Just when you think worthless gym equipment cannot get any dumber, along comes Squat Magic!

Please, if you think this worthless contraption is worth your hard earned cash, and that it will give you good results, raise your right hand.

Is your hand raised?

Good, now take that raised right hand and slap some sense back into your noggin!

Toned, tightly lifted butt and shapely legs in a 30 day challenge?

These shysters are counting on your naivete in their marketing scheme. If your butt and legs are not already in decent shape, they are not going to look that great in 30 days either, at least not with Squat Magic.

Surely, as long as you follow all of their instruction guides, you will get that nice booty, right?

This could almost be funny, if they were not actually robbing their customer base.

Results may vary, no kidding!

If the woman in the picture used this thing and did their 30 day challenge, I think she better get her money back.

Why Squats?

Each and every one of the reasons given above are all valid reasons one should consider squatting. Squatting is the “King of all Exercises” for a good and valid reason.  I make it a point to always include squatting as a part of my strength training programs. However, the Squat Magic is not going to provide benefit to much of anyone. It might be suitable for one who is immobile in helping them achieve the ability to stand up and sit down without assistance. But I see no validity for using it in order to give you a nice derriere and legs. It just is not going to work.

Benefits of proper squatting:

Squats build the gluteus maximus. This is the largest muscle on the human body and is responsible for a large portion of our power production. The gluteus medius and minimus are also strengthened from squatting, which aid in our lower body strength and stability. 

The squat also builds upon our quads which are composed of four major muscles: Vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and rectus femoris. These muscles help support leg extension and protect the knee from instability and poor patella tracking.

Of course, another great benefit of proper squatting is they build upon your core strength. I’m talking about the whole torso as the core, not just your abdominal muscles. When you’re holding weight and moving through multiple planes of motion, the body has to work hard to remain stable and not fall over. This in return strengthens the core as a whole, which includes the lower back, inner spinal stabilizers, mid back, obliques, and abdominal musculature.

Squatting will cause you to increase lean muscle mass on your entire body. The more lean muscle mass we have, the more calories we burn during the day. Since the squat strengthens multiple large muscle groups at once and requires a ton of energy to properly execute; we’re increasing the amount of calories we burn during a workout with squats, as opposed to something more static (relatively speaking). Plus, the majority of calories burned from working out come after the actual lifting. Since squats require ample energy and effort, the body will be working harder and longer post-workout to repair itself, which increases total energy expenditure.  Lastly, a good many lower body injuries when moving can be linked to imbalances and weaknesses. The squat can help remedy a lot of these like weak hamstrings or hip instability.

What you actually get with the Squat Magic:

What you are getting is a spring loaded stool that uses the weight of your body to press down the seat when you “squat” down, and then that spring tension propels your body back up. I want you to think about this – how beneficial is a seat that uses a spring to control your descent and then when you are in a full squat position, it springs you back up with very little effort of your own?

The only resistance provided is that which assists you in not dropping too fast when you are squatting down. How much muscle activation do you think you can actually get from this?

A properly executed squat is a dynamic strength training exercise that requires several muscles in your upper and lower body to work together simultaneously. Many of these muscles help power you through daily tasks such as walking, climbing stairs, bending, or carrying heavy loads. For best results, you need the resistance of weight. The Squat Magic according to their video essentially reduces your total body weight by about 60% when using it. Unless you have been totally immobile, you need at least the weight of your body or more to actually do you some good. The only caveat to this would be if you are overweight and cannot squat down and back up at your current weight. Sadly, if you are in this type of shape, you are not going to have a nice butt or legs after 30 days of using this contraption. No, it is going to be months, possibly years before you can achieve those kinds of results, and the effort is going to have to also include a nutritionally healthy lifestyle.

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Please, save your money, it is too hard to come by for some of you. There are much better things you can do with $120.00 than to spend it on a worthless piece of fitness equipment. You can always do “Air” Squats to begin with. The beautiful thing about Air squats are they are free and can be executed anywhere.

The Air Squat is the most basic type of squat and simply uses just your body weight for resistance. Variations of the squat as you progress can include weights, like barbells or dumbbells, resistance bands, or yoga balls.

To do a basic squat:

1. Start with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
2. Keep your chest up, engage your abdominals, and shift your weight onto your heels as you push your hips back into a sitting position.
3. Lower your hips until your thighs are parallel or almost parallel to the floor.
4. You should feel the squat in your thighs and glutes.
5. Pause with your knees over, but not beyond, your toes.
6. Exhale and push back up to the starting position.

You can benefit many muscle groups by doing 50 squats a day: Try doing 25 in the morning and 25 at night. As you get stronger, add 25 to the afternoon. If you want to add a little bit of weight, do them with light dumbbells or water filled milk jugs held in your hands.