No barbell? No dumbbells? No problem! You can still tone your legs and booty with the ultimate bodyweight move: the squat [1]. Try these variations to up your booty gains [2].
Squat and Reach
- Begin with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and toes pointed slightly outward.
- Keeping your weight in your heels, sit back into your deep squat. Make sure your knees do not go beyond your toes.
- Holding your squat, raise both of your arms overhead. Hold this position for a moment, and then return to standing while lowering your arms to your sides.
- This completes one rep.
Squat With Side Kick
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width distance apart, feet parallel. Hold your hands out in front of you for balance. Bend your knees, lowering your hips deeply into a squat, keeping weight back in your heels.
- Then rise back up, straightening the legs completely and lifting the right leg out to the side, squeezing the outer glute.
- Step the right foot back into shoulder-width-distance position to complete one rep.
Narrow Squat With Back Kick
- 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.
Squat Thrust
- Begin standing with the feet hip-distance apart.
- Lower into a crouching squat with your hands on the floor.
- Keeping the abs engaged, jump your feet back so you're in plank position.
- Keeping the arms straight, jump your feet forward behind the hands.
- Stand up to complete one rep.
Squat Jump
- Start in a squat with your arms by your sides.
- Swing your arms to the ceiling and jump.
- Land quietly as you return to the squat position. This completes one rep.
Around-the-World Squat Hop
- 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.
180 Jump Squat
- 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.
Jump Squat Heel Click
- 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.
Squat Hop
- 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.
Sumo Squat
- Stand with your feet wide, toes pointing out. Bend your knees, lowering your hips deeply so your thighs are parallel with the floor. Make sure to keep your weight back in your heels.
- Then rise back up, straightening the legs completely and squeezing the glutes at the top of the movement to get the most from the exercise.
Sumo Squat and Punch
- Come into a wide sumo squat; punch to the left, then right.
- Return to standing to complete one rep.
Pulsing Sumo Squat
- 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.
Wide Squat With Calf Raise
- Stand with your feet about three to four feet apart, toes turned out. Bring your hands together in front of your chest and squat down so your thighs are parallel with the floor, knees over the ankles.
- Raise your left heel off the floor and begin to pulse the hips up and down, isolating the left calf.
- Do 10 pulses with the left heel raised, then do 10 pulses with the right heel raised.
- This completes one rep.
Sumo Squat Jump
- 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.
Twisted Chair Pose
- 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 centre and twist to the left side for another five.
Single-Leg Squat
- Stand with feet hip-distance apart and raise the right leg, flexing the right ankle and pushing the hips back.
- Lower the body while keeping the right leg raised (a squat with one leg).
- Hold and then return to standing to complete the rep. You can use a bench to squat/sit on to work your way toward doing the single-leg squat if needed.
- Keep the knees behind the toes and the heels firmly on the floor.