Sumo Squats! The Original Sumo Squat, Hook & Race Party Game.

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It won’t always be easy to get into the right position at first. If you haven’t developed hip mobility to take a wide stance like this, you’ll need to work at it. The quads are the muscles on the front of your thighs used in the flexion of your knee as you descend and ascend during the squat. The squat is commonly thought of as a quad exercise because of the quads’ heavy use in the movement. Glutes Once lowered, start to return to standing, but simultaneously drag your left heel in toward the center to bring your heels together. Finish standing tall and squeezing your thighs together. If you find you’re able to perform sumo squats with max effort and max weight, this can be a great advantage to you against other lifters. Less Upper Body Movement

These squats will feel different at parallel/depth than a narrower stance variation. Record your sets, have a friend watch from the side, and develop the muscle memory to know what true depth feels like with sumo squats versus other squat variations you perform. Just like your standard squat, take the time to find your comfortable sumo stance and do it the same every time.

How to Make the Sumo Squat Harder

Learn to take a breath into your diaphragm before you squat. Push your abdomen outward (push against your belt, if you’re wearing one) as hard as you can just before you begin to squat. Keep that pressure going all the way until you finish your rep, then take another breath and repeat. We are all built differently, and unfortunately the sumo squat isn’t going to be a catch-all solution for lifters. If you aren’t one who is comfortable or capable of squatting max weight in the sumo stance, this won’t be a lift you’ll want to try to develop competitively or work on often if you're a recreational lifter. To start off on the right foot, take a few minutes to read through the step-by-step instructions below. Then, when you’re ready to give it a go, perform the move in front of a mirror so you can keep an eye on your form. I’d probably do those horizontal-based moves instead of a sumo deadlift or a Romanian deadlift, since their hinge motions are pretty similar to the sumo squat,” he says. “This way, you wouldn’t have to do two weighted hinges standing up, and you can work your hamstrings and glutes in a slightly different way.” If you are looking for a good core exercise that is challenging but does not require a lot of weight, the sumo squat is an excellent option.

One reason squats are such a great exercise is that there are so many ways to vary the movement and resistance. The most common techniques for varying the exercise involve changing the stance, foot placement angle, hip depth, or load ( 1). Take the time to do stretches for several weeks. Warm-up each workout before attempting sumo squats. Take the time to get your body ready for this specific variation so you can get the most of it. You will feel it in your core. Because of the extra-wide stance, you’re forced to keep your upper body — and especially your torso — in a very upright position. To help with stabilization, you’ll rely on engaging your core muscles throughout the movement. Taking videos of your sets is the best way to see how your form is improving, worsening, or staying the same. You are the only one who knows how the lift feels while you do it, so use that information to compare with how the lift looks on video and learn from it.

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Plus, because sumo squats give extra attention to your adductors, they may also help improve stability at your hip, which plays a role for injury prevention in movements such as running, according to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. How can you use sumo squats in your workout routine? Just like any other squat, these are best when you do them all the way to depth, so don’t make the mistake of shorting it. Sumo Squats: Benefits

A good squat is half about your personal strength and half about having good form – maybe even 60% form over strength. Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart. Give yourself a few feet and stand wide without overextending your knees. Take a step to the side with your right foot until your stance is 3–4 feet wide, or wider than hip width. Wider is OK as long as you can perform the move correctly. It’s easy to make mistakes with a new exercise variation, but I can help you avoid a few major ones: But beyond that simple explanation, there are several factors to understand and consider when comparing traditional squats and sumo squats, so let’s break each of them down below. Differences Between Squats and Sumo SquatsThe hip flexors get stronger. The hip flexors are important for athletes who play jumping sports such as basketball, tennis or volleyball as they help springboard the legs out to maximum force when you run up and jump, or when you take a hit during a game. When performed in high volume, the sumo squat is a great movement option for a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout. Because the move recruits multiple large muscle groups in the legs, glutes, and core, its calorie-burning potential is high. EASY-PEASY GAMEPLAY : Just strap on a tail, warm up those thighs, spin the spinner, and win some bananas! Easy … or is it? Gameplay is super straight-forward to follow (great for monkeys with short attention spans) but hard to master, making it the perfect addition to your board and card game collection. 2+ PLAYERS | 6+ YEARS To really get the advantage out of this variation, learn to let your hips do most of the traveling instead of your knees. Learn to keep your upper body upright instead of bending forward to move the bar down. Practice it and work at it. Squat variations are plentiful, and it’s helpful to know which ones are truly useful, how they are beneficial, and whether or not you should give them any attention. One variation commonly seen in the gym is the sumo squat. But how similar/different is it when compared to the traditional squat?