It’s a myth that squats will turn EVERY flat butt into a bubble bootie.
As a gym-goer for endless years and a former personal trainer, I’ve always been very aware of different kinds of physiques.
I’ve had a few overweight clients tell me they didn’t want to “lose” their bubble butt as they lost body fat.
I’ve observed plenty of booties to see if there is truly a correlation between intense squat workouts (or lunges) and developing a bubble butt.
Some women swear that their butts grew after they began doing squats. And this may very well be the case—for those individuals.
But One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Just like some women will develop noticeable trapezius muscles with a strength training program, while most won’t, some women — for reasons that I have to attribute at least partially to genetics — will grow a bigger bootie from doing intense squats over many months.
Other women with a flat behind won’t be so lucky, no matter how committed they are to squat workouts.
It’s unluck of the genetic draw.
It’s tempting to say that you can grow a bigger, rounder butt by building up the major muscle in this area, the gluteus maximus.
After all, just look at the behinds of female Olympic sprinters, gymnasts and speed skaters: huge in some cases.
However, I see just as many big butts — even bubble proportions — among women at Walmart, and these women aren’t necessarily fat.
In fact, I’ve known women, who’d be classified as fat or obese, who had flat butts. I see overweight women all the time with flat behinds.
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And I’ve seen medium weight and even slender women with well-endowed derrieres.
This has to do with genetic distribution of body fat. Some women “carry it” in their hips; some in their thighs; and…some in their behinds.
A thin woman a flat butt will likely not achieve a bubble shape simply if she gains 50 pounds, even 100 pounds of fat.
I see women all the time at the gym who, as evidenced by the rest of their physique, are either beginners to strength training, or, if they’ve been doing it awhile, they don’t do much and/or they work out only mildly.
And many of these women have bubble butts.
Where do these well-endowed behinds come from in women who don’t do squats, or, if they do, use very light weight?
And they may be leg pressing only light weights, and be doing walking lunges with only a 10 pound dumbbell in each hand — not nearly enough to blow up the gluteus maximus.
The bubble in their butts is from fat, not muscle, while the size in a sprinter’s or gymnast’s behind is very developed muscle (gluteus maximus).
Don’t get me wrong: Squats are a GREAT exercise. And yes, some women swear by these for getting a bigger behind.
But thanks to genetics and natural fat distribution, not all women will get the bubble butt of their dreams no matter how intensely they pound out barbell squats, walking lunges, leg presses, track sprints or even hill sprints.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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