What Are Wall Sits Good for?
Wall sits should not be thought of a full workout routine on their own, but they make an excellent addition to a more rounded workout. It’s an incredibly simple exercise, which means that a lot of people don’t bother with it. They may not see some of the benefits of wall sits and instead focus on more high intensity, complex exercises.
What are wall sits good for? This exercise can benefit a number of muscle groups, and while it may not be very strenuous and it may not increase your heart rate much, it still has its uses. I want to talk about some of the benefits of wall sits and why there’s plenty of good reasons to incorporate them into your regular workout routine.
You Can Do Them Anywhere
Wall sits are incredibly versatile in that they can be done just about anywhere you like. These are an excellent exercise to do wherever ever there’s a little bit of available space and a free wall- at home, at the gym, and even at work. You only need a few moments to do the exercise and just a little bit of free space, and that’s something you can find almost anywhere.
This is one of those exercises you could do throughout the day, kind of like stepping in place or arm rotations. These are all exercises that could be done at work, at school, while you’re watching TV, or just about any time you have a couple of moments to spare. If you do wall sits throughout the day, doing a few here and a few there, you’ll definitely notice a difference after a while.
Works a Lot of Your Lower Body
The wall sit activates a lot of muscles and joints, getting them to work together. Though it’s considered a static exercise, it’s also a compound one. In fact, wall sits will work pretty much all of the lower body. It calls together the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps. You’re not using this exercise to build up bunch of muscle mass, but it definitely improves the endurance of your muscular performance. As you do wall sits over time, you’ll notice that you can keep the wall sit held for longer and longer.
Doing this exercise doesn’t just improve your ability to do the exercise, but it also improves muscular endurance for all of those areas it’s working. It works all of the major leg muscles at once, which a lot of lower body exercises don’t do.
Wall sits are good for what muscle? They work three muscle groups- glutes, quads, and hamstrings. They do an excellent job of working these muscles and helping you to improve their performance over time.
There Are Plenty of Variations You Can Do
Another benefit that’s worth mentioning is the sheer number of wall sit variations available. This isn’t just a single type of exercise. You can modify it in plenty of different ways to make it easier or more challenging.
One of my favorite variations is the dumbbell wall sit. You’re doing a basic wall sit but adding dumbbells to it to work the upper body at the same time as you’re working the lower body. What muscles are wall sits good for? Typically, they work your lower body, but you can bring your upper body into it as well with some of the variations that are available.
The one leg wall sit is another variation I like. This one works your core a little bit and puts more exertion on your legs, especially if you’re alternating the wall sit from leg to leg. It requires a bit more balance as well, so it will help improve your stability.
Works as an Exercise Substitute
We’ve established a few things about wall sits so far. They are a decent exercise that works a few different areas of the body but not something that is high intensity. They’re also easy to do and can be done pretty much anywhere.
These different benefits mean that they are a good substitute for some harder exercises. If you can’t do squats or some similar exercises, you may be able to do wall sits instead. The wall sit is much easier to do than a squat, but it gives you some of the same benefits. It’s obviously not as challenging and doesn’t require as much exertion from you, but you can get some similar gains by doing wall sits as you would with squats.
Builds Baseline Strength
What are wall sits good for and how long should you do them? They don’t just build endurance; they also improve your baseline strength. You’ll be building up muscles, but not developing them as much as you would by weightlifting. However, they can have an impact on your muscles and how they develop. That’s going to improve your lower body strength so you can lift more from there, run harder and faster, jump farther, and use your lower body in other ways.
How long should you be doing them for? Because wall sits are not a full exercise routine, you want to do them as part of a larger routine. That means you shouldn’t spend too much time doing wall sits. If you’re struggling with this exercise, you should only do it a few times per week. As you get better at it and your strength develops, you can do wall sits more often.
You should only hold the wall sit position for about 15 seconds before returning back to your starting position. This isn’t something you hold for 30 to 60 seconds like a plank. Doing a few wall sits in a row will benefit your, and if you can do about 10 or 15 of them, that will make a full set. If you work up two to three sets of wall sits into your exercise routine each day, you’ll definitely notice the benefits.
It Burns Calories
Wall sits are doing more than simply developing your muscles over a period of time. They also use up calories, helping you to lose weight. Even though they’re not a high intensity exercise that’s going to make you sweat a lot, they still burn some calories.
What happens when you do this exercise is that your muscles contract the entire time you’re doing it. This doesn’t give you a lot of resistance and it creates periods of rest, but it will help you burn some extra calories. Your muscles will remain in use for the entire exercise, and there’s no resistance required. The entire 15 seconds that you hold the wall sit for will be good for your body, actually increasing your heart rate and burning more calories than when you were standing. You’ll will be able to notice the burn happening as well as the increase in heart rate. This will not be something subtle and easy to miss, and you’ll definitely notice the benefits from doing wall sits.
As your heart rate increases, that means more calories are being burned that would not be burned at a lower rate. Your metabolic rate will be increased as well, though this won’t last for a long time. Increasing your heart rate for short periods of time can be excellent for your cardiovascular health, improving circulation, heart health, and your overall lifespan.
That’s right, doing wall sits regularly can help you to live longer, and it’s a great exercise to make a part of your healthy, active lifestyle. That’s probably the best benefit I can tell you about this exercise- that it could enable you to live longer and live healthier.
