Squatting
Ashlove5
Posts: 152 Member
How often should i squat a week to see results in my legs and butt area ? Some say do 100 squats everyday , while some say do squats 3 times a week ? Idk which is more beneficial. Every time i ask this question people always refer me to follow a program but i am simply asking how many times a week should i do squats to see results ? Like how many days a week would you guys suggest for leg days ( leg workouts for thighs and butt)
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Replies
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You need to add weight to your squats.8
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The thing is - the reason why people suggest you follow a program - that you can do a bazillion bodyweight squats per day every day if you like, but it will come to a point where you will need more than that to get results.
There is no magic number or magic number of times per week.
Personally? I don't care much for my booty so I squat on my leg days, which is once a week, and I do weighted back squats along with a bunch of other leg/butt exercises. I have now come to see how weak my butt is, so I have added an extra little bit of butt activation exercises to my weekly workouts in order to try to address this problem - i'm getting to the stage where my weighted squats aren't improving because of my butt deficiencies (because I don't like working my butt out). If I get an extra gym day, I now do a second leg/butt day too, instead of a back or shoulders day, which would have been my go-to usually.
Some girls on here do butt day every day.
There are a billion different squat varieties - plain squats, goblet squats, banded squats, front squats, back squats, hack squats, sissy squats, etc etc etc.
Looks like you are keen on building the butt and legs, so, the best answer UNFORTUNATELY, is - follow a program such as Get Glutes or Strong Curves or I don't know - Brazilian Butt Lift - whatever - whatever the program is - follow it and you will see results I'd say within a month or so (in terms of exercises getting easier, if using weights being able to make weights heavier, etc. In terms of visual difference, that will depend on if you have fat to lose or not).
Good luck!
Oh - and I think you can probably get FREE butt exercises on the interwebs if you don't want to pay for a program. Pretty sure there would be a bunch out there for free from those Instagram/YouTube butt girls.
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Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.5
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Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?4
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What kind of results?
There really is no straight or simple answer to your question. You would require enough stimulation and overload to preserve muscle of you are eating in a deficit. How much depends on many factors. I only squat once or twice a week. I am very quad dominant so for me they aren't a great exercise for me and my goals. Rather I incorporate other exercises such as hip thrusts and deadlifts as well as other accessories. I work legs 3-4x per week, but I followed a program at first so I didn't overtrain, undertrain, had the right muscle balance and recovered adequately. If you are doing random things it is more likely you will get random results.3 -
It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.9 -
One reason people tell you to use a program is it works.
Another reason is it'll help you avoid imbalances which can lead to discomfort and even injury.5 -
So by results i am not expecting like a bigger butt , if that happens you know great but i mean toned thighs and a nice toned butt. I believe that can be achieved by workouts you know.What kind of results?
There really is no straight or simple answer to your question. You would require enough stimulation and overload to preserve muscle of you are eating in a deficit. How much depends on many factors. I only squat once or twice a week. I am very quad dominant so for me they aren't a great exercise for me and my goals. Rather I incorporate other exercises such as hip thrusts and deadlifts as well as other accessories. I work legs 3-4x per week, but I followed a program at first so I didn't overtrain, undertrain, had the right muscle balance and recovered adequately. If you are doing random things it is more likely you will get random results.
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I use 4 pounds now and will increase to 6 - 10 soon. And i also increase the number of squats. Right now i do 75 squats.rileysowner wrote: »Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?
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As of right now i don’t have time to lift weights in the gym i can only do cardio. So i work on my legs at home i do leg raises , fire hydrants , squats ect ect. So if any program for butt and thighs that could be done at home wouldCahgetsfit wrote: »The thing is - the reason why people suggest you follow a program - that you can do a bazillion bodyweight squats per day every day if you like, but it will come to a point where you will need more than that to get results.
There is no magic number or magic number of times per week.
Personally? I don't care much for my booty so I squat on my leg days, which is once a week, and I do weighted back squats along with a bunch of other leg/butt exercises. I have now come to see how weak my butt is, so I have added an extra little bit of butt activation exercises to my weekly workouts in order to try to address this problem - i'm getting to the stage where my weighted squats aren't improving because of my butt deficiencies (because I don't like working my butt out). If I get an extra gym day, I now do a second leg/butt day too, instead of a back or shoulders day, which would have been my go-to usually.
Some girls on here do butt day every day.
There are a billion different squat varieties - plain squats, goblet squats, banded squats, front squats, back squats, hack squats, sissy squats, etc etc etc.
Looks like you are keen on building the butt and legs, so, the best answer UNFORTUNATELY, is - follow a program such as Get Glutes or Strong Curves or I don't know - Brazilian Butt Lift - whatever - whatever the program is - follow it and you will see results I'd say within a month or so (in terms of exercises getting easier, if using weights being able to make weights heavier, etc. In terms of visual difference, that will depend on if you have fat to lose or not).
