Build A Better Booty Pillar #2: The Stack is Where it’s at!

by | May 11, 2022 | alignment, back pain, bodyweight training, booty, breathing, butt, corework, exercise, Fitness, glutes, mom life, motherhood, pelvic floor, postpartum, Postpartum Strength Training, Pregnancy Strength Training, Smart Strength, Smart Strength Training, strength, Strength Training | 0 comments

This is the 2nd post in a series of 4 about how to build a better booty. If you are just joining us in this series, WELCOME 🤗 – you can find the whole series below:

Today I’m talking about your squat setup.

If your back hurts when you squat, you leak when you exercise, or you have to use a “booty band” to feel your core, butt, or hamstrings when working out, hear me out. I’m going to tell you about the squatty squat, aka The Stack.

After having 2 kids in 2 years my back was killing me. I was lacking adductors and walking like a duck. I couldn’t activate my glutes.

  • Are you doing squats with your feet set super wide?
  • Does your body fall forward into a hinge in order to hit depth on your squats?
  • You’ve been taught “don’t let your knees go beyond your toes”

Practicing the heels elevated squatty squat relieved the pain and tension in my IT band. I didn’t roll it or stretch it. The only changes I had made were working on breathing + positioning.

It’s more complicated than a single post can cover, BUT I’m going to give you some tips. It might just be exactly what you’ve been told not to do 🤯, but I promise I would never steer you wrong. 

If something’s not working for you, don’t be so attached that you can’t let it go for something else that has the potential to work better.

  • Elevate your heels (use a rolled up yoga mat or grab a cheap wedge from Amazon)
  • Allow your knees to travel forward as your heels stay heavy
  • Use your hamstrings to pull you down
  • Stack your ribs over your hips

The stack takes practice BUT you are going to get SO MUCH MORE out of your workouts when your ribs aren’t flaring and your pelvis is underneath you. When you start to understand what is actually happening each time you squat you can start to FEEL the proper muscles waking up.

I wasn’t about to give up strength training, so I had to figure it out and practice the squatty squat in all my workouts. Two years later I am squatting heavier than I did in my twenties—and I’m PAIN FREE. 

Once you nail down the assisted “squatty squat” you can progress to using load in this goblet squat variation  and really get that booty going!