Squat workouts are incredibly effective when it comes to glowing your glutes and quads, and with the right routine, you can experience tremendous growth for years to come.
But what contributes to a good squat workout, and why are some squat workouts more effective than others? These are both good questions, and we will give you the answers to both in this article.
Let’s get right into it and take a look at 3 proven squat workouts to grow your glutes.
Before we dive into the specifics of effective squat workouts for glute growth, let’s understand what makes a good squat workout in general. A good squat workout should focus on the following key elements:
Proper Form: Proper form is crucial for getting the most out of your squats and avoiding injury. Ensure your feet are shoulder-width apart, toes slightly turned out, and your back is straight. As you squat, keep your knees aligned with your toes and your chest up.
Full Range of Motion: A good squat workout should allow for a full range of motion. Lower your hips until your thighs are parallel to the ground or below to fully engage your glutes and leg muscles.
Muscle Engagement: Squats are excellent for engaging multiple muscles in your lower body, including your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and core. A well-rounded squat workout targets these muscles effectively.
Progressive Overload: To see continuous progress, gradually increase the weight or resistance you use for squats. Progressive overload challenges your muscles, leading to growth and strength gains.
Why Are Some Squat Workouts Better Than Others?
Not all squat workouts deliver the same results. Some are more effective than others due to several factors. Here are a few reasons why some squat workouts stand out:
Variation: Effective squat workouts incorporate various squat variations, such as barbell squats, goblet squats, and Bulgarian split squats. Different variations target different aspects of your glutes and legs, promoting balanced muscle development.
Frequency and Consistency: Squat workouts that are performed regularly with consistency yield better results. Consistency allows your muscles to adapt and grow over time.
Intensity: Workouts that incorporate high-intensity techniques, like drop sets or supersets, can push your muscles to work harder and lead to greater glute activation and growth.
Barbell Back Squats
Barbell back squats are the classic and most effective compound exercise for building glute and leg strength. Here’s how to perform barbell back squats correctly:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the barbell resting on your upper back (trapezius muscles).
Keep your chest up, engage your core, and lower yourself into a squat by bending at the knees and hips.
Go as low as you can while maintaining proper form, ideally until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
Push through your heels to stand back up, fully extending your legs.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Barbell back squats allow for heavy lifting, making them an excellent choice for building glute strength and size.
Goblet Squats
Goblet squats are a fantastic option for beginners and individuals looking to improve their squat form. This variation targets your glutes, quadriceps, and core. Here’s how to perform goblet squats correctly:
Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell close to your chest with both hands.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Lower yourself into a squat position, keeping your back straight and chest up.
Go as low as you can, aiming for your elbows to touch the inside of your knees.
Push through your heels to stand back up.
Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Goblet squats are a great exercise for warming up before heavier squat workouts or as a standalone workout for muscle endurance.
Bulgarian Split Squats
Bulgarian split squats are a fantastic exercise for targeting each leg individually and improving balance and stability. This workout primarily works your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and core. Here’s how to perform Bulgarian split squats correctly:
Stand about two feet away from a bench or elevated surface.
Extend one leg backward and place the top of your foot on the bench.
Lower yourself into a lunge position, ensuring your front knee is aligned with your ankle and doesn’t extend past your toes.
Push through your front heel to stand back up.
Complete the desired number of repetitions on one leg before switching to the other.
Bulgarian split squats can be performed with bodyweight or weighted with dumbbells or a barbell.
Sets & Reps
If your main goal is glute and quad growth, the best course of action would be to do 8-12 reps for 3-4 sets. Ideally, this would be 2-3 a week (squatting more than once a week has been proven to give better results).
For strength, it’s better to stay in the lower range of the rep range, usually around 1-5. To accommodate for this lower volume, you might want to do more sets than usual, even going as high as 6+ if you are doing heavy singles.
Squat Workouts – FAQs
What Are The Best Squat Exercises?
The best squat exercises are the high bar squat, low bar squat, one-legged squat, and the hack squat.
However, it is worth mentioning that there are a plethora of different squat variations and types of squats with bar, so the best squat variation for you will depend on what you are trying to target.
There are also squat variations powerlifting, so this is something you need to take into consideration before deciding on the right variation for you.
How Many Squats Should I Do A Day?
The number of squats you should do per day varies greatly depending on the types of squats with weights you are doing.
If you are doing squat exercises with weights, you should generally only perform 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps with at least one day of rest in-between doing a session.
How Many Squats Should I Do For A Good Workout?
You should do around 8-12 reps of 3-5 sets for a good squat workout.
However, this does depend on what type of squat variation you are performing.
The types of squats and muscles they work vary drastically, and if you are doing a weightless variation, you may have to do more volume to equate for the decrease in weight.
What Does 100 Squats A Day Work?
Unless you are incorporating progressive overload (adding more reps or sets as you get stronger), doing 100 squats a day is going to do very little.
It doesn’t matter if you do 20 different types of squats or 10 different kinds of squats; without proper progressive overload, you aren’t going to get much progress.
We hope the 3 squat workouts we have talked about were to your liking.
When it comes to growing your glutes and quads, there is nothing more effective than science-based squat workouts.
