Squat Workouts: Your “Secret Weapon” for Building an Attractive Body

Is there any exercise more controversial than the squat?

On the one hand, it is the “King of Exercises,” a seriously old-school lift, one of the Powerlifting Trinity along with the bench press and the deadlift, and a way to move a lot of weight around and look like a total badass.

On the other hand, many people now claim squats mess up your back over time and lead to a grotesquely disproportionate lower body composition.

As it turns out, squats can be BOTH a boon and a blessing. I’m here to cut the crap and give you the low-down on squat workouts and help you to intelligently integrate them into your fitness routine – which you must – because squats will give you a leg up with building a body that women find irresistible.

The Squat Is Dead!

For years, I did no resistance training or weightlifting with my lower body. I was definitely the guy who spent 80% of his time in the gym on his abs, pecs, and biceps, but I figured since I was running miles every day training for marathons as well that I didn’t need to focus on my lower body in the gym at all.

I heard the rumors that doing squats would dump massive muscle poundage into my hips and make me look more, um… LADY-like than I was hoping to appear. And if that isn’t enough, Mike Boyle thoroughly dethroned back squats by illuminating how dangerous they can be to your lower back in this video:

Long Live the Squat!

But squatting is one of the most fundamental movements of the human body. Before comfy couches and chairs, people squatted down in order to rest. This is still found in many cultures in the world, particularly in Asian and hunter-gatherer groups.

Dr. Devendra Singh has done some outstanding research in the field of evolutionary psychology and has found that women are magnetically attracted to a small, muscular butt on a guy (specifically, a waist-to-hip ratio of about 0.9). In other words: building a V-shaped torso isn’t enough, you gotta start moving everything south of your abs as well.

In reality, guys focus so much on getting pumped pecs, bulging biceps, and a six pack that the last thing they need to worry about is building too much mass in their lower bodies. I don’t see many guys with hips too big for the rest of their bodies, but I do see plenty of men who look like this:

or like this:

(Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it’s funny ‘cuz it’s true.)

I started doing Crossfit workouts a while back, including plenty of squats, cleans, and deadlifts, and can truthfully say that they haven’t left me with ginormous hips. On the contrary, I look more balanced and symmetrical than I ever have before.

I believe that the reason that squats and deadlifts have gotten such a bad rep among guys who just want to become more attractive is simple: the only people most people see doing these exercises anymore are bodybuilders and powerlifters, and who wants to end up looking like them? But take a look at your average squatting Crossfitter and let me know if they are carrying too much junk in the trunk.

The problems with back issues are the result of taking a movement that is traditionally done with just our own body weight and adding more weight on top of it. There’s a right way and a lot of wrong ways to do this.

Squatting the Smart Way

Here’s the skinny on how to make the most of your squat workouts:

• For back squats, don’t lift more than 1x – 1.5x your body weight in order to save your back in the long term.
• Focus on the more functional exercises: bodyweight squats, front squats, and overhead squats.
• Emphasize learning perfect form and training to fatigue rather than putting up as much weight as possible and training to failure.

I previously wrote a post teaching form for many types of squats, which you should check out. One of the other awesome squat resources I suggest you read is found right here from Stronglifts. You can only succeed with squats if your form is perfect.

Squat Workouts for Everyone

As much as possible, I like to help you tailor-make your own workouts rather than giving you a specific one and expecting it to apply to everyone, so let’s figure out a plan that will work for you.

I believe you should do at least one squat workout every week, which should be sufficient for most guys. For a bit more leverage in strength and muscle gains, do two weekly. Three workouts per week is strictly for the hardcore who are already in excellent shape and anything more than that is a waste of time.

I’m a big fan of barbell training, which allows you to precisely measure out the weight you want to use. So if you are doing back squats, front squats, or overhead squats, aim for your workout to consist of five sets of five reps.

But I also love bodyweight training that is accessible to everyone. If you are doing a bodyweight squat workout, I recommend doing three sets of reps to fatigue each time.

By intelligently adding squat workouts into your fitness routine – not just taking the “bigger, stronger, harder” route – you can safely build a more proportional body, one that doesn’t neglect the importance of building the kind of glutes women can’t keep their hands off of – which is a great problem to have.

Tagged as: basics, bodyweight exercises, confusion, powerlifting, squats, weightlifting, women's preferences