Sculpt your butt and legs with sumo squats

This variation of squat will target more muscles of your lower body.

Squats are excellent to keep your lower body in shape. But the regular squats you perform only work certain muscles of your body. To target few more muscle groups and sculpt your lower body, sumo squat can be a new challenge for you to try. Also, try these 5 variations of squats to get killer legs.

How is sumo squat different from regular squat?

The significant difference between sumo squat and regular squat is the positioning of your feet. When you do a regular squat you place your feet hip-width apart with your toes facing forward or slightly out. On the other hand, sumo squat requires you to place your feet in a wide stance with your toes out at an even greater angle.

Both regular and sumo squat target your quadriceps, glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings and calves. However, the sumo squat also puts a lot of emphasis on your inner thigh abductors.

To perform the sumo squat,

• You need to stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart. Keep your hands by the sides of your body and turn your toes out to 45 degrees.
• Bend your knees and hips and lower yourself down as you raise your hands to meet your chin. Ensure that you keep your back straight and your abs tight and do not let your knees move past your toes while you lower your body.
• Lower till your thighs are parallel to the floor and slowly rise to complete one repetition.
• Start with eight repetitions of sumo squats and move on to doing more once you are comfortable with it.

This video will help you better understand the steps of the exercise:

Tip: It s important that you master the regular squat first before you move on to any other squat variations. Here's how you can do a proper squat.

Image source: Getty Images

Video source: FitnessBlender/YouTube

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