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In the study, scientists found that squats are an overall great exercise for activating the gluteus maximus and the gluteus medius. While they weren't the number one exercise for muscle activation, they still remain my personal favorite foroverall lower body work.Squats are a great exercise for the glutes, hips and thighs and adding a ball tothe move can add great support for the back while allowing you to get into perfect squat position to protect the knees. How to do it:

Stand with about hip or shoulder-width apart and place an exercise ball behind your lower back and against a sturdy wall for support.If you choose to hold weights, you can keep them at your sides, hold them just over the shoulders or prop them on the upper thighs.Bend the knees and lower into a squat, keeping the knees in line with the toes.Lower down as far as you can (but no lower than 90 degrees) and push into the heels to go back to starting position.Do 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 16 reps.Tips:

Keep your knees in line with your toes.

Press through the heel of your foot as you push up from the squat.Avoid letting the knee bend over the toe.

I have to admit that I have my ups and downs with the exercise habit.So I know that its not the easiest habit for most people, and most peoples experiences consist of starting and stopping and starting again. Which is fine dont beatyourself up about it. The important thing is starting again.Ive written before about how to build the exercise habit (and evenhave a guest post on it), but today I thought Id revisit the topic for those who still have trouble.The Main ProblemsSo why do most people have trouble making exercise a regular habit? Well, thereare probably a number of factors, but here are the main ones as I see it:

Too difficult. People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start out with a big goal. Im going to go to the gym for an hour a day! or Im going to run 30 minutes every day! The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain forvery long. You can do it for a few days, but you soon run out of energy, and itbecomes a drag to do it.Too many goals. Often we set out to do too much. We want to run, and lift weights, and eat healthy, and quit sweets, and stop drinking soda. Well, those are multiple goals, and you cannot focus on the exercise habit if youre trying to do allthe others at the same time. Or we might start with one goal, but then get caught up in another goal (to stop procrastinating, for example), and lose our focuson the first one.Not enough motivation. Its not a lack of discipline, its a lack of motivation. The

most powerful motivators, in my experience, are logging your habit and public pressure. There are many others that help as well.The 4 Simple StepsSo how do we solve those problems? Keep it simple. Here are the 4 simple steps to start the exercise habit (and keep it going). I should note that you can use these 4 steps to start any habit.Set one easy, specific, measurable goal. There are several keys to setting thiscrucial goal:Written: Write this down. Post it up. If you dont write it down, its not important.Easy: Dont DO NOT set a difficult goal. Set one that is super, super easy. Five minutes of exercise a day. You can do that. Work your way to 10 minutes after a month. Then go to 15 after 2 months. You can see what I mean: make it easy to sta

rt with, so you can build your habit, then gradually increase.Specific: By specific, I mean what activity are you going to do, at what time ofday, and where? Dont just say exercise or Im going to walk. You have to set a time

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d place. Make it an appointment you cant miss.Trigger: I recommend that you have a trigger right before you do your habit. For example, you might always brush your teeth right after you shower. The shower isthe trigger for brushing your teeth, and because of that, you never forget to brush your teeth. Well, what will you do right before you exercise? Is it right after you wake up? Right after your coffee? Right when you get home? As soon as you take off for lunch? A trigger that you do every single day is important.

Measurable: By measurable, I mean that you should be able to say, definitely, whether you hit or miss your goal today. Examples: run for 10 minutes. Walk 1/2 amile. Do 3 sets of 5 pushups. Each of those has a number that you can shoot for.One goal: Stick to this one goal for at least a month. Two months if you can bear it. Dont start up a second goal during that 30-day period. If you do, you are scrapping this goal.Log it daily. This is the key habit. If you can log your workout, you will startto see your progress, and it will motivate you to keep going. And you have to make it a habit to log it right away. Dont put it off, and say youll do it before you go to bed. As soon as youre done working out, log it. No exceptions. And dont make the log complicated that will only make you resist doing the log. Just the date, time, and what you did.

Report to others. I think this is key. You can do it on your blog, on an onlineforum, with your spouse, or friends or family, or a workout partner, or a coach,or a group, or a class. However you set it up, make it part of the process thatyou have to report your daily workout to other people. It could be using an online log, or on a forum, or through email, or the phone, or just by telling yourco-workers what you did this morning. But be sure that they know your goal, andthat you are going to report to them, and be sure that they are expecting it every day.Add motivation as needed. The first three steps might be enough for you to get the habit going. But if not, dont just give up. If you miss two consecutive workouts, you need to look at why, and add a new motivation. Rewards, more public pressure, inspiration, whatever it takes. Readthis article for more on this. You canadd one additional motivator, and then see if it works. If you miss two more co

nsecutive workouts at any time, add another motivator. And so on, until the exercise habit sticks.