Good luck!
Oh - and I think you can probably get FREE butt exercises on the interwebs if you don't want to pay for a program. Pretty sure there would be a bunch out there for free from those Instagram/YouTube butt girls.
Be great !
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So by results i am not expecting like a bigger butt , if that happens you know great but i mean toned thighs and a nice toned butt. I believe that can be achieved by workouts you know.What kind of results?
There really is no straight or simple answer to your question. You would require enough stimulation and overload to preserve muscle of you are eating in a deficit. How much depends on many factors. I only squat once or twice a week. I am very quad dominant so for me they aren't a great exercise for me and my goals. Rather I incorporate other exercises such as hip thrusts and deadlifts as well as other accessories. I work legs 3-4x per week, but I followed a program at first so I didn't overtrain, undertrain, had the right muscle balance and recovered adequately. If you are doing random things it is more likely you will get random results.
In a deficit you will typically not achieve larger glutes anyhow. How your legs and glutes look when you get to goal depends on not only how much muscle you maintain in the process but how much you have in the first place. I have done a lot of different types of workouts, Brazil butt lift type stuff and the only thing that made a difference was progressive resistance training.6 -
I use 4 pounds now and will increase to 6 - 10 soon. And i also increase the number of squats. Right now i do 75 squats.rileysowner wrote: »Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?
That's really not enough weight to make a difference. Why can't you incorporate some weight training on your gym days? Maybe you can do a bit less cardio and use the weights too.3 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
Seems you had the same issue as OP.0 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
Seems you had the same issue as OP.
Yes, which is why I replied. Weighed squats are NOT the only way to work thighs and butt. I accomplished my goal with sprints and later hiking, which I needed no equipment or gym membership for and could do while I was enjoying nature near my home. I gave OP an alternative which they can try or not as they see fit.8 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.6 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.3 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
For muscle maintenance maybe but growth is very difficult. You really have to give reason for that muscle to grow.3 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
I don't see how it was misleading when I clearly stated I did not use weights. And the squats were done with very good form, just not with added weight. At no point did I say using weights would not work, I just spoke of my experience without them. It's great if you did weighted squats and progressed to more and more weight and got results you like. Needing barbells was just not something I was or am interested in, so I found a different way that I found easy and enjoyable. I'm just giving OP another option to accomplish her goal...which is improving thighs and butt.8 -
As of right now i don’t have time to lift weights in the gym i can only do cardio. So i work on my legs at home i do leg raises , fire hydrants , squats ect ect. So if any program for butt and thighs that could be done at home wouldCahgetsfit wrote: »The thing is - the reason why people suggest you follow a program - that you can do a bazillion bodyweight squats per day every day if you like, but it will come to a point where you will need more than that to get results.
There is no magic number or magic number of times per week.
Personally? I don't care much for my booty so I squat on my leg days, which is once a week, and I do weighted back squats along with a bunch of other leg/butt exercises. I have now come to see how weak my butt is, so I have added an extra little bit of butt activation exercises to my weekly workouts in order to try to address this problem - i'm getting to the stage where my weighted squats aren't improving because of my butt deficiencies (because I don't like working my butt out). If I get an extra gym day, I now do a second leg/butt day too, instead of a back or shoulders day, which would have been my go-to usually.
Some girls on here do butt day every day.
There are a billion different squat varieties - plain squats, goblet squats, banded squats, front squats, back squats, hack squats, sissy squats, etc etc etc.
Looks like you are keen on building the butt and legs, so, the best answer UNFORTUNATELY, is - follow a program such as Get Glutes or Strong Curves or I don't know - Brazilian Butt Lift - whatever - whatever the program is - follow it and you will see results I'd say within a month or so (in terms of exercises getting easier, if using weights being able to make weights heavier, etc. In terms of visual difference, that will depend on if you have fat to lose or not).
Good luck!
Oh - and I think you can probably get FREE butt exercises on the interwebs if you don't want to pay for a program. Pretty sure there would be a bunch out there for free from those Instagram/YouTube butt girls.
Be great !
Back to you OP, since you're not necessarily interested in growing your muscles, body weight would be fine for you.
Strong Curves has a body weight at home program in the book you could use.
If you have some money, you could invest in a set of adjustable dumbbells and do the beginner program at home as well.
In terms on your goal for looking what you call toned, that's a function of becoming leaner by losing body fat to reveal the underlying muscle structure. You need to eat at a calorie deficit to do that.2 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
For muscle maintenance maybe but growth is very difficult. You really have to give reason for that muscle to grow.
I agree sardelsa, OP seems pretty set on no weights though. Kind of limits the options.0 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
For muscle maintenance maybe but growth is very difficult. You really have to give reason for that muscle to grow.
