sumo squat

Sumo Squats are a variation of the standard Barbell Back Squat, except in this instance we are placing particular emphasis on the glutes and adductors. The distribution of weight through a wider stance puts a whole new twist on your leg day routine. This variation of squat is for everyone, but it is most commonly used in Powerlifting.

Here we will delve into the muscles worked, how to perform Sumo Squats, benefits, common mistakes to avoid, reps and sets, how to progress this exercise, how and where to fit it into your workout plan and finally other exercises targeting the same muscle groups.

Muscles Worked When Performing Sumo Squats

Sumo Squats are a compound exercise, meaning they target multiple muscle groups. The key muscles worked during sumo squats include:

Quads (Front Thigh Muscles): Sumo Squats provide a heavily loaded workout for your quads.

Glutes: This squat variation will place additional emphasis on your glute muscles You can learn more about the different weight distribution of squat variations here.

Hamstrings (Back Thigh Muscles): Sumo squats also fully engage the hamstrings.

Calves: Your calf muscles are involved from a secondary perspective and assist in maintaining stability during this exercise.

Adductors: Sumo squats also place additional emphasis on the inner thigh muscles, known as the adductors.

Abs: Your abs are engaged by default in all squat variations.

You can use the muscle highlighted image at the top of this page for a visual guide of the muscles worked.

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How to Perform Sumo Squats

Mastering this move is necessary prior to loading.

First; if you’re not yet comfortable using the squat rack, start with a barbell that you are able to raise over your head and rest on the back of your shoulders. Do your squats like this until you reach 20 kg’s (45lbs).

Below we will detail the steps necessary to perform your Sumo Squats in a rack.

1. Rack Setup: To get started, you need a squat rack or a power rack with an unloaded barbell. The first thing you should do is make sure that the barbell is positioned around shoulder height. Adjust the hooks if you need to. You should also ensure that you have the safety bars in place, here is an article that teaches you about squat rack use.

2. Position Yourself: Get into position under the bar, ensuring that the bar rests just below your shoulders, not on your neck. Step back and stand with your feet in a wide stance, so outside of shoulder-width apart. Slightly turn your toes and knees outward, this is the sumo stance.

3. Grip and Hand Placement: While gripping the bar, keep your elbows tucked in. Place your hands in a comfortable position, using the knurling (the textured part) of the bar to guide your hand placement.

4. Execution: Sit back into your squat, ensuring you maintain a neutral back and keep your chest high throughout the movement. Look straight ahead of you at all times. You should aim to bring your thighs parallel to the ground or lower if your flexibility allows. Then, power back up through your heels and squeeze your glutes at the top.

5. Rack the Bar: After completing your set, safely rack the bar.

6. Squat Depth: It's vital to ensure you reach at least parallel depth during your squat. Depth plays a key role in activating the target muscles effectively. If you can’t go this low to begin with, remove all weight and master depth with no weight first, if you are struggling with that hold onto something, TRX straps are particularly helpful for this. You should aim to condition your muscles to squat low. Take your time to get this right, the possibilities are endless with this exercise, so it’s worth working and waiting for.

Other Weight Types You Can Use to Perform This Exercise

All squat variations can be performed with a sumo stance, this means that your Front Squat, Goblet Squat or regular body weight squat can all be transformed into a Sumo Squat. With that said, you should know that the barbell version performed in the rack is by far the most powerful version of this exercise. The easier variations should be worked around the barbell method.

Benefits of Sumo Squats

Queen of Exercises: The Squat in general is by far one of the most powerful gym exercises, because it targets multiple muscle groups, when performed in the rack with a barbell, it does this with a lot of weight. If you’re serious about weightlifting, you must master this move.

Full-Body Workout: The Sumo Squat is a compound exercise that engages multiple muscle groups simultaneously, offering a comprehensive, almost full-body workout.

Strength and Power: This is a proven exercise for building lower body strength and power, making it a fundamental exercise in your leg or lower body workout.

Functional Strength: Beyond aesthetics and strength, the Sumo Squat is the kind of exercise that will build you up in ways that make everything physical in your everyday life much easier.

Glute Development: Sumo Squats place additional emphasis on the glutes, this is beneficial for anyone who is struggling with glute activation on other exercises.

