Do squats actually help?

Squats are a very good exercise for the glutes and for the thighs. Naturally, there are a number of factors to consider...

1. Are you doing them properly? Proper form?

2. Are you doing them with additional weight or simply using your own body weight

3. What is your body fat %? If you have a high body fat percentage, then nothing is going to give you the results you want.

4. Are you eating at a deficit or a surplus? A surplus will provide fuel to produce new muscle. A deficit will help reveal underlying muscle by lowering body fat percentage.

Lots of things to factor in but Squats are great for lower body development.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

Don't "stick with" a weight. You need to ADD weight to ADD muscle. After 5 months you should be at least halfway to your body weight if you have good form!

I started from scratch (no weight) last year and was squatting my bodyweight (135lbs) in 2 months. If you want to improve, you can't just keep doing the same thing.

You should probably find someone to work with you in person. Not just a general trainer at the gym either, it doesn't take much to certify and many of those dopes don't know anything and could hurt you.

Squatting never worked for me - but I can't lift anything heavy. But this thread actually has some awesome info! I'm gonna try everything I medically am able to.
You guys are all so awesome

Can't?? That's not even a real word.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

after 5 months you should be doing 135-180lbs on your squat. Do you have some large health issue causing a problem?

Don't listen to this.

Aaahhhh the glute bridge looks so simple but when I've done 3x 10 and then go for a walk those *kitten* cheeks are feeling it, I hold my glute bridges for 10 secs now I've progressed up from 3 secs.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

after 5 months you should be doing 135-180lbs on your squat. Do you have some large health issue causing a problem?

Don't listen to this.

By all means... Add a bunch of other extra exercises as a beginner and never get strong.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

after 5 months you should be doing 135-180lbs on your squat. Do you have some large health issue causing a problem?

Don't listen to this.

By all means... Add a bunch of other extra exercises as a beginner and never get strong.

Right so you are saying by supplementing her squats with other exercises even a compound one like deadlifts she won't get stronger? When I said don't listen to you I meant people should not be pressured to be at a certain weight by a certain timeframe as everyone is different, your advice was dangerous.

You only need to supplement with assistance exercises when you are strong enough to start to get sticking points. And also more advanced that you can handle extra volume.

In the absence of a physical limitation that needs addressing (which was what he was asking) then she should have been progressively adding weight to the bar. If she isn't, she's not eliciting a training response and won't force a strength adaptation. Adding in extra stuff on top creates extra volume a beginner doesn't need (and likely can't handle if the weights on the extra stuff are sufficient to elicit any meaningful training response).

ETA I won't say she should be lifting X lbs by now, because these things are fuzzy, but she should be adding weight in a progressive manner according to the dictates of her programme. However, it sounds like she isn't actually on a programme as such. So something progressive and sane like Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or All Pro's Simple Beginners Routine would be the thing to get on.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

after 5 months you should be doing 135-180lbs on your squat. Do you have some large health issue causing a problem?

Don't listen to this.

By all means... Add a bunch of other extra exercises as a beginner and never get strong.

Right so you are saying by supplementing her squats with other exercises even a compound one like deadlifts she won't get stronger? When I said don't listen to you I meant people should not be pressured to be at a certain weight by a certain timeframe as everyone is different, your advice was dangerous.

I agree...throwing out numbers is dangerous.

After 6 months I could squat 180lbs but my form was lacking...

To the OP it has been mentioned the deeper you get the better it works your butt...I don't supplement with hip thrusts or glute bridges yet...and my butt has had a noticable difference in it...but I am 2x your age and it needed the work...

Perhaps your butt is fine...but the thing with that is to add muscle to make it bigger you need to bulk and lift heavy...not sure that is the avenue you want to go.

How much weight are you putting on the barbell? How deep are you going? Olympic or powerlifting stance?

I'm not the strongest person ever so I'm sticking with around 30-45lbs

after 5 months you should be doing 135-180lbs on your squat. Do you have some large health issue causing a problem?

Don't listen to this.

By all means... Add a bunch of other extra exercises as a beginner and never get strong.

Right so you are saying by supplementing her squats with other exercises even a compound one like deadlifts she won't get stronger? When I said don't listen to you I meant people should not be pressured to be at a certain weight by a certain timeframe as everyone is different, your advice was dangerous.

You only need to supplement with assistance exercises when you are strong enough to start to get sticking points. And also more advanced that you can handle extra volume.

In the absence of a physical limitation that needs addressing (which was what he was asking) then she should have been progressively adding weight to the bar. If she isn't, she's not eliciting a training response and won't force a strength adaptation. Adding in extra stuff on top creates extra volume a beginner doesn't need (and likely can't handle if the weights on the extra stuff are sufficient to elicit any meaningful training response).

ETA I won't say she should be lifting X lbs by now, because these things are fuzzy, but she should be adding weight in a progressive manner according to the dictates of her programme. However, it sounds like she isn't actually on a programme as such. So something progressive and sane like Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or All Pro's Simple Beginners Routine would be the thing to get on.

Not going to get into it, but adding in glutes-focused accessories and core work only made my squats stats go up. Kind of like how adding in machine-based chest press negatives upped my bench by almost 10% in a couple of weeks. Sticking to the basics for the first few months is more about getting form right and learning proper technique than increasing the weights at a rapid rate. Form first, stats second. Obviously, doing too much can have a negative impact, but it isn't why a person should stick to just the basics in the beginning. Form is the reason.

Strength is a skill.

Learning the right form is learning to fire the right muscles most completely. More efficient neuro-muscular stimulation. You get that by drilling the movement (correctly, I grant you) and increasing the load.

To be clear, i'm not saying that she should be squatting X lbs in Y timeframe. That was another poster. I am responding to 2 issues. 1) She doesn't seem to be increasing/progressing. In the absence of a physical limitation, I suggest she isn't actually on a well-designed programme. Getting on one would fix this. 2) Throwing a bunch of random exercises towards a beginner - who, let's be clear, we know nothing about - is bonkers. Thousands of people the world over got strong at squatting by squatting before BC ever made glutes trendy. Not to say they won't help, but fixing her squat would be better than introducing something else she could just as well not load/progress correctly.

#asstothegrass