I agree sardelsa, OP seems pretty set on no weights though. Kind of limits the options.
Since she is trying to "tone up" bodyweight can be effective if done properly. In that case I would recommend a program like Strong Curves which has a bodyweight section. Also adding reps, resistance bands, dumbbells etc can help progress over time.1 -
Cahgetsfit wrote: »Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.
No, you really shouldn't. People see minimal to no glute growth with squats because squats are not a glute dominant exercise. When squatting, your glutes are the most engaged at the bottom of the squat, which is why people say that you can target the glutes more by going "a** to grass" or doing pause squats. However, most people don't do this when squatting, hence the lack of glute growth. Squeezing them really hard in a position where they're not engaged does about as much as standing and repeatedly squeezing your glutes does. On top of that, excessively squeezing them can cause a posterior pelvic tilt which can cause an injury under a heavy load (obviously this doesn't pertain to OP). I'm not really sure where the idea of excessively squeezing the glutes in a squat came from but what you should be doing is externally rotating the hips. While this does cause you to squeeze your glutes some, it's not for the purpose of activating them, but rather to prevent your knees from going inward and neutralizing/stabilizing your lumbar spine.
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So by results i am not expecting like a bigger butt , if that happens you know great but i mean toned thighs and a nice toned butt. I believe that can be achieved by workouts you know.What kind of results?
There really is no straight or simple answer to your question. You would require enough stimulation and overload to preserve muscle of you are eating in a deficit. How much depends on many factors. I only squat once or twice a week. I am very quad dominant so for me they aren't a great exercise for me and my goals. Rather I incorporate other exercises such as hip thrusts and deadlifts as well as other accessories. I work legs 3-4x per week, but I followed a program at first so I didn't overtrain, undertrain, had the right muscle balance and recovered adequately. If you are doing random things it is more likely you will get random results.
Cardio and strength training
Strength training to build lean muscle (which also burns more calories than fat)
Cardio to burn fat to reveal those muscles
Good luck!
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Teabythesea_ wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.
No, you really shouldn't. People see minimal to no glute growth with squats because squats are not a glute dominant exercise. When squatting, your glutes are the most engaged at the bottom of the squat, which is why people say that you can target the glutes more by going "a** to grass" or doing pause squats. However, most people don't do this when squatting, hence the lack of glute growth. Squeezing them really hard in a position where they're not engaged does about as much as standing and repeatedly squeezing your glutes does. On top of that, excessively squeezing them can cause a posterior pelvic tilt which can cause an injury under a heavy load (obviously this doesn't pertain to OP). I'm not really sure where the idea of excessively squeezing the glutes in a squat came from but what you should be doing is externally rotating the hips. While this does cause you to squeeze your glutes some, it's not for the purpose of activating them, but rather to prevent your knees from going inward and neutralizing/stabilizing your lumbar spine.
Glad someone said it! This is what I was thinking as I read through this. Squats aren't really the best exercise if you are wanting to target your glutes. They should help with your thighs though. And I would agree with those who are recommending following a program - they really do work.8 -
Strong Curves has a great body weight program. You can find it online. I’d also recommend eating .6-.8g of protein per lb of body weight to maintain whatever muscle you might have right now.0
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[MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
If OP is at only doing body weight squats at a dose that helps disrupt homeostasis, this is a reasonable option to apply more stimulus with a slight overload.
Pause squats could work as well.
All in all its going to matter what level of adaptation and strength the OP is currently at.
That being said, one would have to keep a close eye and a creative open mind on how to continue the progression.0 -
Completely agree.MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
For muscle maintenance maybe but growth is very difficult. You really have to give reason for that muscle to grow.
I agree sardelsa, OP seems pretty set on no weights though. Kind of limits the options.
Since she is trying to "tone up" bodyweight can be effective if done properly. In that case I would recommend a program like Strong Curves which has a bodyweight section. Also adding reps, resistance bands, dumbbells etc can help progress over time.[MoiAussi93 wrote: »It didn't matter how many squats I did, or how many days a week I did them, I never saw results in my butt (I wanted a larger one...genetics gave me a pancake *kitten*!) Granted, I did body weight squats, but I have zero interest in weights.
What DID very quickly give me a better butt was 1) running sprints two days a week. 2) Later I started hiking a couple of days a week...that also helped develop my butt. They gave me pretty fast results when all the squats I could do did nothing for me.
The issue here doesn't seem to be the squats themselves but the lack of progressive overload. If you are just doing bodyweight squats over and over you aren't challenging the muscles enough for growth. On the other hand your sprints and hiking seemed to offer a level of progression and added resistance. I'm not saying you need to do squats or heavy lifting but saying squats did nothing when they weren't performed properly for muscle growth can be a bit misleading.
She could change the tempo up. 3 seconds down and oh...say 4 or 5 up? That'll do it.
