ISO Big Booty :P Weider Ultimate Body Works: Squats vs Leg Press?

southrnchic479

I bought the Weider Ultimate body works about a year ago (its similar to the Total Gym from what I understand). But have moved quite a bit since then and never seem to have a place to set it up until now (yay!). Anyway, I am on the quest to get a nice round booty. Thank God I have a good semi curvy basis with which to start with (just absolutely no tone whatsoever) but I digress....

Aside from donkey kicks, fire hydrants, rear leg extensions/raises (body weight only right now) I am trying to do squats - I say trying because I am one of those that falls backwards. So I’ve started doing the goblet squat (very little weight - using a change jar at the moment as that’s all I’ve got while my house is packed up for the next move!) and so far I am having more success with that but still struggling with proper form/no tailbone tucking. BUT, all that being said, is the leg press a more foolproof way for me to be working my glutes? Should I just scrap the squats for now and do the leg press only? Or am I comparing apples to oranges here?

sardelsa

While leg press is great overall lower body exercise, it's not necessary or fool proof.. I've never used it to build my glutes working out at home.

You definitely want to incorporate hip thrusts and glute bridges.

But I would recommend following a program for best results, rather than just random lower body movements. Something like Strong Curves is great.

BNY721

For me hip thrusts have done more for me than squats..I am quad dominant and they take over for most exercises..Strong Curves is a great program to look into!

JAYxMSxPES

RE Squats vs. Leg Press

Here's my opinion if you look at it from a pure standpoint of human kinematics. What do the glutes do? Basically they extend the hip & thigh and support lumbar extension to some degree. Keeping that in-mind, look at this picture of a common leg press machine.



The hips get into a pretty flexed position, which will require the glutes and even hammies (a little) to extend the hips. But the leg press does not typically allow for full hip extension. Granted some machines can vary but this is a common leg press you'll find in the average gym. Notice how in the picture, the hips are still flexed? The knees have achieved full extension which makes it a very quad dominant exercise with some glute involvement but not a ton.

Now if you look at the squat, you'll see that you start at full hip extension, achieve hip flexion when you squat down into the "hole", and then re-achieve full extension when you squat back up.



So in this case, the glutes would be more active in the squat than in the leg press. Of course the quads also play a huge role in the squat as you move from full knee extension to knee flexion back to extension.

If working on your glutes is important to you, I think using the squat would be better than the leg press for reasons I mentioned above. However, I would not limit to just the squat. A couple isolation exercises that just focus on extension of the hip would be good to incorporate as well. Things like glute bridges, RDL's, good mornings, reverse hypers, are good examples. Not that I suggest doing them all, but I think you get my point.

Hope that helps!

CJ_Holmes

Listen to Sardelsa! And I would add that deadlifts and back extensions do wonders for perking up the booty.

sardelsa

CJ_Holmes wrote: »

Listen to Sardelsa! And I would add that deadlifts and back extensions do wonders for perking up the booty.

Oh I love these, I recently started doing them differently to isolate the glutes more, and wow!

Davidsdottir

sardelsa wrote: »

CJ_Holmes wrote: »

Listen to Sardelsa! And I would add that deadlifts and back extensions do wonders for perking up the booty.

Oh I love these, I recently started doing them differently to isolate the glutes more, and wow!

Yeah, I watched a Bret Contrares video where he shows how to round your lower back a bit to hit the glutes better.

rheddmobile

Try doing your goblet squats as box squats to improve your form - it helped teach me the correct hip hinge motion and how it feels. Put a box, ball or chair behind you that just touches your butt when you break parallel, and lower down until your butt touches it. This will force you to reach backwards with your butt instead of just bending your knees.

BNY721

sardelsa wrote: »

CJ_Holmes wrote: »

Listen to Sardelsa! And I would add that deadlifts and back extensions do wonders for perking up the booty.

Oh I love these, I recently started doing them differently to isolate the glutes more, and wow!

Can I ask what you are doing differently with your back extensions? I need to incorporate these..I do Superman but haven’t really done anything else..

sardelsa

BNY721 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

CJ_Holmes wrote: »

Listen to Sardelsa! And I would add that deadlifts and back extensions do wonders for perking up the booty.

Oh I love these, I recently started doing them differently to isolate the glutes more, and wow!

Can I ask what you are doing differently with your back extensions? I need to incorporate these..I do Superman but haven’t really done anything else..

