What Are the Different of Types of Squats?

Are you aware of the types of squats that can be incorporated into your workout routine? Well, as you may know, every exercise has several variations, and the same goes for squats as well.

It’s believed that ideally, you could add two to three variations of an exercise to your routine as it prevents the muscles from hitting the plateau. Hence, the different types of squats serve a similar purpose, along with changing the muscle groups the variations work on.

What Are Squats?

Squats are an exercise that requires you to bend the knees and hips in order to lower your body into a seated position and stand back up. It’s one of the most recommended and popular exercises to build lower body strength.

The most basic-form of a squat is performed while keeping your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, and keeping your back straight as you lower your body. Additionally, you should keep your knees in-line with your toes.

While you can do squats as a bodyweight exercise, you can add weights such as dumbbells or barbells to it and increase the intensity of the exercise.

The primary muscle groups that squats work on are quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. However, core muscles usually help with maintaining balance and stability during exercise.

What Are the Different Types of Squats?

Squats (Photo via Benjamin Klaver/Unsplash)

Here are some of the most common squat variations that you should be aware of:

Basic Squat

This is the most common among the types of squats, where you stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, and squatting down while keeping your back straight and your knees in line with your toes.

Front Squat

In this squat, the barbell is held in front of your body, resting on your shoulders. It requires more upper body strength and puts less stress on the lower back.

Back Squat

In this exercise, the barbell is held behind your body on your upper back. It is a popular strength training exercise that targets quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.

Goblet Squat

This is a variation among the types of squats that are usually performed with a dumbbell. You need to hold the dumbbell close to your chest while performing the squat. Goblet squats primarily target quads and glutes, and help develop core and leg strength.

Overhead Squat

Overhead squats are one of the most complex compound exercises. In this workout, you have to hold a barbell overhead while performing the squat. It requires a great deal of shoulder and core strength, and you must start with an extremely light weight. It’s mandatory to find your balance and stability during the overhead squat.

Sumo Squat

Among the many types of squats, this is another variation that is popularly done with dumbbells. To perform the exercise, stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and toes pointing outwards while holding the dumbbell between your legs by keeping your arms extended. This targets the inner thigh muscles and hamstrings more than a back/regular squat.

Pistol Squat

Pistol squats are a bodyweight variation among types of squats. It is also known as a one-legged squat, and requires a significant amount of balance and strength in the legs. It's performed by balancing on one leg and squatting down. You can exercise by keeping both feet on the ground before advancing to single-leg pistol squats.

Bulgarian Split Squat

Bulgarian split squats are single-leg squats where the back leg is elevated on a bench or a step behind you. The primary muscle groups targeted in this exercise are quads and glutes, which help with improving balance, stability, and overall lower body strength.

What Are the Benefits of Different Types of Squats?

Overhead squats (Photo via Sam Sabourin/Unsplash)

Check out the benefits of squat variations:

Build Lower Body Strength: Squats are one of the best exercises to build lower body strength, including quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.

Increase Muscle Mass: Squats are compound exercises that engage multiple muscles at once, which can lead to increased muscle mass and definition.

Burn Calories: Squats are a high-intensity exercise that can help burn calories and increase metabolism, leading to weight loss and fat burning.

Improve Core Strength: Squats require the use of core muscles for stability and balance, which can help improve core strength and stability.

Improve Mobility and Flexibility: Squats can help improve hip and ankle mobility, which can improve overall flexibility and reduce the risk of injury.

Enhance Athletic Performance: Squats can help improve athletic performance by increasing lower body strength, explosiveness, and power.

Boost Bone Health: Weight-bearing exercises like squats can help improve bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis.

Improve Posture: Squats require proper alignment of the spine and engagement of the core muscles, which can help improve posture and reduce back pain.

Before you decide to pick the right variations of squats for your workout routine, be sure to first learn how to do squats correctly.