Squatting

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

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,326 Member
    Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    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.
  • Ashlove5
    Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    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.
    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.

  • Ashlove5
    Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
    Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?
    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.

  • Ashlove5
    Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
    Cahgetsfit 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.
    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 would
    Be great !

  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    ashsabiha wrote: »
    Are you squatting using weights where you progressively increase the weight?
    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.

    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.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    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.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    ashsabiha wrote: »
    Cahgetsfit 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.
    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 would
    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.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • Chelle8070
    Chelle8070 Posts: 165 Member
    ashsabiha wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    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.
    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.

    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!

  • lin_be
    lin_be Posts: 393 Member
    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.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    [
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
    Completely agree.
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    [
    Phirrgus wrote: »
    sardelsa 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.

    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.
  • Ashlove5
    Ashlove5 Posts: 152 Member
    kcfit19 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.
    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.

  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    ashsabiha wrote: »
    kcfit19 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.
    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.

    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 options
  • Teabythesea_
    Teabythesea_ Posts: 559 Member
    ashsabiha wrote: »
    kcfit19 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.
    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.

    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.