Fitness

 I know a lot about nutrition, but not a lot about exercise, so please help me understand some things guys!

I have been doing squats EVERYDAY for the past three or four years. (I might have missed one day about every two weeks). I started at 30, now I do 100 in a row with five pound weights, then 20 with one 25 pound weight.   I think that I am doing them right - making sure that I do not bend over but keep my back straight.  I also do light cardio on most days with either tae bo or walking/jogging.  My question- am I benefiting from all these squats, or am I just maintaining the tone I have now? Should I try doing more or the same with heavier weights? My legs look the same, but I think that they could always be a little more toned.  What do yall think? Jess

You shouldn't be doing squats every single day. Your muscles need 48 hours to recover.

Try doing weighted squats 3 times a week. Also, instead of doing 100 reps with 5 pound weights, you should do less reps with higher weights. I think you will benefit ALOT more from that.

Thanks! Another question- When I do squats, I hold the weight/s in front of me. Should I be lifting the weight while doing squats or just holding it straight?  Should I hold it up above my head, in front, somewhere else? Thanks again!

Are you looking for a size increase?

I'd say you are always benefitting from any exercise. Once took a 5 pound weight to my forearms and could only do it like 20 times before my muscles fatigued. After a few weeks I was doing it 500x or more and not even tiring.. and toned the muscle tight.   You may want to include more leg exercises to work different muscles in the leg to tone more. Toning only is so much..  body fat is alot of the trouble.

Well, there are many different variations of squats. When I do them I normally hold the dumbells at my sides. However, there are many ways to do them. Try looking on the internet and decide which variations you like best.

Doing tons of reps with light weight (while on a calorie deficit) will actually cause you to lose muscle tone.  Muscle ton is best increase using high weight and low reps.  From this article:

"Simply put, there are two types of muscle tone: myogenic and neurogenic. The former refers to your muscle tone at rest; the latter refers to muscle tone that's expressed when muscular contractions occur.

Low(er) rep training increases the sensitivity of various motor units resulting in increased neurogenic tone. On the other hand, myogenic tone is correlated with the overall density of your muscles (specifically the contractile proteins myosin and actin) and is vastly improved by lifting heavier weights.

This is going to come as a shock to most women, but utilizing light weights (anything above twelve reps in my book) while dieting will likely result in loss of muscle, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.

When dieting, the body will adapt to the caloric deficit by down-regulating many of the hormones involved with metabolism (T3, T4, leptin, etc.), as well as getting rid of metabolically active tissue (muscle.) Obviously you'd want to prevent this from happening in the first place, which is why I always recommend that women drop the 20 rep sets and start training with heavier weights. "

My personal trainer has me do probably 6 different squats on my leg days.

Sumo squats: Feet about 6 inches out past shoulders, squat as far down as you can, come back up, hold single heavy weight in hands. Not a big mostion involved in these but they hurt!!

Split squats: Step out with left foot, do your set of 15 or whatever, then switch legs. Hold weights at your sides.

Bench squats: Put left foot on bench behind you, squat on right leg. Hold weights at your sides.

Sidewinder squats: Feet together, squat, take a step to the side, staying in squat position the whole time, walk to the left, then come back. No weight need on these, just remain in a deep squat.

I would start by holding 10lb weights in each hand on these, do at least 25lb on the Sumo squat.

You're going to be sore!!