What Are Air Squats?

Also referred to as bodyweight squats, the air squat is commonly used in training programs and also workout routines generally.

Air squats are only done through utilizing your own body weight, but doing regular squats is something that you can incorporate using weights into.

The air squat is something that you should really feel in your thighs and also in your glutes too.

How To Do An Air Squat?

In order to do the perfect air squat, you need to …

1. Keep your feet shoulder-width apart - and ensure that you are pointing your toes straight ahead.
2. Hip movement - when you are squatting you will find that your hips will move down and then back.
3. Glue those heels to the floor the whole time - make sure that your lumbar curve is maintained and that your heels stay flat to the floor for the whole time. 

You should also find that when you do the air squat your hips will descend much lower than your hips.

When it comes to looking at a regular, weighted squat - you will really want to lower as far as you can.

However, this is something that you need to make sure is controlled with a proper form, and for some people, this might mean that their hips descend lower than their knees.

Here’s the thing, in both air squats and regular weighted squats, when you are rising up from the squat position you will want to drive up through your heels and really use your glutes so you can return to the standing position.

Make Sure Your Form Is Correct

When you are doing air squats you should try to use the proper form to ensure that you reduce the risk of obtaining any kind of muscle injury.

Ensuring that your form is correct will make sure that you get all of the correct benefits of the air squat.

It is especially important that you are stretching and that you are warming up first, even if you are just doing some squats this step is absolutely essential.

There are some things that are especially important to remember. For instance, when you are doing the air squat your knees should not actually go past your toes, and you must also make sure that your back does not round out.

It is also key to remember that you must not drop your shoulders forward, in fact, it should just be your lower body that is doing the movement.

Another great tip would be to keep your eyes up so that you are focused on the wall that is ahead of you and this will really help you to keep your chest lifted.

Why Am I Feeling Pain When I Air Squat?

For instance, if you are feeling some sort of joint pain in your knees then this ultimately means that you are either going too low or you will not be using the correct form.

Here’s the thing, there are a lot of instances where knee pain will actually occur as a result of putting your weight more on your toes instead of on the back of your heels. It is true that you might feel pain if your feet are not turned outwards at a slight angle.

Additionally, if you are experiencing back pain when you are trying the air squat, then this could be due to you leaning your chest forward way too much when you are attempting the air squat. This will be what is putting the strain on your lower back.

Air squats are not something that you will want to attempt every single day, in fact, it is crucial that you factor in rest times.

You need to let yourself rest for at least one day per week, just to allow your muscles to have sufficient time to heal and also to grow.

What Are The Benefits Of Air Squats?

Air squats have a lot of benefits, the main one being that they are a great way to master the form of squats in general. When you have mastered the air squat you will be able to move on to doing weighted squats safely and with a much smaller risk of injury. 

You will also find that air squats can also help you to build up a solid strength foundation, and also you will be able to improve the balance that you feel in your lower body.

Practising the air squat is all about really targeting your thighs, and also your hamstrings, your quadriceps and in particular your glutes too.

The air squat will really help you to add muscle mass to these areas and because balance is especially necessary when performing the air squat, it can also help you to really engage your core.

Is There Anyone Who Should Avoid Trying Air Squats?

It is also super important to remember that if you are looking to increase the difficulty of your workouts then just adding the air squat alone will not be enough to do this.

Instead, you might find it better to move on to weighted squats or you could even try moving on to lunges with barbells.

If you find that you are finding it difficult to sink low enough into an air squat then you need to stop. It is really not fair for you to over-exert yourself to the point where you end up getting injured.

You need to be realistic and just do what you can, and be proud of that. You should try to build yourself up to increase the depth of your squat - have patience and work at a gradual pace. 

Conclusion

Overall, the air squat is a great exercise to incorporate into your workout routine - but this is something that you must remember to take at your own pace.

Incorporating the air squat into your workout routine needs to be done at your own pace, and you need to make sure that you do not overexert yourself or this could end up leading to injury.