So in the normal version, hinge is at the back...in the glute focused version, the hinge is at the hips. Use the glutes to pull your body up and thrust the hips into the pad (with a posterior pelvic tilt)..back will round a bit and that's fine, don't hyperextend the back

I hope that made sense.. here is a video that explains it a bit better! https://youtube.com/watch?v=jh45myksaEs Skip to 1:40 to see the different version

BNY721

I will check it out! Thank-you!

JAYxMSxPES

Make sure you watch that video before just proceeding. Bret was very clear to keep a neutral spine and not overextend. I did not notice any rounding of the lower back / lumbar spine and again, he was clear that the back should remain neutral throughout. The "rounding" is actually in the thoracic spine area and not the lumbar.

BNY721

I have watched a lot of his videos..so I definitely will be watching it and taking my time ensuring proper form.

sardelsa

JAYxMSxPES wrote: »

Make sure you watch that video before just proceeding. Bret was very clear to keep a neutral spine and not overextend. I did not notice any rounding of the lower back / lumbar spine and again, he was clear that the back should remain neutral throughout. The "rounding" is actually in the thoracic spine area and not the lumbar.

Yea thanks for clarifying. There is rounding a bit in the upper not lower back... But ya definitely watch the video, he has several demos his IG as well.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

also not sure if you are currently trying to gain or lose. but to build up your booty you need to build muscle. which can happen in a surplus or a very small deficit.

JAYxMSxPES

sardelsa wrote: »

JAYxMSxPES wrote: »

Make sure you watch that video before just proceeding. Bret was very clear to keep a neutral spine and not overextend. I did not notice any rounding of the lower back / lumbar spine and again, he was clear that the back should remain neutral throughout. The "rounding" is actually in the thoracic spine area and not the lumbar.

Yea thanks for clarifying. There is rounding a bit in the upper not lower back... But ya definitely watch the video, he has several demos his IG as well.

No problem, I wasn't trying to be a smart-*kitten* either; I'm sensitive to matters of the lower back. One comment mentioned rounding of the lower-back and I found it hard that Bret would make such a suggestion in relation to that exercise.

southrnchic479

I don't think I'll be doing back extensions any time soon (I'm too inexperienced just yet, I'd have to work up to it), but I'll definitely keep that in mind later down the line. I won't have access to a gym until 2 weeks from now, and when I do, it will be a limited one - I use my SIL's gym at her complex, which has free weights and one of those pulley machines (not sure what it's called lol). I was hoping somehow I could use the Ultimate Bodyworks machine for some glute action on days we don't meet up for a gym session, but after reading what @JAYxMSxPES shared I'm not so sure the "leg press" is the right fit for me.

Just for clarification, I'm attaching a pic of the machine in action for the "leg press". I suppose it isn't a total waste since I can still use the resistance for arms and back, but the main reason I got this machine was for the leg press feature as I thought it was key to building a booty.

JAYxMSxPES

southrnchic479 wrote: »

I don't think I'll be doing back extensions any time soon (I'm too inexperienced just yet, I'd have to work up to it), but I'll definitely keep that in mind later down the line. I won't have access to a gym until 2 weeks from now, and when I do, it will be a limited one - I use my SIL's gym at her complex, which has free weights and one of those pulley machines (not sure what it's called lol). I was hoping somehow I could use the Ultimate Bodyworks machine for some glute action on days we don't meet up for a gym session, but after reading what @JAYxMSxPES shared I'm not so sure the "leg press" is the right fit for me.

Just for clarification, I'm attaching a pic of the machine in action for the "leg press". I suppose it isn't a total waste since I can still use the resistance for arms and back, but the main reason I got this machine was for the leg press feature as I thought it was key to building a booty.

Well, that's not what I expected when you mentioned leg press. I assumed a more general leg press device but that looks like you can achieve a full range of motion of hip flexion and hip extension. It actually looks more like a hack-squat machine. If that's all you have to work with then use it.

With DB's you can do things like goblet squats, bulgarian split squats, step-ups, and lunges. With the lunges just make sure to get a full range of motion. Meaning when you're "lunged down" your back knee should touch the floor and your forward leg is basically at a 90-degree angle. This provides a good range of flexion and extension. Personally I feel like walking lunges with that range of motion have always been rough on the glutes. Similarly if you do step-ups, use a step / box where your forward leg is at a 90-degree angle (roughly).

Another thing you can do is go a little heavier with your lunge / step-up, for instance, and do those for a couple sets of 6-10 reps since they're unilateral, and then hop on your machine and immediately do a set of 12-20 reps.