Kneeling squat

StargazerB
StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Is a kneeling squat an acceptable substitute for the hip thrust? My program has hip thrust 4x a week and I would like to change it up for just one of those days as the hip thrust is not a favorite of mine to do.

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    They're sort of similar, but unless they're extremely heavy, you'll probably get more muscle stimulus just doing regular squats & deadlifts. Hip thrusts are kind of a trendy exercise that few people did a few years back and suddenly everyone needs to do them. If you're doing it as part of PT therapy though, ask your PT what to do. :+1:
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    What about glute bridges? Or maybe subbing in another glute dominant exercise. But I will be honest with you.. you are running Strong Curves right..there is a lot of hip thrusts..it is the main lift of the program. If they aren't your favourite, there are many other fantastic programs out there that have you doing it once a week or not at all.
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    MommyLifts3 wrote: »
    Is a kneeling squat an acceptable substitute for the hip thrust? My program has hip thrust 4x a week and I would like to change it up for just one of those days as the hip thrust is not a favorite of mine to do.

    I never enjoyed hip thrusts either, though I haven't actually tried kneeling squats as a sub yet, I might give that a go! What I do enjoy are foot-forward sumo squats on the smith machine, I find it hits my glutes better then either hip thrusts or glute bridges. Or elevated lunges. I also do those on the smith but just because my balance is garbage due to inner ear problems, you can do them with free weights. Sumo deadlifts are also a fave, SC does have deadlifts if I'm remembering right but not enough of them for me!

    I like the programming style of SC, I don't see a problem with subbing in exercises that work better for you so long as they're "equivalent" i.e. glute dominant.
  • StargazerB
    StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    What about glute bridges? Or maybe subbing in another glute dominant exercise. But I will be honest with you.. you are running Strong Curves right..there is a lot of hip thrusts..it is the main lift of the program. If they aren't your favourite, there are many other fantastic programs out there that have you doing it once a week or not at all.

    I think it's just by the fourth day I'm done with them. Would a kneeling squat be considered glute dominant? I know it targets them.
  • StargazerB
    StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
    smolmaus wrote: »
    MommyLifts3 wrote: »
    Is a kneeling squat an acceptable substitute for the hip thrust? My program has hip thrust 4x a week and I would like to change it up for just one of those days as the hip thrust is not a favorite of mine to do.

    I never enjoyed hip thrusts either, though I haven't actually tried kneeling squats as a sub yet, I might give that a go! What I do enjoy are foot-forward sumo squats on the smith machine, I find it hits my glutes better then either hip thrusts or glute bridges. Or elevated lunges. I also do those on the smith but just because my balance is garbage due to inner ear problems, you can do them with free weights. Sumo deadlifts are also a fave, SC does have deadlifts if I'm remembering right but not enough of them for me!

    I like the programming style of SC, I don't see a problem with subbing in exercises that work better for you so long as they're "equivalent" i.e. glute dominant.

    Thanks for the suggestion! I don't mind subbing exercises either, I'm just wondering if the kneeling squat would be considered glute dominant?
  • StargazerB
    StargazerB Posts: 425 Member
    Cherimoose wrote: »
    They're sort of similar, but unless they're extremely heavy, you'll probably get more muscle stimulus just doing regular squats & deadlifts. Hip thrusts are kind of a trendy exercise that few people did a few years back and suddenly everyone needs to do them. If you're doing it as part of PT therapy though, ask your PT what to do. :+1:

    Thanks. I do plenty of squats and there is some dealifting as well.
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
    MommyLifts3 wrote: »
    Thanks for the suggestion! I don't mind subbing exercises either, I'm just wondering if the kneeling squat would be considered glute dominant?

    Bodybuilding.com has them listed as glutes being the main muscle used. Your knees stay bent so that would take a lot of quad-effort out of it and there is a hip-hinge. Easiest way to answer is to try it and see if you can feel your glutes firing.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    MommyLifts3 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    What about glute bridges? Or maybe subbing in another glute dominant exercise. But I will be honest with you.. you are running Strong Curves right..there is a lot of hip thrusts..it is the main lift of the program. If they aren't your favourite, there are many other fantastic programs out there that have you doing it once a week or not at all.

    I think it's just by the fourth day I'm done with them. Would a kneeling squat be considered glute dominant? I know it targets them.

    I believe it is more glute dominant than a regular squat. You could try adding a band for more glute activation. The fourth day of SC is more an optional day anyhow, so you can definitely use that day to play with some new exercises.

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