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The October exercise challenge is the Squatober squat challenge, that’s right, a month of Squats. This is one of my most popular monthly exercise challenges, it won’t take much time out of your day so join in as we squat our way through October.
Keeping It Simple Stupid we will be performing only a regular bodyweight squat, no fancy lateral, split or jumps and there is a good reason for this. Performing an exercise in repetition is what builds strength and endurance in that movement. This encourages muscles to develop muscle memory and builds stabilising muscles to aid with key support during the exercise movement.
The squat is a fundamental exercise and is excellent at building, toning and defining the muscles of the Legs & Bums and all the muscles through the posterior chain. It’s important to know how to squat properly so check out the video below to make sure you perform the exercise with good technique.
Missed Squatober?
Not a problem, you can join in anytime with my 28 Day Squat Challenge.
Anyone can join in
You don’t need to be a gym bunny to have a go at this challenge, simply complete the reps as you can throughout the day. or ideally, in one go if you can. If you are particularly fit or want an increased challenge try and complete the reps in one go and likewise if you are not as fit or find it difficult, you can break it down to blocks of 10’s 20’s or whatever works for you.
How to join in.
- Commit! Share you are doing this challenge and share your progress.
- Download the target guide and scoring sheets to track your challenge.
- Recruit a friend to join you and keep each other motivated.
Challenge Levels
The challenge is split into 3 levels for which you can score your progress, you don’t need to keep to one level, you can mix & match and go up or down a level. Each level has a score associated to it, use the free-scoring sheet available for download below to track your progress and tally your total score for the month
| LEVEL | POINTS |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 1 point |
| Level 2 | 2 points |
| Level 3 | 3 points |
Download the Scoring Sheet
The scoring sheet for the October Squat Exercise Challenge
Use this sheet to track and record your score for the challenge.
Challenge Design
This squat challenge has been designed as an ascending pyramid programme, adding reps every day, This type of programming makes the challenge progressive encouraging progression in the squat with increased demand throughout the month.
Squatober Target Guide
To get started, download & print the SQUAT calendar below and pin it to your fridge (while you are at it, pin it to your challenge board on Pinterest) or somewhere you can reference it each day.
Warm-up
We should always perform a warm-up relative to the workout we are about to undertake, for this challenge at the start of the month it’s a good idea to take the first 20-30 nice and steady as your joints warm up and keep the tempo low until joints are lubricated. As we get into a higher number of squats you might want a quick warm-up to include heel flicks and partial squats.
Lightly stretch it out!
Once you’ve finished your daily squats, make sure you stretch out. Focus on the hamstrings, quads, calfs and glutes. Hold each stretch for 15-20 seconds. A quick effective stretching routine for squats should include:
- Quads Stretch (Standing or Laying)
- Hamstring Stretch (Standing or Laying)
- Calf Stretch
This is a simple workout, at the start of the month with low reps you’ll only need a quick stretch out however if you are performing difficult variations you will want to spend more time on the stretching.
How to Squat
- Stand with feet at hip-width apart.
- Toes forward or slightly out-turned.
- Squat down lowering your hips down to knee height.
- Keep knees behind and in-line with toes.
- Bum should go back as if you were about to sit on a chair.
- Look forward and slightly down.
- Maintain neutral spine alignment.
Progressions
You can add intensity to this challenge by adding a little weight, which exercises you choose will depend on the type of weight or equipment you have available, it does not matter too much which it is.
More Squat Workouts
Why not compliment this squat challenge with one of my leg workouts.
- Work from Home (WFH) anti-sitting Interval Workout
- Bodyweight Leg’s, Bum’s ‘n’ Tum’s (LBT) workout
- 30-Minute Full-Body Tabata Workout
