Squats and Big Booties; redux

Today my friends I am here to talk about big butts, squats, and what really happens. And I'm going to tell this tale with progressive booty shots, but first more words.

I squat. I squat heavy, 5x5, for me. My heavy is someone else's light, I'm sure but the beauty of heavy lifting is that it's what's heavy for you the individual, so long as there is progression. I literally started with 8lb dumbbells and now my max squat is 110. Moving on!

Now I've heard that people do squats to get a bigger booty and that some people seem to worry that heavy squats will make their behinds bigger, or that squats in general will make their behinds bigger, while they lose weight because of this fact. I've also seen people talk about how squats shrank the booty as they lost weight. How can both of these things exist together and be true? Simple, it's a matter of perception/placement/tightness. To demonstrate this we shall use my own booty. (Say booty again...)

Early May: I have your typical moderately sized black woman booty. Not a 'Dayum' booty, but also not 'small'. It is however flabby and such. Note how the bottom rests against my legs. Sad state. I shall thank you all to ignore my illfitting bottoms.




Early June: Just finished stage one of New Rules of Lifting. I was squatting the bar at this stage, having started with dumbbells. Notice how the booty has risen up a little and appears more shapely. Perhaps even 'larger', but also notice my butt is not longer eating my bikini because it fits! Which indicates my butt hasn't gotten bigger.



Late June: Butt has moved itself even higher. At this point I began noticing my jeans were a little harder to pull over my booty, but had a distinct gap in the back. Why? Had my butt gotten bigger? Nope, it'd just shifted and gotten firmer. Where once it was a marshmallow that melded to whatever I put on, now it had its own distinct shape and didn't like to be smushed. So while over all smaller, I did have some issues with pants. But the good kind of issues.




Late July: These bottoms are actually too tight (I got them in the Jr's department in a five. Don't you judge me!) but I wore them to better show off the butt. Please notice the overall smoothness of my legs and butt. More importantly notice how it no longer rests upon my legs? We have a closer shot here to display that, and also to better show what I was talking about above. My butt is higher and firmer and in an overall more pleasing location. My pants are a bit tight going up still, but again not because of an increase in size, but because of a shift in location. Oh, and looks good in clothes.





So here we are. Do squats make your butt look bigger? Well yes, but it's not that it's 'bigger' it's that it shifts and changes in shape/firmness. It pokes out instead of sliding downward. Can squats contribute to an overall slimming of your behind? Yes, assuming you're eating at a deficit and are patient because spot reduction isn't a thing. My everything is smaller (Gone from a 10/tight 8 to a 8/6/real tight 4 that one time). Can you squat heavy while losing weight and feel like your butt is getting bulky/bigger? Yes. But you're wrong. Tighter pants doesn't mean bigger butt, I promise, it means a better butt. Marshmallow Vs...i don't know, something firmer than a marshmallow. You may be used to your butt just shaping to your jeans and do the tightness as it no longer does that scares you off, but don't let it. Keep losing weight all over and the difference will soon be clear. Baring that, measuring tape. Pretty handy.

*Note: This is in regards to those losing weight. I know some people do squats later to build the booty while not trying to lose.