Get your body right series: The benefits of squats

Today we kick off our six week series, Get Your Body Right, talking to top experts in exercise. This week is all about toning your legs.

For the next six weeks we will put you on track to get your body right. Here Brandon Demura tests out a push up, which will be part of week two. Picture: Mark Stewart

One of the most important exercises anyone over the age of 35 can do is a squat, experts say, labelling it an “all rounder”.

It will not only tone your legs and butt, but it also strengthens important muscles that will help you keep doing everyday tasks into old age.

Today this masthead is launching the Get Your Body Right series which will run over six weeks and help you improve your strength, mobility, balance and get more toned and healthy.

Each week we will progress you with a new workout.

In week one we start with the legs, with the workout explained by Kieser exercise scientist Deb Lawrence in videos below.

Once you hit 35 it’s worth doing squats to stay healthy. Picture: Mark Stewart

There are also mobility tips from Bill Dooley, who is also an exercise scientist and specialises in helping over-65s stay strong and active.

Dr Christina Ekegren, from the Rehabilitation Ageing and Independent Living research centre at Monash University, said now was the time to start because while people under 35 didn’t need to do much to maintain muscle mass, it really started to decline afterwards.

“That’s if you’re not doing regular strength training,” she said, adding this could include squats.

“Squats are a really important exercise for older adults because it’s a really functional exercise, it’s really important for being able to get up from a chair, getting out of the car, getting up and down off the floor.

Brandon Demura demonstrates a squat, which experts say is an all-rounder exercise. Picture: Mark Stewart

“It’s also great for going up steps and hills and also just maintaining your balance when you’re walking, especially over uneven surfaces.”

Dr Ekegren, who is also a physiotherapist, pilates instructor and dance teacher, said wall sits and lunges – also in the week one program – were modified forms of squatting with similar advantages to working the quads and glutes.

“A lunge is a more advanced version of a squat because you have to work a bit harder to maintain your balance as you’re going forwards and backwards,” she said.

Monash Exercise Neuroplasticity Research Unit Associate Professor Dawson Kidgell said there was strong research behind the benefits of squatting and it was great for mobility as it also developed hip and ankle strength.

If you’re after something to test you even further then a lunge is a challenge. Picture: Mark Stewart

“It’s going to build that lower body strength for purposeful movement that targets big muscles of the lower limbs, it develops a special type of strength because you start the movement by lowering your body … it’s the type of muscle action that produces the largest amount of strength,” he said.

“I know people in their 70s that still squat … it is a great exercise.”

Director of Cardiology at St Vincent’s Hospital Associate Professor Andrew MacIsaac said people should prioritise exercising for their heart health.

“It’s extremely important, it’s one of the pillars of healthy life, regular moderate intensity exercises significantly improves people’s risk of heart attack, disease and stroke, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“Many of the people we see with heart problems tend to be more sedentary.”

Week one workout:

WALK:

Aim for 4000 steps per day, or 20 minutes of walking when we take into account your incidental exercise throughout the day. We will gradually increase your step count each week.

LEG EXERCISES:

BEGINNER: 8 to 12 repetitions

INTERMEDIATE: 20 repetitions

ADVANCED: Go beyond until fatigued

SQUAT:

A really great all-rounder exercise because it strengthens the whole lower limb and involves your joints. If you are a beginner, use a chair. Slowly bend your knees and push your bottom back. You can slightly touch the chair. Slowly stand up. Be careful your knees don’t cave in.

IF YOU WANT EASIER: WALL SIT

If squatting isn’t working for you, this one is great because you are back up against a wall so you are really well supported. You will feel this in your thigh muscles. The lower you go the harder it is. Sit against the wall at a 90 degree angle.

IF YOU WANT HARDER: LUNGES

Put one leg in front, one leg behind while standing. Then go down so your back knee is just off the ground, then slowly raise back up. Keep looking straight ahead so your torso stays up straight. Use a chair for support if you’re feeling a bit wobbly.

CALF RAISES

Stand behind a chair holding the back of it if you need support. Stand up on your tip toes and hold. For more of a challenge, stand on one leg at a time. To progress even harder, have your feet off the edge of a step while you move onto your tip toes slowly.

STEP UPS

This is good exercise that also might make you feel puffed. Start in a standing position with a step in front of you. If you there’s a handle you can use it for support. Step up with one leg and stabilise, before bringing your second leg up. Then step down one leg at a time.

To make it harder, bring your non-weight bearing leg up to 90 degrees.

CLAM

The clam is really good because it targets the stabiliser of the hips. Don’t do it if you have any hip pain. Lie on your side with your back up and straight against the wall. Have your knees bent, but with your hips and feet rested against the wall too. With your feet staying together, lift your knee slowly, then slowly lower down.

MOBILITY MOVES

ANKLE ROLL

The mobility in the ankle helps a lot with walking and balance. Sit on a chair, lift one leg up and rotate your ankle in circles. Do 15 clockwise and anticlockwise. Do the other leg.

LEG SWING

Hold onto a wall or bench, swing one leg back and forward slowly. It helps stretch and lengthen the hip muscle. Do 20 swings on each leg.

Who are our experts?

Deb Lawrence is an experienced exercise scientist and sports scientist at Kieser in Melbourne. She is passionate about strength longevity, injury prevention and loves sports like futsal, hockey and soccer.

Deb Lawrence an exercise scientist at Kieser.

Bill Dooley is a clinical exercise scientist, which he says is just a fancy way of saying he helps people with exercise. His interest is in helping people to exercise for the first time at any age, or helping people get back into exercise later in life.

FOLLOW ALONG

Each week high-profile journalist Anthony Dowsley will follow the workout plan to help him train for his upcoming trek of Machu Picchu.

Anthony Dowsley will follow the six-week program and share his progress.

As the 2025 new year rolled in, I knew I was about to make another empty resolution.

Lose weight, eat healthier, train for a half-marathon. The list goes on.

But this time the signs were all there over the previous 12-months that my health was declining rapidly.

At 54, and weighing 90kg, a couple of laps of the local footy ground felt like a marathon.

Any modicum of fitness was getting further and further away in the rear-view mirror.

So, I gave myself an incentive: I would sign myself up for a trek.

I’ve always wanted to see Peru’s citadel in the clouds, Machu Picchu.

The Inca Trail that ascends to this wonder of the world is the same distance as a marathon.

It is 42km (26 miles) straight up into the Andes.

The battle is on two fronts.

The four-day trek is challenging and requires a good level of fitness.

But it’s the thin air that can get you.

At its highest point, the Inca Trail reaches 4215m above sea level.

As usual, the first two months of the year have flown by and my training has been sporadic at best.

My trip is in August and the clock is ticking.

It’s time to crack in.

Readers should consult their GP or physio before starting any exercise program. The above are suggestions that might be considered in consultation with a medical professional.