Sumo Squat
adductors
What moves the load, and what it costs
5.0MET
അഡക്ടറുകൾ is the prime mover, with the quadriceps, glutes assisting. The wide stance loads the adductors far more than a normal squat. It does not slim the inner thigh — it builds the muscle underneath it.
Cue: Set the feet wide with the toes turned out and lower straight down between them.
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·FILED UNDER WEIGHTED SQUATS·REVIEWED JUL 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files sumo squat under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 5.0, and middling for conditioning work.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so sumo squat is filed under Resistance (weight) training, squats, slow or explosive effort.
- Take the category's MET value — 5.0. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 5.0 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Sumo Squat: 5.0 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 6.13 kcal/min
SOURCE·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·REVIEWED JUL 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| അഡക്ടറുകൾAdductor magnus, longus, brevis, gracilis | Prime mover | Pull the thigh towards the midline, and (adductor magnus especially) extend the hip. A wide-stance squat loads them heavily. |
| Quadricepsറെക്ടസ് ഫെമോറിസും മൂന്ന് വാസ്റ്റൈയും | Synergist / stabiliser | കാൽമുട്ട് നിവർത്തുന്നു. റെക്ടസ് ഫെമോറിസ് ഇടുപ്പിനെയും കടന്ന് അതിനെ മടക്കുന്നു, അതിനാൽ ലെഗ് എക്സ്റ്റൻഷനിൽ വരുന്നതിൽ നിന്ന് വ്യത്യസ്തമായാണ് സ്ക്വാട്ടിൽ അതിന് ഭാരം വരുന്നത്. |
| GlutesGluteus maximus, medius and minimus | Synergist / stabiliser | Extends the hip (maximus), and abducts and stabilises it (medius and minimus). The strongest single muscle group in the body. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Dumbbells, Kettlebell. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
PATTERN · SQUAT
- Hold the dumbbells close to the chest with the elbows tucked underneath it.
- Set the feet shoulder-width or a little wider with the toes turned out 15 to 30 degrees — whatever lets your hips travel between them.
- Set the feet wide with the toes turned out and lower straight down between them.
- Take a big breath into the belly, brace as if bracing for impact, and screw the feet into the floor.
- Sit down between the hips, keeping the whole foot loaded, until the hip crease passes below the top of the knee or until your position starts to fail.
- Drive up by pushing the floor away, keeping the chest and hips rising together, and breathe out at the top.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Knees caving inward on the way up.
It is usually the hardest rep that exposes it. Think about screwing the feet outward into the floor and stop the set when it appears.
The hips rising faster than the chest.
The squat becomes a good morning and the lower back takes the load the legs were supposed to. Reduce the weight and drive the chest up out of the hole.
Cutting the depth as the weight climbs.
A half squat trains a half range. Load whatever depth you can hold position through, then work on the position.
Heels lifting off the floor.
Usually ankle mobility. Widen the stance slightly, work on the ankles, or squat in flat shoes with a small heel wedge — do not just fight it.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Nothing on this site regresses it further: this is already near the entry point of its pattern. Take load off, shorten the range, or slow the tempo — in that order.
Progress — the next demand
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a compound lift loads several joints, so it tolerates heavy loads and needs long rests.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–5 | 3–6 | 3–5 min | Heavy loads need long rests. Cutting rest to two minutes turns a strength set into a conditioning set. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 6–12 | 90–180 sec | Take most sets to within one to three reps of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle matters more than the exact rep number. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–4 | 12–20 | 45–75 sec | Lighter loads and shorter rests. Fat loss is decided by the diet; this preserves muscle while it happens. |
| First month | 2–3 | 8–10 | 2 min | Well short of failure, same weight every set, until the movement looks the same on the last rep as the first. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: Resistance (weight) training, squats, slow or explosive effort — 5.0 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 5.0 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 6.13 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·REVIEWED JUL 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the sumo squat work?
Sumo Squat is a compound movement in which the adductors is the prime mover, assisted by the quadriceps, glutes. Pull the thigh towards the midline, and (adductor magnus especially) extend the hip. A wide-stance squat loads them heavily.
Is the sumo squat good for beginners?
Yes. It rates 1 out of 5 for technical difficulty on this site — learnable in a single session with no coaching. Start with the lightest sensible load and two or three sets of 8–10.
What can I do instead of the sumo squat at home?
This movement is difficult to reproduce without equipment. Where a bodyweight substitute does not exist, progress by slowing the tempo and using single-limb versions instead of adding load.
How many sets and reps of the sumo squat should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 6–12 with 90–180 sec rest. For strength, 3–5 sets of 3–6 with 3–5 min rest. In your first month, 2–3 sets of 8–10, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the sumo squat burn fat from the adductors?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the adductors builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
SOURCE·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·REVIEWED JUL 2026
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