Do Squats Make Your Thighs & Butt Bigger?
If you do them correctly, squats will build muscle in your thighs and butt, making them look bigger.
Allow yourself to display the self-confidence and power that a bigger booty and thighs can give by building muscle in your lower body. Through a good workout routine, including basic squats and variations of, you can create the glutes and thighs that you seek.
Read More: What Muscles Do Squats Target?
The squat is a compound exercise, meaning it involves more than one joint action and recruits more than one muscle. Compound exercises, in turn, cause maximal gains in size. Squats primarily target the quads, hamstrings and glutes—i.e. the butt and thigh muscles. However, you contract other muscles to keep your body in good alignment and to assist with the lift, including the erector spinae, rectus abdominis, gastrocnemius, soleus and obliques.
How to Squat
Pay close attention to your form during squats. Without a focus on body alignment and a failure to move through a full range of motion, your gains will be compromised.
How-To: Hold a barbell across your upper back with a wide grip and stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Keeping your core tight, back straight and gaze fixed forward, slowly lower yourself down by bending your knees. While lowering yourself down, push your butt back as if you were sitting in a chair. Stop when your thighs parallel the floor, rise back up in a steady motion and repeat.
Choosing Your Resistance
To make adequate gains in size, you need to use a heavy weight. A standard Olympic barbell weighs 45 pounds and it has room on the ends to add weight plates. These range from 2 1/2 to 45 pounds. You also have the option of holding dumbbells at your sides to do squats. These range from one to more than 100 pounds. Regardless of the resistance you choose, aim for a weight that is so heavy you can only perform eight to 12 repetitions.
Squat Variations
A standard squat targets the thighs and glutes, but by altering your leg position, you will shift the emphasis on your muscles. You perform a sumo squat with your feet in a wide stance and toes turned out at an angle. This places more emphasis on the inner thighs and butt than the conventional squat. Additional squat variations to include are:
- Bulgarian Split Squat
- Plie Squats
- Goblet Squats
Read More: Sumo Squat Vs. Regular Squat