I Did 100 Squats Every Day For 2 Weeks — Here’s What I (And My Butt) Learned
I am a type of person who is always open for new challenges. The reason for this can be found in the explanation of my love towards the fitness and everything related to it. I am always among the first people who are ready for a workout challenge. For that reason, I challenged myself to make 100 squats every day in a period of two weeks, just to see what would happen to my body.
Not to be misunderstood, my challenge was about making 100 air squats per day, not 100 weighted squats in one sitting, because that is no challenge anymore, that is masochism. The point of my challenge was to make all those 100 squats in one session, not splitting them into more sessions during the day. Having two years of experience as Cross Fit junkie I was aware that doing 100 air squats is much harder than it sounds to you.
Luckily and amazingly, my body and my booty stayed in one piece together after this two week of the challenge. The following article will present to you the four main takeaways that I gathered from this challenge.
The Challenge Felt as Cardio
If you decide to make 100 repetitions of any exercise, then the same will be considered as a cardio exercise to your body. This is so because you start to seat and curse as like when doing cardio. While doing this, your heart rate increases and your cardiovascular system gets a boost, which makes you some additional power to your body and makes you feel accomplished. When I reached the number of 50 squats I was feeling as I had taken a quick run around my block, and by the end, when I finished with all the 100 squats, my entire body was covered in sweat and I was wiping the drops of the sweat from my forehead.
As an experienced weightlifter, I noticed that my challenge can be considered more as cardio training rather than a strength training. There was only I day when I escaped my Stair Master cardio session because I was very tired and my legs were killing me.
I Could Not Notice Any Significant Changes in my Butt
When starting with the challenge, I took I photo of myself. I did the same when I finished with the challenge too. I did this to see if there would be any significant differences in my thighs and my butt, but unfortunately not great changes can be noticed. Many experienced trainers advised me that I should add weight to my lower-body routine so that I can notice changes in my butt and thighs. I am only an example that through this challenge the simple air squats were not enough for pumping your butt.
It Build Up Sufferance in my Lower Body
By the end of the second week, I noticed in my HIIT cardio sessions and some of my endurance runs that my legs were able to go the extra distance. Because they had been conditioned to withstand an ungodly amount of squats every day, they were better prepared to get through the last few reps of box jumps or that very last mile. It was an exciting thing to see — all my hard work was paying off, even if in the smallest of ways!
It Didn’t Improve My Strength Training
I still kept the same weightlifting program throughout my challenge, so I was still doing three lower-body sessions a week that focused on legs, hamstrings, and glutes. I would usually do the 100 squats before my strength-training session to get myself nice and warmed up for the heavyweights. However, I didn’t see any significant improvements in my lower-body movements, like deadlifts, front squats, and hip thrusts. Although doing 100 squats a day certainly has its own advantages, getting stronger in the weight room is not one of them.
Like I mentioned earlier, this challenge felt like cardio more than anything else, and cardio is traditionally not known to help you reach new heights in your weightlifting program. It didn’t necessarily take away from my lower-body sessions, but it definitely didn’t give me any extra strength to complete them.
It Was Almost Too Easy at the End
You’d be surprised at how quickly your body adapts to new movements. By day 10, I started to notice that I could get through the whole set without really breaking a sweat. Without adding resistance or additional weight, I started to plateau. So, with any challenge, whether it’s for two weeks or 30 days, if you really want to see improvements and breakthroughs, you might have to incrementally make it harder for yourself as time goes on.
Source: Train Hard Team