We all know that the squat is the king of all exercises, since it brings so many muscles into play.
What I want to know and what I hope one of you highly educated trainers out there might have come across is this:
How many muscles does the squat utilize?
I know, I know… it’s definitely one of those “who cares” kind of questions, but I’m curious. One number I stumbled upon was 54, but I wanted to know if that’s true or if it’s something else.
Rich in KC
A good thing to do would be to make a list so we make sure we get all of them.
I’ll start:
The short answer?
All of them.
Thats about 650 skeletal muscles. Then you have all the smooth and cardiac muscles that all play a big part in the squat.
Now I know why I’m such a good squatter! Powerful liver and bladder muscles!
[quote]Florida Titan wrote:
Now I know why I’m such a good squatter! Powerful liver and bladder muscles![/quote]
Dont forget the uber-important pc muscle.
can’t give you an actual number but, you are using every muscle in your legs (quads, hams, calves, glutes etc.) And of course don’t forget about the massive load that you are putting on the muscle groups in your back and abdomen.
I guess you need to clarify. If you mean a max effort squat then the answer will be different than that of 50% of your RM.
Primiarily because, IMO, if you’re not tight all over, ie isometrically contacting pretty much every muscle in your body, you’re gonna miss the lift.