Your Bum Desperately Wants You to Do These 23 Squat Variations

• Stand with your feet touching. Hold your hands comfortably in front of your chest or on your hips and bend your knees, lowering your hips deeply so your thighs are parallel with the floor. Be sure to keep weight back in your heels.
• Then rise back up, straightening the legs completely, and lift the left leg behind you for a back kick. Lower the foot back to the floor in a narrow squat position.
• Do another squat, then straighten the leg; do a back kick with the right leg, and step the right foot back to meet the left.
• This counts as one rep.

• Stand with your legs just slightly wider than hip-distance apart, arms raised to shoulder height with elbows bent, holding weights by your ears.
• Bend your knees as if you were sitting in a chair, keeping weight on your heels.
• Press the dumbbells overhead as you straighten your knees to return to standing.

• Stand with your feet hip-distance apart with a dumbbell at each foot.
• Squat down and grab the right dumbbell with your right hand.
• Breathe out as you stand up, pressing the dumbbell into an overhead press.
• Inhale to lower your right arm, squatting down and returning the dumbbell to the floor.
• Stay low and grab the dumbbell on the other side with your left hand.
• Exhale as you rise up, pressing your left hand overhead.
• Inhale to squat, and release the dumbbell back to the floor.
• This counts as one rep. This movement should be fluid, focusing on correct squat form by keeping the thighs parallel and your bodyweight back into the heels.

• Stand with your feet wider than shoulder width with your toes pointed slightly out. Hold your dumbbell at chest level with both hands. Keeping your back flat, push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor and your elbows touch your knees.
• With your weight focused on your heels, push yourself up to the starting position to complete one rep.

• Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart, holding a dumbbell at shoulder level with palms facing inward.
• Slowly bend your knees as if you were going to sit in a chair, keeping all the weight in your heels. Don't let your knees move beyond your toes, and don't let the knees roll out or in. Squat down as low as you can, keeping your head and chest lifted, your spine long, and your shoulders relaxed. Keep your arms steady as you lower down.
• Press through your heels and slowly straighten your legs to stand up, completing one rep.

Try this wide squat, and you'll feel a burn in no time. The addition of a heavy weight increases the challenge so you can tone up quicker.

• With a set of dumbbells on the ground, start standing with your feet wide and your back slightly arched.
• Push your hips back to lower to a deep squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
• Without rounding your spine, grab the weights. Keeping your weight in your heels, straighten your knees and come to a standing position.
• Lower back down until the weights touch the floor. This counts as one rep.

• Before you start this move, visualize a large square on the floor where you're standing in the bottom right corner, feet hip-distance apart.
• Keeping weight in the heels, bend the knees and squat down. Take a huge jump forward to the top right corner of that imaginary square, landing quietly back into a squat.
• Keep going around the square, jumping to the left, jumping back behind you, and jumping to the right. Now you're back where you started.
• Now reverse directions.

• Start in a deep squat with your legs a bit wider than your hips and your toes pointed outward. Twist your torso to the right, reaching your right hand to the ceiling and your left hand toward the floor.
• Jump up, spinning to the left 180 degrees (halfway around), bringing both hands overhead. Land softly in a deep squat, twisting your torso to the left with the left hand reaching toward the ceiling and the right hand toward the floor. This completes one rep.
• Repeat but reverse directions as you jump, spinning to the right and going back the way you came.

• Begin with the feet slightly wider than your hips, bend your knees, and, keeping your weight in your heels, squat.
• Jump up as high as you can and bring your feet together so they touch.
• Land quietly back into a squat. This makes for one rep.

• Start in a squat with your feet slightly wider than your hips and your hands clasped loosely at your chest.
• Maintain the posture of the squat as you hop your feet off the ground a few inches. Land softly on the ground and deepen the squat, keeping your weight in your heels, to complete one rep.

• Start in second position, with your legs opened wide to the sides and your toes turned slightly outward. Placing your hands on your hips, bend your knees, going as low as you can. Make sure your shoulders remain directly over your hips and your knees are in line with your feet.
• While holding second position, make small pulses up and down, moving about an inch.

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and slightly turned out, arms resting on your hips.
• Bend your knees and plié, then jump up explosively. Keep your core engaged.
• Land with control, lowering your body back into the squat position to complete one rep.

• Stand with your legs together and soften your knees. Reach your arms overhead and touch your palms together as you fold your chest down toward your knees.
• Hold this position as you drop your tailbone down in a small pulsing motion 10 to 15 times.
• Keep your legs squeezed together for support.
• Then cross your left elbow over your right thigh and hold here for five breaths. Rise up back to center and twist to the left side for another five.