Do squats really work the butt?

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  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    Go deeper. Squeeze your butt at the top of the squat. Do Deadlifts!

    Yup! My butt is killing me after 24 deep squats and 24 deep squat jumps...you can do lunges and lunge jumps too...they are hard! And you will feel it in your butt in the morning!
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    I should have also thrown in the that I have rheumatoid arthritis in my knees. So I can only go so low, and I can only do so heavy, but I do them to the point it burns.

    Basically wanna know what are other things I can do that aren't so hard on the knees.

    Great replies so far!

    Take it from someone who suffers with RA, the more you work these muscles the less pain you'll feel in your knees. You can go farther and lift heavier; you just have to work up to it and always be very aware of your form.


    Very true. Last month I went from hardly being able to lift myself from the toilet... to my knees only causing pain during a workout. If I'm gonna be doing something to work my butt muscles, I wanna put my all into it. Maybe I'm just doing them wrong.

    Not using your glutes at all when squatting is very common.

    One thing that you can do is to do an activation exercise like slow bodyweight straight led deadlifts or bird dogs first, to really feel your butt working. Then do your squats, chances are you'll do a much better job of using your glutes.

    IMHO an easy set of bodyweight straight leg deadlifts should be part of every leg workout warmup in order to activate the glutes. They are a muscle group that benefits greatly from preactivation.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Go deeper. Squeeze your butt at the top of the squat. Do Deadlifts!

    ^^^this.

    Also, it takes more than a month...a month is nothing. Body composition work is a continuously ongoing process of burning fat and adding/maintaining muscle. Fitness lifestyle = Fitness body...but it's a lifestyle, not something you do for a few weeks and shrug your shoulders that it didn't work.
  • oX_Vanessa_Xo
    oX_Vanessa_Xo Posts: 478
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    Go deeper. Squeeze your butt at the top of the squat. Do Deadlifts!

    ^^^this.

    Also, it takes more than a month...a month is nothing. Body composition work is a continuously ongoing process of burning fat and adding/maintaining muscle. Fitness lifestyle = Fitness body...but it's a lifestyle, not something you do for a few weeks and shrug your shoulders that it didn't work.

    This IS my lifestyle now. When I get to the point where I want to be, I dont plan on stopping. I know nothing will come of one month, I was just under the impression that squats work the butt. If I'm actually working muscles... its going to hurt, like my abs do, calves, thighs and shoulders. No pain in my butt makes me feel like I'm not using those muscles at all.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Go deeper. Squeeze your butt at the top of the squat. Do Deadlifts!

    ^^^this.

    Also, it takes more than a month...a month is nothing. Body composition work is a continuously ongoing process of burning fat and adding/maintaining muscle. Fitness lifestyle = Fitness body...but it's a lifestyle, not something you do for a few weeks and shrug your shoulders that it didn't work.

    This IS my lifestyle now. When I get to the point where I want to be, I dont plan on stopping. I know nothing will come of one month, I was just under the impression that squats work the butt. If I'm actually working muscles... its going to hurt, like my abs do, calves, thighs and shoulders. No pain in my butt makes me feel like I'm not using those muscles at all.

    Soreness isn't always a good indicator. The squat is a compound move that works a lot of different things, including the glutes.

    For a targetted exercise try good mornings, pullthroughs, deficit SLDLs, or weighted hip thrusts.
  • helendale1
    helendale1 Posts: 1
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    If your feet are straight a head you target your bum more, feet pointed out targets your thighs. I also find lower pulsing hurts my bum more.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Great thread (great responses)!! :drinker:
  • ls4jj
    ls4jj Posts: 7 Member
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    Do what we like to call fire hydrants. get down on your hands and knees and lift your leg as if you are a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. making a nice 90 degree andgle when your leg is lifted in the aire with your knee bent. It feels awkward at first but do a few sets of those on each side and start slowere then increase spead then go back slower, and your butt wll be burning! Its a good one.... if you get adventurous, when your leg is up in the air, extend your knee as if you are kicking at something.
  • oX_Vanessa_Xo
    oX_Vanessa_Xo Posts: 478
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    Do what we like to call fire hydrants. get down on your hands and knees and lift your leg as if you are a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. making a nice 90 degree andgle when your leg is lifted in the aire with your knee bent. It feels awkward at first but do a few sets of those on each side and start slowere then increase spead then go back slower, and your butt wll be burning! Its a good one.... if you get adventurous, when your leg is up in the air, extend your knee as if you are kicking at something.

    Thanks! I'll try this one tonight :)
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    Add some real weight to these squats and lunges and get back to me if you don't both feel it and start seeing results in your butt. Right now you're essentially doing bodyweight exercises and wondering why you aren't getting the results you want. If you want your body to change, you have to force it to adapt. And the way to do that is by giving it a challenging weight to handle.

    This.
  • Ceceamanda
    Ceceamanda Posts: 91 Member
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    bump
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Since you have knee problems, skip the first 6 minutes of this, but it's a great vid:
    http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=SmcLB9ObdOM&desktop_uri=/watch?v=SmcLB9ObdOM
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    The answer to this question is yes and no. The reason I say that is because the shoes you wear while doing your workouts heavily impact whether or not the butt is being properly worked. Running shoes, and any shoe that has a heel raised significantly higher than the front of the foot, takes the load off of the glute and hamstring and places it primarily on the quadriceps muscle. Whereas if you were barefoot or wearing flat-soled shoes that did not have a raised heel, these three muscle groups would be splitting the load evenly.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    If done properly, then yes.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
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    The answer to this question is yes and no. The reason I say that is because the shoes you wear while doing your workouts heavily impact whether or not the butt is being properly worked. Running shoes, and any shoe that has a heel raised significantly higher than the front of the foot, takes the load off of the glute and hamstring and places it primarily on the quadriceps muscle. Whereas if you were barefoot or wearing flat-soled shoes that did not have a raised heel, these three muscle groups would be splitting the load evenly.

    I didn't know that! That maybe explains why I've seen guys at the gym squatting with their heels on a piece of wood. I thought it was a flexibility thing, but they're probably trying to target their quads.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    The answer to this question is yes and no. The reason I say that is because the shoes you wear while doing your workouts heavily impact whether or not the butt is being properly worked. Running shoes, and any shoe that has a heel raised significantly higher than the front of the foot, takes the load off of the glute and hamstring and places it primarily on the quadriceps muscle. Whereas if you were barefoot or wearing flat-soled shoes that did not have a raised heel, these three muscle groups would be splitting the load evenly.

    I didn't know that! That maybe explains why I've seen guys at the gym squatting with their heels on a piece of wood. I thought it was a flexibility thing, but they're probably trying to target their quads.

    That or they just want to see bigger numbers on their lifts. When you squat with a raised heel you can lift more. Also, for some people, it can be a flexibility thing. But they need to try to improve it, not work around it like that.
  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    Weighted Hip Thrusts
    Deadlifts
    Romanian deadlifts
    Glute Ham raises

    I have bad knees and these are things I can do without hurting myself and feel that I am actually working my glutes. I don't feel squats much in my glutes either.
  • 3LittleMonkeys
    3LittleMonkeys Posts: 373 Member
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    I have a bad left new (dislocated kneecap and then surgery). My trainer went over squats with me yesterday. I was afraid just like you. Squats should not hurt your knees. If if does, you aren't doing them correctly. My knee did not hurt. Now my thighs, that is another story! LOL
  • _DaniD_
    _DaniD_ Posts: 2,186 Member
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    Add weight
  • darwinwoodka
    darwinwoodka Posts: 322 Member
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    Add some weight and take it all the way down. Yes, they work.

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