There’s a big popular shift to training your glutes that millions of women have started in the last few years.
It’s great to see so many women with focus and dedication to a goal in the gym working on their health and fitness.
But this has led to a little confusion when it comes to how often, how much and what form of squats you should do in order to help you build your glutes.
I have seen multiple different movements which quite frankly will be pointless in developing your glutes to the point you want them.
Unfortunately, whilst social media is great for helping motivation it is also great for getting you to waste your time on moves which won’t help.
I am going to go over the answer to the question ‘how many squats should I do to see results’ and also tell you a couple of things which you shouldn’t waste your precious time and energy on if you do wish to see results in the gym.
The squat is a great movement which will test not just your strength throughout pretty much all of your body but also your range of movement at the hips to the point that you may need to add some stretching in to make sure you’re completing it safely.
If you’re doing a bodyweight squat as opposed to a weighted barbell squat then it is similar you will just have the weight on your shoulders in the barbell version, the depth and positioning will still be critical to getting the results.
Stand with your feet just outside shoulder width and pushing your hips back bend at the knees bringing your butt down to around your knee height, roughly 90 degrees angle and parallel to the floor.
This is the first mistake I see people make, only doing quarter squats, we want to work the muscle through higher levels of movement to get more activation and recruitment meaning more results.
Everyone will be different with the rate they see results and also it depends on what we define as results whether you’re trying to get stronger or burn fat and need to add in a little calorie deficit with consistency.
it is all relevant when we ask the question of how many squats should I do to see results.
There are some other things I have mentioned regarding seeing results with squatting which will be much better left out and just waste your time.
Things such as a lot of the fancy things we see people doing on machines backwards and sitting up (adductor/abductor machine).
Or that fancy kickdown or stomp on the assisted chin/dip station, they really aren’t going to add anything.
The adductor may as well just be done normally and the stomp movement isn’t going to get a full range of movement like the squat will do alongside a leg press or some lunges.
Something else which is unnecessary is walking in all different directions on the treadmill.
It’s quite an advanced movement and honestly, let’s just get the basics completed first before we ever go into these movements which jeopardize your safety in the gym.
The amount of benefit is minimal for what you’re doing, save your energy for a good squat and weight training session that also goes for using the stepper in different directions and kicking your leg back also.
Other additional movements which are seen regularly are cable kickbacks which won’t be very good as a bulk movement and maybe just a finisher or postural movement in a session.
For the purpose of this article I am going to assume when asking this question you’re really just wanting to build up your glutes.
Therefore this is a great workout I would look to have someone complete in the gym for building up some of the most sought after muscle develop right now.
Warm Up:
Do around 5 minutes on the exercise bike to warm the legs up, nothing crazy just a simple heart rate riser.
Leg Curls
Reps: 10-12
Sets: 3
Rest: 30 seconds
Notes: Choose whatever machine you have, seated or lying and contract hard at the peak
Glute Kickback Machine
Reps: 8-10
Sets: 3
Rest: 30 seconds
Notes: Put good effort into these
Squats
Reps: 6-10
Sets: 4
Rest: 60 seconds
Notes: These are to be done with a weight, don’t be shy to weights you won’t get bulky overnight, good controlled reps to be performed here.
Leg Press Machine
Reps: 12-16 reps
Sets: 3
Rest: 60 seconds
Notes: Put your legs just outside shoulder width and make sure you go really deep.
Cardio
Stepper for 10 minutes at an intensity you
What is key is that no workout is going to help you get the goals you want if your diet is really off the mark.
It is key to make sure you are in a slight calorie surplus if you want to get bigger muscles and a deficit if you want to drop fat with good levels of protein, carbohydrates and fats, check out my article on this.