Underrated Exercise - the Squat

The squat is one of the most versatile and common exercises that many people can do anywhere, anytime. It’s a great way of building up core strength and also improving your general knee strength and health. The squat can be modified in a number of different ways to help you work other parts of your body as well. Stretching properly before and after each session is necessary.

The jump squat is a great test of both leg strength and balance,.. They can build strength-speed, power, improve rate of force development, and of course build up plyometric capacities.  Although it is a rare exercise to see in any gym they are an extremely effective way of turning your next muscle-building program in to a cardio workout.
    Start by doing a regular squat and then push yourself up as explosively as you can when you rise up.
    Do two sets of 10 reps.

Use your whole foot to jump, not just your toes. Once you have got the hang of jump squats you should increase the intensity.  Do one legged jump squats.  Try squats with a skipping rope, now that's something.

A simple bodyweight squat only forces the legs to carry the weight of the body through repetitive movements.  By adding a jump the legs have to carry the weight of the body plus get it to forcefully lift off the ground and land.  When we add a jump to a squat it not only forces the muscles to work but also gets the heart rate elevated the same as any cardio workout.  When we combine both the muscle building and cardio benefits together the fat burning abilities increase greatly.