Squat Jumps are one of the many important bodyweight exercises out there that are not being included in a typical bodyweight program. I agree to the fact that you can’t include every single bodyweight exercise out there. In fact, you shouldn’t.

However, most people never do squat jumps. They might do hundreds of bodyweight squats, Hindu squats, lunges, and numerous other bodyweight exercises. But, for some reason, the squat jump is always left out of most training programs.

Could it be because…it’s hard? Well, it is a hard movement. But it’s an essential movement which you should perform if your goal is to build a stronger, bigger, and more functional lower body.

Why You should Squat Jump

A long time ago, I had a dramatic realization: that training parameters for fat loss aren’t much different for muscle mass. A power/strength workout can also be an effective workout to improve overall general fitness. An athletic program can be the perfect recipe for incredible fat loss.

“Sports-specific” and “customized” are relative terms. Each individual athlete does not need to do things that are dramatically different then their peers. Instead, what they need to be doing are things that challenge them. It’s really as simple as that.

So in the grand scheme of things, if you’re looking for just one secret to improving your health and fitness, it should be this: “Challenge Yourself.”

And so, explosive training in the form of plyometrics or Olympic lifts performed with a dumbbell, kettlebell, or barbell are difficult, fun, and challenging. Even if we disregard the initial strength, power, and fat loss benefits of explosive training, we can argue that a fun workout is a workout that will allow us to remain consistent with our program.

The more consistent we are with our workouts, the greater chance of achieving our desired results.

How to Perform Squat Jumps

You should be able to perform 50 good bodyweight squats in a row before starting with squat jumps. If you can’t do 50 good bodyweight squats, then squat jumps will be way to difficult for you.
[pro-player type="MP4" width="530" height="350"]http://www.shahtraining.com/Squat Jump.m4v[/pro-player]
The actual execution of the movement is really simple: squat down and jump up. But, there are some key points you should be aware of:

• Lower your body as low as possible for maximum force development and acceleration
• Keep your back straight and chest up
• When your feet return to the floor, go immediately down into squat position and explode upwards.

Squat jumps are a continuous, heart pumping explosive movement. Start incorporating them today to take your workouts to the next level.

If you’re ready to incorporate bodyweight training as part of your fitness plan, then you should check out Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. Coach’s Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock show you how to use unique bodyweight movements to lose fat, build muscle, increase strength, improve athletic fitness, and enhance longevity.

Click here for more information.

Bodyweight training is the perfect choice for athletes. Most sports require you to be fast, strong, and powerful. Heavy weight lifting makes an athlete slow and bulky. However, bodyweight training teaches an athlete to better control his or her own bodyweight for better performance.

When I was lifting heavy using bodybuilder workouts the biggest problem was that I would gas out quickly. My sport is Karate. So during sparring (practice fighting) sessions, I may have been bigger and stronger than my opponents, but I would get tired really quickly.

Hence, my opponents would just dodge my slow punches until I was tired, then hit me with everything they got. That’s how I lost a lot of sparring fights. The day I gave up on bodybuilder workouts, I started reading into the way Indian Wrestlers used to train.

Hindu Squats and Pushups

The two common exercises used by these magnificent ancient wrestlers are the Hindu Pushup and Hindu Squat, made popular by Matt Furey. Honestly, I don’t think these exercises are the BEST bodyweight exercises out there. They are simply two variations out of hundreds of different bodyweight movements.

However, just by replacing these two movements with all my heavy weight training gave me some great results. I already had the bulk, now it was time to teach myself how to move the bulk (my own body). The workouts I used were very basic.

It’s time to peer into my old training diaries and show you a sample of the primitive, but powerful stuff I used to do.

(Before I continue, let me just state that I have shared my old workouts in the past. I used to do a lot of stuff, but this particular post revolves around Hindu Squats and HinduPushups and their relationship to improving my Karate training.)

Back to what I was saying before: I stuck to mostly density training, which is something I shared with you a few days a go. However, my density workouts were much shorter, since my conditioning was very poor.

The Poorly Designed but Powerful Workout

So, instead of using 15-20 minute time intervals, I was using 5 minutes intervals, with around 1-2 minute breaks. So here is what a sample workout would look like:

5 minutes of:

• 5 Hindu Pushups
• 10 Hindu Squats

I would alternate between these exercises for 5 minutes straight through, and decided if I could do anymore. A lot of what I was doing before was extremely random. I didn’t even know about the terminology “density” training. It was just training to me.

But…it worked! I was moving faster and lasting longer on the mat. I even started winning some fights. Some of the kids started getting scare of fighting me since now I was not just a bulky guy, but a bulky guy who could move!

Take Home Point

Now, how can you take what I used to do to your own sport? Well, the simple answer is take a look at how you move in your sport. Karate involves a lot of high intensity techniques for a short period of time (such as a barrage of punches) followed by a short rest period (where you’re just bouncing on the mat and blocking your opponents attacks).

Hence, interval and density workouts were perfect for Karate training. But, you may need a different method of training for your particular sport.

If you’re ready to incorporate bodyweight training as part of your fitness plan, then you should check out Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. Coach’s Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock show you how to use unique bodyweight movements to lose fat, build muscle, increase strength, improve athletic fitness, and enhance longevity.

Click here for more information.