Question out of a magazine: Here’s another butt workout question. How do you work the backside without building up the quadriceps?
Michele’s answer: If someone is worried about bulking up their quads, they’re not going to do a traditional squat. They’re going to do a wide-stance squat or a plie squat, which is second position dance, opening up your legs and bringing the focus to the inner thighs and not to the quads. Don’t use excessive weight and keep repetitions high. I use body weight or a medicine ball or light hand weights.

My comments:

“Inner thighs” are your adductors correct? Yes, a plie squat will emphasize the adductors, however, if the knee is extending and the hip is extending then the quads and gluteus maximus are working. It’s impossible to do a squat that involves knee extension without involving the quadriceps.

The reason why your quads might not “bulk” up is because once you move your legs from a sagitall plane motion to more of a frontal plane motion, hence, the moment arm is much smaller at both the knee and hip so there is less “load,” therefore less intensity and less “bulking” up. Remember, size comes from testosterone, genetics, food and intensity or load. Since you’ve lessened one of those components (the load), the size or potential for growth should be less. However, if you’re eating too much food or you’ve genetically inherited big quads, then you have no choice but to starve and/or either not train it all, or do tons and tons of cardio.
Hope that helps,

JP