Do you want a fuller and rounder butt? Front squats will get you there!

The study, whose findings we bring you in this article, found that one butt exercise works much better than others, giving women a definitive answer to how to achieve a firmer, rounder butt!

There's a slightly disturbing vice that's been spreading through gyms lately. Ladies spend 50-60 minutes of their workouts working their glutes. I say slightly disturbing, because there are two sides to that coin. Men like their butts, of course, but these women have to sacrifice some of their workouts in order to spend that much time on their butts.

After such a butt workout, ladies don't have much time or energy left for the rest of the workout and those unimportant things like symmetry or health (fitness, mobility,...). Recently a new study came out that can help such women. In it, researchers describe the exercise that activates the gluteal muscles the most.

Ladies can concentrate on one effective exercise and skip the others. However, they may also just add it to their endless list of butt exercises and neglect the rest of their body even more.

What did they do?

Squats, deadlifts, and front squats target essentially the same muscles, but no one has yet measured the activation of individual muscles using electromyography (EMG) for these exercises, according to the researchers in this study. And if they have, it hasn't been on women.

The researchers used 13 women who were experienced exercisers. Each of them underwent 2 days of testing, where they experienced estimated and actual maximums in all three of the aforementioned exercises.

Then the ladies were tested for muscle response during 3 repetitions with 75% of the max and at the max itself.

The researchers then compared the results by statistical analysis and found that the activation of the gluteus maximus (the largest muscle in the buttocks) was different for each exercise.

What they found

Surprisingly, the researchers found that the front squat led to higher glute activation (94%) than the deadlift (72%). However, they found no significant difference in activation of the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, or rectus femoris muscles.

How to use this information

Remember that you can include both variations of the front squat.

It's usually harder with the big axle than with the one-arm squat because it's uncomfortable to hold the axle on the front shoulders and collarbones. You don't need a rack for the one-arm version and it tends to be more comfortable.

To pack some meat on your glutes and round them out, do 4 sets and 10-15 reps, with 60 second breaks. Make sure your thighs get at least parallel to the floor in the bottom position.

Source: www.t-nation.com - Max R. Paquette; Dana K. Fuller; Jennifer L. Caputo; John M. Coons, "Muscle Activation Patterns of Lower Body Musculature Among Three Traditional Lower Body Exercises in Trained Women," Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Published Ahead of Print Feb 15, 2018.
By TC Luoma
Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř