Do Squats Work Your Abs? Will They Make Your Thighs Bigger? 6 Questions About Squats, Answered
Every day, millions of people ask Google some of life’s most pressing questions, big and small. And I’ve taken it upon myself to provide you with the answers.
Today, I tackle five of the most popular questions on the subject of squats, what muscles they do (and don’t) work, and whether you can use them for weight loss.
1. Do Squats Work Abs?
Squats do work your abs. However, they don’t work them to the extent that you can get away without doing any direct abdominal work.
Let me explain.
When they talk about the abs, most people are referring to rectus abdominis, which is the muscle that extends down the stomach from your ribs to your hips.
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Rectus abdominis certainly plays a role in keeping your trunk stable when you squat. The contribution it makes to trunk stability will increase as the amount of weight you’re squatting goes up [1].
However, that doesn’t mean you can get away without training your abs.
That’s because there’s a difference between recruiting a muscle and stimulating a muscle. A muscle needs to be both recruited and stimulated to a degree that’s sufficient to trigger some kind of positive adaptation.
And most research shows that rectus abdominis activity during the squat is relatively small.
In one study, researchers found that rectus abdominis was working at roughly 10% of its maximum during the squat [2]. In fact, abdominal muscle activity was a lot higher during the plank and sit-up than it was during the squat.
The figure below comes from Dr. Jeffrey McBride, a Professor in Biomechanics at Appalachian State University. It shows the extent to which rectus abdominis was activated during a variety of exercises, including the squat and deadlift.
Even when subjects were lifting a heavy weight that was around 90% of the maximum weight they could lift once, rectus abdominis wasn’t doing much.
2. What Muscles Do Squats Work?
Squats work mainly the muscles in your thighs (the quadriceps and adductors rather than your hamstrings), your arse (the glutes) and your lower back (spinal erectors).
There was an interesting study that looked at the rate of growth in various muscles after 10 weeks of squatting twice a week [3].
Three of the four muscles that make up the quads (with the exception of rectus femoris) grew by around 5%. The adductors and glutes grew by 6-7%. In contrast, the hamstrings didn’t grow at all.
The relative contribution of each muscle is going to vary depending on how deep you squat, how wide your stance is, how far forward you lean as you descend, and so on. But in most cases, the quads and glutes are doing the majority of the work involved in moving the weight from point A to point B.
3. Do Squats Make Your Thighs Bigger or Smaller?
Squats work many of the muscles in your thighs. Assuming that your training program ticks the right boxes in terms of the number of sets and reps you do, the amount of weight you’re lifting, and the number of times each week that you squat, it’s highly likely that your thighs are going to end up getting bigger.
What if you’re squatting with just your own bodyweight or a couple of light dumbbells, stopping well short of the point where your muscles hit fatigue, and just going through the motions, trying to crank out as many squats as you can without paying much attention to how those squats are being done?
In this case, any increase in the size of your thighs is going to be minimal.
Can squats make your thighs smaller? Squats, in and of themselves, aren’t going to make your thighs smaller. Squats can certainly form part of a diet and training program that leads to fat being lost. And, if some of that lost fat ends up coming from your thighs, your thighs may well end up getting smaller.
But that wasn’t because of the squats by themselves. It was because of all the other things you were doing (diet in particular) to get rid of the fat.
A lot depends on you and how you’re put together. Genetics play a big part in determining where you store fat, and where it comes from when you lose it.
Let’s say that you’re someone who tends to store a lot of fat in your thighs, your muscles respond well to resistance training, and they’re growing from all the squats you’re doing.
In this case, even if you’re on a diet and losing fat from other areas of your body, your thighs may well end up getting bigger rather than smaller.
4. Do Squats Make Your Arse Bigger or Smaller?
Glutes… buttocks… booty… butt… arse… call it what you will. If you’re doing them properly, squats are an effective way to work your gluteus maximus. And, as with the thighs, if all the right boxes are being ticked in terms of volume, frequency and effort, your gluteus maximus is going to end up getting bigger.
5. Do Squats Burn Fat? Can You Use Squats for Weight Loss?
Squats will certainly lead to some amount of fat being burned, particularly if you’re doing multiple sets, lifting heavy weights, and pushing yourself hard. They can also form an effective part of a diet and training program geared towards weight loss.
However, the contribution that squats, in and of themselves, make to weight loss is relatively small.
If you’re wondering whether this exercise or that exercise burns fat and can be used for weight loss, you’re asking the wrong question.
When it comes to losing weight, the food you eat is a lot more important than the exercise you do. Strength training… HIIT… steady-state cardio… metabolic training… all can be useful at different times, and for different people.
But they’re not going to help you lose fat if your diet isn’t set up properly.
6. How Many Reps of Squats Should I Do?
That depends a lot on you and your goals. In most cases, somewhere between 5 and 20 reps will get the job done.
If you want to focus on getting stronger, keep your reps near the lower end of that range. If hypertrophy is the main objective, you can use a variety of reps, from low to medium to high.
Put differently, sets of 5, 10 or 15 repetitions will all make your muscles grow. But it’s the sets of 5 that will typically lead to faster strength gains.
These 30-day squat challenges that involve cranking out hundreds of air squats aren’t going to do much. They’re certainly better than nothing, particularly if you’re a complete newbie. But there are far better ways to work your quads and glutes than cranking out hundreds of air squats every day.
RELATED: High Reps vs. Low Reps for Muscle Growth: What the Science Says
See Also: The Muscle Building Cheat Sheet
If you’re fed up spending hours in the gym with nothing to show for it, then check out The Muscle Building Cheat Sheet.
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