T Nation

Glute Development Question/Squats

Bodybuilding
#1

I love doing squats and deadlifts, lunges, etc. Genetically, I have big glutes which are comprised mainly of muscle or bone structure and maybe a little fat. My question is when doing squats, I know the glutes do get huge like J-lo’s ass (which by the way looks good on her), but grow depth wise. Can someone explain the meaning of that to me. When saying the glutes will get bigger or develop growth by depth, I know this doesnt mean they will grow wider but does that mean if you look at yourself from a side view that your ass would stick out more? In other words, if you are looking in the mirror standing sideways and were to draw a line from your back to legs, would squats cause the glutes to stick out further?

My other question is, when cutting, would this be an issue, or would this only have the growth effect when bulking? Thanks.

#2

Your butt will stick out further in the back. You will have a little back porch if you will.

If this is a worry of yours tryand do front squats. But don’t try and use as much weight as back squats or you will crumble like the Berlin wall.

Also don’t get upset if you only use half or more of the weight due to the fact that front squats mainly focus on quads. Good luck!

#3

Ok thanks for the reply. Not trying to sound girly, but my glutes are over-develped already. So I should definitely lay off the back squats and probably deadlifts if I dont want increased growth? Thanks.

#4

[quote]ReggieN wrote:
Ok thanks for the reply. Not trying to sound girly, but my glutes are over-develped already. So I should definitely lay off the back squats and probably deadlifts if I dont want increased growth? Thanks.[/quote]

Deadlifts will definitely target the glutes, squats I would say that it depends on your form. A wider stance, placing the bar lower, and trying to “spread the floor” as they say in powerlifting cirlces will no doubt increase the glute involvement in a squat. So to minimize it, place the bar high, use a medium to narrow foot stance and work on “pressing through the floor” and or keeping more upright–also work on keeping your arms perpendicular to the floor (rather than flair back).

On a side note, I think most women are way too obsessed with their butts, I know you may think it’s big, but I’m sure most guys wouldn’t think so. And a further side note, unless you are a quite muscular woman I doubt switching exercises will make much a difference in your glute measurements–it could make it look slightly different (perhaps not stick out quite as much)–but if you really want to make a difference in the tape measure losing some body far will mostlikely lead to greater results. Best of luck, hope I didn’t confuse the issue any farther:P

#5

One thing to watch out for in relation to glute size is the angle of your pelvis from a side view. Your pelvis should sit level but most guys who do squats on a regular basis will have some degree of anterior pelvic tilt, which accentuates a big arse becuase it increases the curve in the small of your back.

The culprits involved in this dodgy posture are tight hip flexors and tight lower back brought on by doing squats! Stretch out these areas after a squat session to help alleviate this problem and reduce the appearance of big glutes or as we refer to it here duck arse’