Is the sumo squat easier on the knees than a regular squat?

Not necessarily. A study of bodyweight squats in 12 healthy adults found a wide stance put less force through the inner knee than a narrow stance, but turning the toes out 30 degrees raised it. Turn the feet out only as far as your knees can follow them.

How wide should my feet be?

Wider than shoulder width, often around one and a half to two times, but hip structure varies from person to person. Use the widest stance in which your heels stay flat, your knees track over your toes and your hips move without pinching.

Is a sumo squat the same as a plie squat?

Mostly. Both names are used for this wide, toes-out squat, although a plie squat borrowed from ballet is often cued with an even taller torso and the feet turned out a little further.

What should I do with my arms?

Let them hang straight down in front of you so the hands drop between the knees at the bottom, or clasp them at your chest if that helps your balance. The arms do no work here, so pick whichever lets you keep your chest up.

How do I make the bodyweight sumo squat harder?

Slow the lowering to three or four seconds, pause at the bottom or add short pulses in the bottom range before standing. Once high reps feel easy, add load with the Dumbbell Sumo Squat or go deeper with the Kettlebell Deficit Sumo Squat.

Bodyweight Sumo Squat

What Is the Bodyweight Sumo Squat?

Bodyweight Sumo Squat is a compound exercise that primarily targets the quadriceps, glutes and inner thigh adductors, and also engages the hamstrings, the hip stabilizers and the lower back. It is a beginner-level movement that needs no equipment, performed with the feet set well outside the shoulders and the toes turned out.

The wide, turned-out stance makes this squat a simple way to build strength through the hips and inner thighs while working the legs through a deep range of motion. It shows up most often in warm-ups, home workouts, circuits and barre-style classes, and it teaches the knees-out, upright-torso position that the loaded sumo variations rely on.

Compared with the narrower Bodyweight Squat, the sumo stance lets the torso stay more upright and asks more of the inner thigh muscles, which lengthen on the way down and help drive the hips back up. The quadriceps and glutes still do most of the lifting, and the adductor magnus works alongside the glutes as a hip extensor, more so the deeper you go. Holding a weight turns it into the Dumbbell Sumo Squat, and standing on raised platforms for extra depth gives the Kettlebell Deficit Sumo Squat.

Beginners, people training at home and anyone wanting more inner thigh and hip work from a squat will find it useful. If reaching thighs parallel with control is not yet possible, sitting down to a box with the Bodyweight Box Squat builds the same pattern through a shorter range, and the stance can be brought in until hip mobility allows a wider one.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Adductor Magnus: Primary
Gluteus Maximus: Primary
Vastus Lateralis: Primary
Vastus Medialis: Primary
Adductor Longus: High
Gluteus Medius: Medium
Rectus Femoris: Medium
Biceps Femoris: Low
Erector Spinae: Low
Gastrocnemius (Medial Head): Minimal

Instructions

Stand with your feet about one and a half to two times shoulder width apart, toes turned out about 30 to 45 degrees.
Let your arms hang straight down in front of your thighs, lift your chest and look straight ahead.
Take a breath and brace your midsection.
Bend your knees and sit your hips down and slightly back, pushing your knees out so they stay in line with your toes.
Lower with your torso mostly upright until your thighs are about parallel to the floor, or as low as you can go with your heels flat and your back neutral.
Pause briefly at the bottom, with your hands hanging between your knees.
Press through your whole foot and squeeze your glutes to stand, keeping your knees pushed out.
Straighten your hips and knees fully at the top without leaning back, breathe out, and repeat.

Common Mistakes

Knees caving in
Letting the knees drift inside the toes on the way down or up twists the knee and takes work away from the hips and inner thighs.
Stance too wide
Setting the feet wider than your hips allow makes the feet roll in, cuts your depth short and can strain the groin.
Toes turned out past the knees
Pointing the feet out further than the knees will follow leaves the knees pointing inside the line of the toes and twists the knee.
Heels lifting
Shifting the weight onto the toes or inner arches makes the squat unstable and moves the work forward onto the knees.
Folding forward
Tipping the chest toward the floor turns the squat into a hip hinge and puts the lower back under strain instead of the legs.
Cutting reps short
Stopping a few inches down leaves the glutes and inner thighs barely working, so lower until the thighs are about parallel or as low as you control.

Injuries

Bodyweight Sumo Squat is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. With no external load, the main strain points are the groin, the front of the hip and the knees, and trouble usually comes from forcing a stance wider or more turned out than the hips allow rather than from the effort itself.

Set the widest stance in which the heels stay flat, the knees follow the toes and you can still reach depth, and turn the feet out only as far as the knees track with them. Warm up the hips first, lower under control instead of dropping into the bottom, and keep the spine neutral rather than folding forward at the waist.

To make it easier, shorten the range, hold a sturdy support for balance or sit down to a box with the Bodyweight Box Squat; if the wide stance bothers the groin or hips, the narrower Bodyweight Squat trains the same main muscles. To progress, slow the lowering and pause at the bottom, then add load with the Dumbbell Sumo Squat.

Stop if you feel sharp or pulling pain in the groin, a pinch at the front of the hip in the bottom position, or pain on the inside of the knee. Bringing the feet in and reducing depth often clears it; if it does not, have it checked by a qualified clinician before continuing.

Overview

Primary Focus: Quads, glutes, and hips & groin
Equipment: Body weight
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner

Alternative Exercises

Other Names for the Bodyweight Sumo Squat

The Bodyweight Sumo Squat is also known as:

Plie Squat

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the sumo squat easier on the knees than a regular squat?: Not necessarily. A study of bodyweight squats in 12 healthy adults found a wide stance put less force through the inner knee than a narrow stance, but turning the toes out 30 degrees raised it. Turn the feet out only as far as your knees can follow them.
Q: How wide should my feet be?: Wider than shoulder width, often around one and a half to two times, but hip structure varies from person to person. Use the widest stance in which your heels stay flat, your knees track over your toes and your hips move without pinching.
Q: Is a sumo squat the same as a plie squat?: Mostly. Both names are used for this wide, toes-out squat, although a plie squat borrowed from ballet is often cued with an even taller torso and the feet turned out a little further.
Q: What should I do with my arms?: Let them hang straight down in front of you so the hands drop between the knees at the bottom, or clasp them at your chest if that helps your balance. The arms do no work here, so pick whichever lets you keep your chest up.
Q: How do I make the bodyweight sumo squat harder?: Slow the lowering to three or four seconds, pause at the bottom or add short pulses in the bottom range before standing. Once high reps feel easy, add load with the Dumbbell Sumo Squat or go deeper with the Kettlebell Deficit Sumo Squat.