If OP is at only doing body weight squats at a dose that helps disrupt homeostasis, this is a reasonable option to apply more stimulus with a slight overload.
Pause squats could work as well.
All in all its going to matter what level of adaptation and strength the OP is currently at.
That being said, one would have to keep a close eye and a creative open mind on how to continue the progression.
Yes sir. A decent set of dumbells (and bands as sardelsa suggested) take up minimal room and can make quite a difference, especially for someone newly into lifting/resistance training.0 -
So what do you recommend to target my glutes , gain muscle on my thighs and perk up and grow my butt a little ? Over all thigh and butt toning , also excercises for side love handles.Teabythesea_ wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.
No, you really shouldn't. People see minimal to no glute growth with squats because squats are not a glute dominant exercise. When squatting, your glutes are the most engaged at the bottom of the squat, which is why people say that you can target the glutes more by going "a** to grass" or doing pause squats. However, most people don't do this when squatting, hence the lack of glute growth. Squeezing them really hard in a position where they're not engaged does about as much as standing and repeatedly squeezing your glutes does. On top of that, excessively squeezing them can cause a posterior pelvic tilt which can cause an injury under a heavy load (obviously this doesn't pertain to OP). I'm not really sure where the idea of excessively squeezing the glutes in a squat came from but what you should be doing is externally rotating the hips. While this does cause you to squeeze your glutes some, it's not for the purpose of activating them, but rather to prevent your knees from going inward and neutralizing/stabilizing your lumbar spine.
Glad someone said it! This is what I was thinking as I read through this. Squats aren't really the best exercise if you are wanting to target your glutes. They should help with your thighs though. And I would agree with those who are recommending following a program - they really do work.
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So what do you recommend to target my glutes , gain muscle on my thighs and perk up and grow my butt a little ? Over all thigh and butt toning , also excercises for side love handles.Teabythesea_ wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.
No, you really shouldn't. People see minimal to no glute growth with squats because squats are not a glute dominant exercise. When squatting, your glutes are the most engaged at the bottom of the squat, which is why people say that you can target the glutes more by going "a** to grass" or doing pause squats. However, most people don't do this when squatting, hence the lack of glute growth. Squeezing them really hard in a position where they're not engaged does about as much as standing and repeatedly squeezing your glutes does. On top of that, excessively squeezing them can cause a posterior pelvic tilt which can cause an injury under a heavy load (obviously this doesn't pertain to OP). I'm not really sure where the idea of excessively squeezing the glutes in a squat came from but what you should be doing is externally rotating the hips. While this does cause you to squeeze your glutes some, it's not for the purpose of activating them, but rather to prevent your knees from going inward and neutralizing/stabilizing your lumbar spine.
Glad someone said it! This is what I was thinking as I read through this. Squats aren't really the best exercise if you are wanting to target your glutes. They should help with your thighs though. And I would agree with those who are recommending following a program - they really do work.
Have you tried Pilates? There are lots of Pilates moves that target lower body and pretty much all work your core too.
Additionally for legs and glutes - hip bridges, forward lunges, reverse lunges, side leg raises, donkey kicks to name a few options1 -
So what do you recommend to target my glutes , gain muscle on my thighs and perk up and grow my butt a little ? Over all thigh and butt toning , also excercises for side love handles.Teabythesea_ wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »Oh - and by the way - I have seen people squat their butts off and have almost no results because not actually squeezing the glutes. You should be squeeeeeeeezing them glutes HARD.
No, you really shouldn't. People see minimal to no glute growth with squats because squats are not a glute dominant exercise. When squatting, your glutes are the most engaged at the bottom of the squat, which is why people say that you can target the glutes more by going "a** to grass" or doing pause squats. However, most people don't do this when squatting, hence the lack of glute growth. Squeezing them really hard in a position where they're not engaged does about as much as standing and repeatedly squeezing your glutes does. On top of that, excessively squeezing them can cause a posterior pelvic tilt which can cause an injury under a heavy load (obviously this doesn't pertain to OP). I'm not really sure where the idea of excessively squeezing the glutes in a squat came from but what you should be doing is externally rotating the hips. While this does cause you to squeeze your glutes some, it's not for the purpose of activating them, but rather to prevent your knees from going inward and neutralizing/stabilizing your lumbar spine.
Glad someone said it! This is what I was thinking as I read through this. Squats aren't really the best exercise if you are wanting to target your glutes. They should help with your thighs though. And I would agree with those who are recommending following a program - they really do work.
You cant spot reduce fat, so there aren't really exercises that can target your "love handles."
As for targeting the glutes, hip thrusts, glute bridges, hip/back extension, kick backs, abduction exercises, etc. The glutes are actually three different muscles so variety is important, but any of these would be better than squats alone and can be done bodyweight. However, you definitely wont see as much growth as you would if you incorporate weight.2
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