what is serving you

Belt squats yesterday were eye opening. It wasn't that I did an insane amount of reps pain free that was the cool part. No, the cool part was I actually felt squats in my legs. Wild, I know. 

I've been a huge front squats guy for the past decade or so. When my front squat goes up everything goes up. Around 2018 I noticed a sharp turn in how much I felt them in my quads. Soon after this turn, I hurt my knee and it took years to feel my legs working again.

Right now my legs are so sore I can barely walk. All the while I'm not really fatigued other than locally (i.e. I ain't touching squats for another 4 days). I know I'm actually getting growth and strength out of a movement instead of going through old motions that don't work.

Tldr

If you don't feel a intended muscle working it probably isn't.