SCARED OF SQUATS!

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  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
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    HAVE NO FEAR!

    Squats are awesome. Go as heavy as you can with proper form, 1-2x per week. You can also add deadlifts, lunges and hill sprints for extra bootytasticness. Start with a barbell, learn proper form, and keep adding weight every time. I prefer beginners start with Stronglifts 5x5 method- 5 sets of 5 reps. It will take time. Booties aren't made overnight.

    It's HIGHLY unlikely that your butt will get too big, especially if you're on a deficit and a natural woman. We simply don't have the testosterone required to hulk up without steroids. But, if your butt miraculously starts getting bigger than you like, it's a SLOW process to gain muscle, so simply back off your training- problem solved. Muscles don't stay trained for very long once you stop.

    That being said, when you first start training you might *think* it's getting bigger, but what it really is is intramuscular fluid causing swelling. It's temporary and will deflate with time. Don't quit your training within the first few months because you think it's bigger- it's not, it's just swollen. And as a side note, the swelling feels exactly like the muscle getting bigger- it's not like the puffiness you get from too much sodium. It's very confusing because it will seem like you grew muscle- you didn't.

    (sidenote- I don't know what the rule is on links to pics that aren't posted, but that first one is a bit sketchy. visible labia. you may want to edit out that link)

    QFT
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    myth: lifting makes you bulk up

    fact: lifting on a calorie surplus will eventually make you build muscle mass or "bulk" up over a very long period of time if you are a woman and you work at it...even then....its not like we can put on a pound of muscle a week....I think you'd notice before hand and it's easily reversible.

    fact: you can get strength and use more muscle fibers, but it is near impossible to put on muscle mass mass on a calorie deficit. If you are on one, you have nothing to worry about but get slimmer and lose your muffin top.

    I went from like 0 squats to 90 (holy shiz, 90, I just realized that, no wonder I feel it) every few days plus lunges and (pathetically light) weights (because I'm weak...I'm working on it). I've been at a calorie surplus so I've been 'bulking'. Mostly I've been just taking advantage to Christmas and I put on a fair amount of fat. But this is after months of getting 'bulky'/inhaling Christmas. Roar, I'm a monster.

    13599033_1421.jpg
  • amanda_gent
    amanda_gent Posts: 174 Member
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    I used to be scared of squats, too, but not because I thought my butt would get big. I was afraid of making an **kitten** of myself doing them! Ha ha

    THEN: I was the Most Awkward First Time Squatter Ever - the trainer who helped me figure it out tried not to laugh at me (she was a woman, fortunately, so it was slightly less awkward).

    NOW: I am good at it, and love doing squats, because of the power I feel flowing through my body, plus because of the way it makes my booty perfect, perky and rounded. Not baboon-like. I'm 47 years old, so I'm like, prehistoric, and I've got a better butt than most 30 year olds! Imagine what it could do for you - you could end up looking exactly like that link you posted!

    Embrace the squat, young'un!
  • LilacSnow
    LilacSnow Posts: 238 Member
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    they seem really simple, but i can't figure out how to do them properly. and yes, i've watched you tube instructional vids! they say not to let your knees go over your toes, but they also say to go as low as you can.... if i go low, my knees go over my toes, so i don't know what they're talking about.




    Starting+strength.jpg&sa=X&ei=T1TtUO-BOMSA2AXPuYH4BA&ved=0CAsQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNGfPeHZzw02waibqg1JfdshYgE61g

    the knees are over the toes in all three of those positions though.
  • HotMummyMission
    HotMummyMission Posts: 1,723 Member
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    Don't be I love them xxxxxx
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    1. You're not going to put on any significant amount of muscle mass (which you would need for it to get "massive") unless you are eating a surplus of calories. From your ticker it looks like you're trying to lose weight, so you're probably eating at a calorie deficit. Unless you intentionally "bulk", by eating more calories than you burn over a long period of time, it's not going to happen.

    2. Even if you were gaining muscle mass, you're not going to go to bed one night with the bum you want and wake up the next morning with it suddenly "massive". To get it bigger and bigger, you would need to be increasing the amount of weight you're squatting with. That's not going to happen by accident.

    3. If you can, squat with weights, it will have more of an effect.

    ^^yep
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    they seem really simple, but i can't figure out how to do them properly. and yes, i've watched you tube instructional vids! they say not to let your knees go over your toes, but they also say to go as low as you can.... if i go low, my knees go over my toes, so i don't know what they're talking about.

    ask someone who KNOWS good form to watch you. I was really worried about form, so periodically I have a trainer at the gym watch my form. He always tells me I look good.

    Always?

    pretty much, yeah. About the only time Justin corrects me is when I am learning something new...
  • Dexy_
    Dexy_ Posts: 593 Member
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    they seem really simple, but i can't figure out how to do them properly. and yes, i've watched you tube instructional vids! they say not to let your knees go over your toes, but they also say to go as low as you can.... if i go low, my knees go over my toes, so i don't know what they're talking about.




    Starting+strength.jpg&sa=X&ei=T1TtUO-BOMSA2AXPuYH4BA&ved=0CAsQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNGfPeHZzw02waibqg1JfdshYgE61g

    I have always been told to NEVER put your knees past your toes unless you're EXTREMELY deep into the squat?
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    they seem really simple, but i can't figure out how to do them properly. and yes, i've watched you tube instructional vids! they say not to let your knees go over your toes, but they also say to go as low as you can.... if i go low, my knees go over my toes, so i don't know what they're talking about.




    Starting+strength.jpg&sa=X&ei=T1TtUO-BOMSA2AXPuYH4BA&ved=0CAsQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNGfPeHZzw02waibqg1JfdshYgE61g

    I have always been told to NEVER put your knees past your toes unless you're EXTREMELY deep into the squat?


    *kitten* to grass. only way to do a squat.

    half squats get half results.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    they seem really simple, but i can't figure out how to do them properly. and yes, i've watched you tube instructional vids! they say not to let your knees go over your toes, but they also say to go as low as you can.... if i go low, my knees go over my toes, so i don't know what they're talking about.

    ask someone who KNOWS good form to watch you. I was really worried about form, so periodically I have a trainer at the gym watch my form. He always tells me I look good.

    Always?

    pretty much, yeah. About the only time Justin corrects me is when I am learning something new...

    I have made it VERY clear to the trainer and the fitness monitor that if they see me doing something with bad form, I WANT them to come over and correct me.

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