Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, and Eva Longoria: Why You Should Do Squats and Lunges

I saw this composit picture at popsugar.com  and the first thing I had to think of was:

This is why your workout should include squats and lunges.

Both Jessica Alba and Eva Longoria do squats and lunges and circuit training workouts.

Lindsay Lohan, sadly, doesn't look like she's working out much these days.  But she was in the middle of the picture.  Hey Lindsay, if you need a trainer, I could get you back in rockstar shape in about 6 weeks.

Why do Jessica and Eva base their workouts around squats, lunges, and circuit training workouts?  Because it works.  Squats and lunges are extremely intense exercises using all of the muscles in the legs butt and thighs.  The intensity of using all of those muscles in coordination cannot be replicated with muscle isolating leg machines.  The sum is much, much more than the parts.

Squats and lunges have a hormonal response and a level of intensity that burns fat and builds sexy lean muscle.  Anyone who is serious about getting that "rockstar body" needs to include these two powerful exercises in their workouts.  Eva Longoria's ass does not look like that by accident.  It takes smart workout programming and hard work.  Jessica Alba is not genetically gifted, most of her family is overweight.  She built that body herself through diet and squats and lunges.

I'm continually saddened by all of the nonsense out there.  Stupid books, crappy gadgets, and mostly useless supplements are everywhere.  Take a look at the options you have in your gym, and notice who is using what equipment:

•  In my gym, all of the overweight people are on the ab machines doing thousands and thousands of pointless and ineffective crunches.  Crunches are just too low intensity to make any real difference in how their body looks.  They just don't know.  It's the same as the people who only do long slow cardio, same thing.  No intensity = no rockstar body. 

• Look at all of the girls that are really, really hot.  At some point you always see them squatting or lunging.  Or doing some squat or lunge variation, like step ups.  Usually they are strong - they aren't squatting with the 3lb plastic dumbbells.  They are squatting and lunging with fairly heavy weight.  Lots of intensity.  They are getting some work done, and it shows in their results.   It's actually rare to see a girl squatting who doesn't look good.

Now I understand that not everyone knows the proper form for squatting and lunging.  And if you don't know the correct form, these exercises can get pretty sketchy.  The last place to learn good squatting form is from the other people in the gym, many are doing it wrong.  If you are unfamiliar with the proper form for squats and lunges, you should hire expert instruction.  I'm not saying that learning to squat and lunge correctly is easy, I'm saying that it's worth it.

By Josh Hillis

author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.

National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES)

Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC) and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC/CAS)

© Joshua Hillis 2007

Comments

[hyperactive]

Alba and Longoria are NOT good examples of women who do squats/lunges. Reag an issue of oxygen for real women. The women in that magazine are more comely that any of the emaciated girls in People or even Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.

On the seventh day, god created the squat, and told woman to do them with heavy weight, so that she will be for man a good companion.

[Jayson Elliot]

hyperactive -

You can wish all you want for men to be attracted to the Real Women Have Curves type, but that's not the point of this article.

No one is telling you that you have to look like Jessica Alba at her peak, but if you do want that, here are some ways to do it.

I've looked at Oxygen magazine, by they way, and those women look like men. No thanks.

[chudez]

"Look at all of the girls that are really, really hot. At some point you always see them squatting or lunging."

... if i look long enough, someone is bound to call Security to throw me out.

[Blah]

That's a bit biased, to tell you the truth. Sure, Alba is lovely, but not everyone looks good with zero curves and toned limbs[no idea how she and other women pull it off, they just do. I think it has something to do with facial structure...?]. It's good to see more...not all muscle on a woman. I'd love to see some tips for softer-looks, you know? Something that won't look good in that little-black-dress[or, for that matter, dominatrix-type-stuff], but quite adorable in summer dresses.

There's /so/ many different body types. First we should figure out what we really /need/, rather than what we /want/. [Honestly, I'd look silly being all super-toned. My face is too soft, because it's genetically coded like that, not because my cheeks are...er..."fat"]

[Maggie]

All of the girls that I have seen on your website are young. When I was young I didn't have any trouble keeping in great shape, even after I had 3 kids. Now that I'm 50 I have a roll around my waist that I can't seem to shift no matter what I do. I exercise more now than I ever did; cardio, hi-lo and free weights. My knees get sore easily and my wrists have both been broken so that I find pushups difficult. Do you have clients my age? Clients who can't physically do all the exercises? If so, what do you recommend for them?
Maggie

[nick]

This image of all three girls together looks fake. The shadows and amount of sunlight per girl does not match. look a the girl foot on the far left compared to the one on the far right. The shadows darkness do not match.

[Joshua Hillis]

Of course it's fake!

[Random]

It's not a fake; it's a composite of three separate pictures.

The difference here is not just (and not mostly) in the musculature. The difference is that Lindsay Lohan is not arching her back. Arching the back causes the buttocks to round out. You would have to see Lindsay Lohan with her back arched, as the others' backs are, in order to get an accurate comparison.

[ali]

please send me pictures of jessica alba.in iran your site is locked.

[Dan]

Lindsay is too thin, thats the difference between her and Jessica and Eva. If you take a closer look to the picture, you can see her ribs quite more clearly than Jessicas or Evas.
Thin is pretty nice, but too thin isnt.

[Neil Kelliher]

Ditto my friend. I couldn't agree more! Why is that so many people waste their time on poxy machines when all it takes is some nice heavy weights and 1 sq metre in which to lunge or sqaut and voula tight, toned buns. Another fav of mine is the bench lunge with the back foot up on a bench - man, talk about butt burn - whoo! Yes, technique is very important and I too recommend taking the time to learn it right. I have an online personal training program that could help that comes with full animations of the exercises and written instructions , see it here : http://intafitness.com.au/inta_e_fitness.html

Your friend in fitness, Mr. Inta-Fitness

[JOSE]

DAM JESSICA YOURE HOT..........I WOULD LOVE TO GET TO KNOW YOU IF I HAD A CHANCE.....