercise and it still takes me an hour! With the warm up it would add another 7 min or so! The only problem is no time is left for cardio..If I follow this routine, I dont get time to do a solid cardio. Flavia, can you suggest a way to add a reasonable cardio for the week ( i workout 5 days a week) with the workout not exceeding 1 hour 15 min? I love your exercises!

      • Flavia says:

        You can take out the abdominal exercises since you are warming up witht them and add the exercise that comes with the abs (when there is one) to the last circuit. Then you can do some cardio. You could also combine bi’s and tri’s from 2 workouts into one, don’t do cardio that day but do a full 30-40 after the workout you took the exercises from. You can do that for a couple of the days and therefore do 2 days of cardio plus DAY 2 (which is mostly cardio) and you should be good to start with that.

  • Tiffiany says:

    Is there a way to improvise on this move but still get “most of the benefits” I have a bad knee and squats make it feels like it’s going to explode.

    • Flavia says:

      You could try not to squat too low or jump with weights to your side back and forth (over a rope) without the squat.

    • debbie says:

      Hi Tiffany,

      I have a bad knee too waiting for a TKR. I use a brace amd that really helps. I can’t go as deep as I would like because of the brace but it makes the difference. I also keep the brace on for the rest of the day when i do knee exercises. Find a joint formula that works for you. There are lots on the market and you have to experiment to find the one that works best for you. I also take krill oil. Lots of it. At leat 3x the recommended dose and that helps too.

  • Tammy says:

    I have only started your program last week and I cannot believe how sore but great I feel at the same time. I do have to say I absolutely have a love hate relationship with the jumping squats as my knees aren’t very reliable but at the same time I love these exercises!!!!! What a breath of fresh air you are Flavia 🙂 Please keep it coming girlfriend!!!! I plan to be fit stuff by December and with this program in the works I will reach that goal sooner than I expected:) Thank you so much

  • Amy says:

    I have to tell you… I have never received as many complements on the way I look until now. I just had baby #5 seven months ago and I look better now, then before I got pregnant with baby #1 because of this work out. I have trainers approaching me and asking me where I got my moves, and I’m excited to send them here. Thank you so much for all the information and motivation! You are awesome!

    • Flavia says:

      Thanks Amy, and great job! I love this because with 5 kids you still make time for yourself! You are a great example!! Keep it up!

  • Anna says:

    I successfully added the extra 120 squats yesterday to day 1 of FBL and today my glutes and hamstrings are a little sore, I love it! Thanks! One quick question, sometime I’m really pushed for time in my workout and won’t have time to do the extra squats, would it be ok to do just do at least 120 jump squats throughout the day a few of my meals?

  • Viv says:

    Hi Flav,
    just wondering what the best weight medicine ball would be to use, i am in australia so kilograms or i can do the conversion. As they range here from 1-5kgs i thought about 2 kg but not sure if that would be too much Cheers Viv

    • Flavia says:

      I use 8 pounds. If you can do 12 with a burn that’s about right. You can increase if needed throughout the weeks. I love Australia 🙂

  • Yessica says:

    hello Flavia this is maybe a silly question but, does squats make you thighs bigger or thinner ?

    • Flavia says:

      Thinner for sure! You can build muscle by doing heavy squats but I so heavy squats and the mass isn’t going to be huge, just defined.

  • Tammy says:

    Hi Flavia,
    I have a question that has absolutely nothing to do with squats or any exercise what so ever. I noticed in the “eat this” file that you mentioned apple cider vinegar was my friend, so off I went and got some. I have to say it does the trick on dulling the appetite, but I have noticed since I have been using it my stomache feels and looks a little bloated :0 Am I doing this all wrong???? I either have it as a salad dressing or down about about 10mls of it straight (only because I like the fact that it feels like a shot of the naughty stuff like alcohol LOL) oh and I also just wanted to comment that, I think that your program and your metabolic chef are the perfect combination!! I feel like i’m back at school but this time I’m sitting on the fun side!!!!!!!! 🙂

    • Flavia says:

      Hey Tammy, thanks for the comments! Apple cider vinegar make you feel bloated? maybe you have a sensitivity to it. I am not sure why. Try to use cold pressed, made from organically grown apples.

  • Debbie says:

    Hi Flavia!

    I’ve been following you and reading your posts for quite some time. I must say I’ve not been motivated lately and need to get on the bandwagon and need that push. I have quite a bit of toning that needs to me done and body % needs to be lowered. Is it necessary to to some type of cardio everyday, being either treadmil, or is circuits the best to get your heart rate up.

    Thanks so much

    Debbie

    • Anna says:

      Hi Debbie,
      Weight training to stimulate muscle growth is most important, along with a healthy, clean diet. Cardio is secondary but is a necessary tool to get toned. You don’t want to do hours a day but starting out with 2 – 3, 20 minutes HIIT sessions per week and working your way up to 4, 30 min HIIT sessions per week if needed should get you where you want to be.
      All the best!
      Anna, CPT, FF Specialist

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