Fitness & Exercise
5 Squat Variations To Build Strong Legs and a Firm Butt
May
Increasing strength and building a bigger butt are just a couple of the benefits of learning how to squat properly. Consistently squatting with good form boosts overall calorie burn, increases core strength and improves your posture and balance. Once you’ve mastered a basic squat, try these squat variations to level up your workout, hit your muscles from different angles and build lean, well defined legs.
Squats are a leg day staple. Perform a squat properly and you work your quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, lower back and core. There’s strength to be built. Posture to be perfected. Booty’s to build.
The leg day MVP is, and always will be, the basic barbell squat. It’s what you think of when you hear the word “squat” and it reigns top dog in the strength training world.
These squat variations are fun, vary in intensity and technique and can sculpt your lower half like you’ve never sculpted it before!
5 Squat Variations to Build and Sculpt
First, before you try out these squat variations, check out this video to make sure that you are performing a basic squat correctly and safely.
Bulgarian Split Squats
This variation, also called a rear-foot-elevated split squat, focuses on one leg at a time. Bulgarian Split Squats build strength and balance and helps to fix muscle imbalances (key to preventing injury). You’ll find the Bulgarian Split Squats focus a lot of the work on your glutes and thighs while building mobility and strength in your ankles, knees and hips.
How to: Stand 2 to 3 feet in front of a knee high platform or bench. Extend your right leg behind you and place your toes on the bench, knee slightly bent. Take a breath in and bend your left leg, lowering your right knee towards the floor. Pause, then push through your front foot to return to the start position.
Trainer tips: For the best form, use a box that is about knee height. Position your feet as wide apart as your hips so that as you lower down into the squat your hips and knees are tracking properly. Keep your torso upright so that you are moving in an up and down motion, rather than a forward and backward motion. All of these tips will prevent injury and help you engage the glutes.
Sumo Squats
Sumo squats, aka wide-stance squats, works all of the same lower body muscles as a standard squat but puts more emphasis on the inner thighs and hips. It’s often a more comfortable squat stance for taller people or people with hip or knee issues. They also have the added benefit of flexibility in terms of equipment. You can perform them with a barbell, dumbbells, body weight or as a goblet squat.
How to: Stand with feet wider than hip-width apart, toes pointing out at a 45 degree angle and arms at your sides. Bend at your knees and hips to lower your butt down into a deep squat. Pause, squeeze your glutes and then push through your heels to return to a full standing position.
Trainer tips: Keep your heels pressed into the floor and your chest and chin up. Think about engaging your core to keep your back straight – no arch in your lower back!
Curtsy Squats
I love Curtsy Squats for how the draw the outside of your glutes into play. If you’re looking for a total leg toner that leaves you feeling like you really worked your butt, Curtsy Squats are it!
How to: Stand with feet should width apart, holding a kettlebell at waist height with both hands. Initiate the movement by shifting your weight to your right foot, lifting your left foot from the ground. While keeping your torso facing forward, place your left leg behind your right, taking a wide, lateral step behind your front leg. Descend into a lunge by bending your knees, lowering your body straight down. Pause at the bottom of the move. Drive through your heel and extend knee and hip. As you come back up, return the back leg to the starting position. Alternate the movement switching back and forth between legs.
Trainer tips: If you find that you’re losing your balance or feeling unstable to the point that you aren’t lowering into a full Curtsy Squat, find a sturdy chair or counter top to help stabilize you. You’ll only reap the full benefits of this squat variation if you move through a full range of motion.
Heels Up Squats
This is one of those squat variations that is so subtly different, you almost don’t know why they shift the work so much. The idea behind Heels Up Squats, with your heels placed on a flat plate or other slightly elevated surface, is to flex the ankle so that most of your weight lands on the ball of your foot without making you feel unstable. In doing so, you push more work onto your quads – and they are a force to be reckoned with!
How to: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, heels resting on a flat plate or other stable but slightly elevated surface. Bend at your knees and hips to lower your butt down into a deep squat. Pause, squeeze your glutes and then push through your heels to return to a full standing position.
Trainer tips: You want your heels to be elevated but not so high that you feel like you are standing on your toes. A single plate, about 1-2″ off the floor, is ideal. You can add weight using dumbbells, a barbell or a kettlebell in a Goblet Squat hold.
Jump Squats
When it comes to building lower body strength, power and explosiveness, Jump Squats have major staying power. Jump Squats are great for athletes who want to improve their performance but they are just as useful for everyone else, really at any age!
How to: Stand with feet hip-width apart, arms at your sides. Hinge at the hips to push your butt back and lower down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Press your feet down to explode off the floor and jump as high as you can. Allow your knees to bend 45 degrees when you land, and then immediately drop back down into a squat, and jump again.
Trainer tips: Start small and build. As you build strength and power you’ll be able to incorporate more reps and sets into your routine. Remember that your landing is just as important as your take off, and to use your arms for extra momentum.
Don’t stop now! Here are a few more exercises and workouts to try out:
