'30-Day Squat Challenge' - The truth

Since I started hitting the gym regularly and having an eye on my nutritional habits, I have also become more aware of how people easily forget that no one reacts to an exercise regime in the same way. Everything in your life affects the way how you will respond to a diet or an exercise program, your age, gender, activity level, eating habits, genetics ( yes I said that!) , and your fitness&health history. What I am trying to say is that everyone's fitness and health journey is unique. For example, you can't look like Cameron Diaz even if you do her workout routines and her diet, because you don't have her genetics. If you really want to success in long-term, you need to find the ''magic key'' that works with your individual body.

I am so allergic to fitness-advices that seem like every 'body' reacts to this exercise program the same way. The best example is the '30-days squat challenge' , which is circulating on Instagram and Facebook for a while. Some of you might wonder why I am against this 'squat challenge' as I personally love doing squats! But what I don't like are posts, like this challenge, that only contain a little element of truth. What I mean is that people accept the information given but without realizing that this needs to be understood in relation to other variables such as your age and genetics. And unless you are monitoring your food, doing additional forms of exercise or have awesome genetics, simply doing squats won't change your body intentionally.

Another big problem with this squat-challeng is that it's not the best method of achieving your goal, if your goal is to lose weight and tone up.

If you want to lose weight you need to increase your lean muscle so that your metabolism speeds up, which you won't achieve with doing hundreds of squats. Actually to complete 250 squats properly you would need to hold little to no weight, but if you want to increase lean muscle your stimulus needs to be strong enough. Meaning, you need to hold weights which will allow you to only to 3-5 sets of 12-20 reps. This will increase your fitness level and create lean muscle. 250 squats without weights will only improve your muscle's endurance. And seriously, when do you really need to do 250 squats? Squats are great but you won't become fit by only doing squats.

Plus, this challenge is not safe at all!!

On the 1st day you are expected to do 50 squats, which is already too much for a newbie in the world of Fitness, some can barely do 10 squats with proper form, let them alone with 50 squats and ask their knees how they feel about it... The only thing 250 squats leads to is INJURIES! Almost no one can do 250 squats with proper form.

How to do squats properly 

Don't let them fool you by posting a picture of a beautiful female body next to the challenge.

Fitness should be just as much about how you feel as how you look. So when you are reading any fitness information, always remember that if you opt for a healthier lifestyle, one single change won't make it, just like doing squats everyday. Think big! Sit less, become more aware of your nutritional habits, improve your health and move more.

Find the right balance for your body!

Try to become more fit because you want to be healthier, not because you want to look like a model!Learn to appreciate the body that you have , appreciate your genetic window (what works best for your body) and try to get the best possible version of YOU!

That said, enjoy your weekend and get your little butt moving!