Inner Thigh Engagement: Sumo Squats target the adductors, which is an area many women want to tone, with Sumo Squats you have the golden opportunity to target them with a lot of weight so they will grow and firm up faster.

Sumo Squats: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Knees Over Toes Myth: Ignore anything you’ve been told about not letting your knees go past your toes when you squat, this is not natural for a lot of people and can lead to injuries. Go study some Powerlifters or Olympic lifters and see how they do it. If it feels comfortable for you to allow your knees to extend past your toes when you Sumo Squat, let it happen, equally, if it feels uncomfortable for you, don’t force it, forcing anything that feels unnatural for your individual biomechanics is a recipe for injury.

Avoid Poor Posture: Maintaining proper form, including back alignment, is critical. Avoid rounding your back or leaning too far forward during the squat. Keep your back straight, your chest and head up with your bum up and out behind you.

Knee and Ankle Position: Ensure your knees and ankles don't collapse inward during the movement.

Footwear: Squat on a solid surface and wear appropriate footwear, preferably flat-soled shoes or lifting shoes for stability. Avoid gel-bottomed trainers as these do not provide a stable surface to squat on. Barefoot is also a good option.

Progression: Use a power rack to safely increase the weight over time. Progressive overload is key to growth.

Reps and Sets

This is a powerful exercise, and the Olympic barbell can seem a little daunting at first, especially if you’re not sure if you’ll be able to squat it. Something to keep in mind is that the wider bar distribution of the weight does feel different to the same weight on a shorter bar, so always start with just the bar first so you can get a feel for it.

The number of reps and sets you perform depends on your current strength with this exercise.

Beginners: Start with simply mastering the move. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, 3 reps is a valid set.

To determine how many reps/sets of Sumo Squats you should start with, you first need to figure out how many reps you can comfortably perform. Then add 2, and perform that number of reps for 3 sets.

For example; let’s say you can perform 4 reps comfortably. Add 2 to make 6 reps. Perform those 6 reps 3 times over, allowing yourself sufficient rest inbetween.

Experienced lifters: You know your body and its abilities better than anyone, use your own judgment.

We recommend that you avoid performing more than 12 reps per set. If you’re comfortably performing 12 reps for up to 6 sets, it’s time to make the exercise more challenging.

How to Make Sumo Squats More Challenging

This is already one of the most challenging exercises to master, making it more challenging is simply a matter of increasing the weight on the bar. Another thing you can do is pause squats, so pause at the bottom for some seconds before powering back up.

You can also change your stance, try conventional, you’ll be surprised how much of a difference your foot position makes to weight distribution, a narrower foot position will force more of the weight through your quads. You can get a visual representation of this here.

How to Incorporate Sumo Squats into Your Workouts

The Sumo Squat, when performed in the rack, is your workout, everything else you do during that workout comes second to the Sumo Squat. You can incorporate this exercise into your Leg Workout, or a Full Body Strength & Power Workout. It doesn’t matter which you choose, what matters is that you build the rest of your workout plan around your Sumo Squat. These are the fundamentals of any good Weightlifting Workout Plan, you always build your workout around one of 3 key compound exercises, and the Sumo Squat is high up on that list.

Always start with the biggest moves that use the most weight, and work your way down from there. If your plan includes a squat or a deadlift, do that first, then work your way down through barbell exercises to dumbbell exercises and then onto cable and machine exercises towards the end. You can learn more about exercise order here.

Exercises That Work Similar Muscles to Sumo Squats

The Sumo Squat is one of those stand out exercises, it is the Queen of exercises, on par with the Barbell Back Squat, coming second only to the Deadlift. With that said, there is a very valid reason for doing other exercises that target similar muscle groups, and that is because those lighter, less intense exercises will help you build on your strength and power so that you can squat even more weight in the rack!

As far as compound exercises go, you should do other squat variations such as; a Front Squat, Barbell Back Squat, Goblet Squat or a Hack Squat. Other exercises that will support your overall squat power and development include; Lunges, Deadlifts and Leg Presses.

There are more Leg Exercises at the bottom of this page. Or you can check out our entire exercise database broken down by muscle group here.

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