Sumo Squat Guide – Muscles Worked, Benefits and How-To

Sumo squats are a great way to target your inner thighs and glutes, and they can also be a good way to build overall lower body strength. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do a sumo squat, what muscles it works, and the benefits of doing this exercise.

What is a sumo squat

A sumo squat is a variation of the traditional squat that targets your inner thighs and glutes. To do a sumo squat, you will need to start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and then turn your toes out so that they are pointing at a 45-degree angle.

From here, you will squat down like you would for a traditional squat, but make sure to keep your knees tracking out over your toes. Once you reach the bottom of the squat, drive through your heels to stand back up to the starting position.

Sumo Squat Muscles Worked

When you do a sumo squat, you are primarily targeting your inner thighs and glutes. However, this exercise also works your quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Additionally, because you are squatting down low, your core muscles will also be engaged to help stabilize your body. Sumo squats also activates adductors which are muscles located on the inside of your upper leg.

How to do Sumo squat

In order to do a sumo squat, start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your toes turned out at a 45-degree angle. From here, lower yourself down into the squat by sitting back into your heels and keeping your knees tracking out over your toes.

Once you reach the bottom of the squat, drive through your heels to stand back up to the starting position. Remember to keep good form throughout the entire exercise so that you don’t put unnecessary stress on your joints.

Sumo squat benefits

1. Lower Body Strength

When it comes to lower body strengthening, the sumo squat is one of the best exercises you can do. This move targets your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core all at once, making it a great exercise for anyone looking to improve their lower body strength.

Squats are one of the best compound exercises out there, and the sumo squat is a great variation for those looking to target their lower body even more.

Sumo squats really target the inner thigh muscles, which is something that traditional squats often don’t do as much of. This exercise is also great for those with knee pain, as the sumo squat puts less stress on the knees than a traditional squat.

2. Improves core strength

Sumo squats are a great way to improve core strength. They work by targeting the muscles in your legs and buttocks, as well as the muscles in your lower back and abdomen.

By squatting low with a wide stance, you force your body to use these muscle groups more than it would if you were standing up straight. This makes sumo squats an ideal exercise for people who want to improve their core strength and tone their legs at the same time.

3. Enhance balance and coordination

One of the benefits of squats is that they help improve your balance and coordination. When you squat, you are using muscles in your legs and core that help to stabilize your body. This helps to enhance your balance and coordination, as well as improving your overall strength.

Additionally, the act of squatting itself requires some coordination in order to execute it correctly. Therefore, by performing squats regularly, you can not only improve your balance and coordination but also increase your overall coordination skills.

Sumo Squat Variations

There are a few different ways that you can do sumo squats. You can either do them with a barbell or with dumbbells. If you want to use a barbell, you will need to put the weight on your shoulders and then squat down until your thighs are parallel with the ground.

You will then need to push back up to the starting position. If you are using dumbbells, you will need to hold them in front of you and then squat down until your thighs are parallel with the ground before pushing back up again.

Common Sumo squat mistakes

One of the most common sumo squat mistakes is not keeping your chest up. It’s easy to let your shoulders round forward as you lower down into the squat, but this will put unnecessary stress on your lower back and make it harder to reach full depth.

Another mistake is letting your knees cave inwards. This puts excessive strain on the knee joint and can lead to injury. Make sure to keep your knees pushed outwards throughout the entire movement.

Finally, many people tend to lean too far forward when they squat sumo style. This puts all of the weight in front of you and makes it difficult to control the descent and stand back up again without collapsing forwards.

The Bottom line

There are a lot of benefits to sumo squats, including building strength in your legs and glutes, improving your mobility, and burning more calories than traditional squats. If you’re looking for a challenging workout that will help you build strength and burn fat, then sumo squats are a great choice. Just make sure to use proper form to avoid injury.