gatsby, when I do squats, I keep in my mind the advice from one of Cathy Voight's videos. She says to concentrate on pushing up from your heels, to feel it in your butt. It works for me that way. Good luck!

You might want to check out the info on this page: http://www.stumptuous.com/learnsquat3.html

All hail Mistress Krista!

Yes, add hamstring curls or flat back deadlifts to work your hamstrings. Standing ham curls hit the butt area more than the lying ones, if you have access to both peices of equipment.

Squats are a whole lower body exercise, but even if you are pushing through your heels, as Vermont Mom suggested (and that is the proper form), you are still mostly targeting your quads.

The alternative is going to a powerlifter squat rather than a body builder squat, which is really different and shouldn't be attempted without being taught the proper form IN PERSON by a qualified lifter. Most lifters, unless they compete in powerlifting, have no idea how to do this safely. That includes most trainers. The difference is in the knee position, bar placement, and going butt to the floor instead of to parallel or slightly below.

Mel

Having done tons of squats myself yesterday, I have to second Mel that they target QUADS! Ow ow ow! (but I love it )

In my experience, the best exercise for the butt is lunges. There are a lot of different kinds of lunges, but I feel them all right in the butt. Right now my favorite is to grab a pair of dumbbells and lunge around the indoor track at my gym. Let me tell you, it's cardio as well as leg exercise!

right on meg i'd say lunges are best for the glutes. along with deadlifts which cover your lower back glutes and hammies. could reverse sit ups on elevated stool

Hi Gatsby (Gen)
Heres my 2 cents...
I agree with Meg that lunges are awesome for glutes! I do a lot of lunging. walking lunges, step lunges, reverse lunges...barbells, dumbells, smith lunges..

I personally have a 'Leg day' (Heavy compound exersises) and a seperate 'ham and glute' day. Although no exersise completely isolates a muscle, I like to spend some time focusing on them. I want to have a nice backyard.. Ya know! I do things like stiff leg deadlifts, lots of lunges, leg curls. We are fortunate enough to have a 'butt blaster' in my gym which I like. I keep a training journal and I try to mix it up and do exersises I haven't done in awhile each time I train that bodypart. One of my favorite exersises for glutes is a deep squat on the smith machine with a severe forward stance. I get under the smith bar (across traps), step forward about 1 1/2 feet (pretty far) so I am leaning against the bar. I squat to the floor then at the top, I pull in and tighten my glutes. I push through the heels. I also (on leg day) do some qaud focus exersises to finish up after I do my barbell squats, leg presses or whatever. For example front squats (barbell sitting in front of neck across shoulders). It behooves you to spend some time with a trainer if only to learn some new exersises and make sure your form is correct, especially when it comes to heavy leg training.
You do want to make sure everything gets trained because the muscles work together and they have to 'help' each other. It also helps with visual symmetry.
Good luck!!
XOXO
L2L