An Exercise You Can Do Anywhere
My #1 Pick For A Wherever Exercise
Consistency is probably the biggest challenge that most people face when it comes to working out and the most common reason that people pay me as a personal trainer. And I get it. Life can be busy and chaotic and lots of times workouts get put by the wayside. This is why I think it’s important to have some exercises or workouts that can be done anywhere. If you’re traveling, or too busy to make it to the gym, or have a late night at the office, you can still get in a quick one with no equipment from wherever you are and keep consistent with the habit. Skater squats are one of my favorite exercises for these situations. It’s the ultimate lower body exercise for wherever workouts and one that I incorporate into my routine regularly.
Skater Squatting in Lisbon, Portugal.
Skater squats are a true unilateral exercise. Meaning an exercise that works one side independent of the other. Unilateral exercises are good for addressing or preventing imbalances in strength from side to side. I call skater squats a true unilateral exercise because unlike a bulgarian split squat or reverse lunge that uses the non-primary leg to some extent, skater squats only use the working leg with no assistance from the other leg. This means that the working leg receives a very concentrated effort and makes this exercise really hard.
The reason that I like these for working out wherever is because you don’t need much, if any, weight to make them challenging. When doing the exercise in a slow and controlled fashion, the tensile force is high, and remember mechanical tension on the muscle fiber is one of the ways that it grows. So it really provides a significant stimulus and forces adaptation without much weight - making them a great option for when traveling or working out outside of a gym.
When I do these I generally prefer to elevate the heel in order to put more work into the quads, but this is a personal preference based on my body proportions and mobility and other people might feel just fine not elevating the heel. I also like to use a little weight as a counterbalance because this allows me to get a more full range of motion, which is also another strategy to put more mechanical tension on the muscle fibers and get more growth out of the exercise.
One way to ease into this exercise is to use a TRX or the back of a chair to assist you while feeling it out and finding your balance. Once you feel comfortable, you can move on to no assistance. This is definitely one that I’d work on getting proficient with in order to be able to get some really good lower body work no matter where you are or what equipment you have.
Skater squats - give them a try and let me know what you think in the comments below.
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