Getting powerful legs and a core that can withstand athletic activity doesn’t require a full barbell setup. While using a local gym and some standard gear is great, you can improve your legs, glutes, and core with dumbbell squats. It’s a simple exercise that scales easily and doesn’t put any real strain on your joints.
Finding those maximum results, low movement workouts is a big part of what we do at FED Fitness. Building a workout around squats with dumbbells checks all the boxes. Total muscle building, balance improvements, enhanced lower-body power, and a core for better hiking, workouts, athletics, or reducing back pain.
The trick is that sometimes you want to target specific muscle groups with your dumbbell squats, or you need a variation based on time, space, and capability. Let’s break down a solid list of alternatives to achieve the squat workout with weights that align with your personal goals.
What Muscles Do Dumbbell Squats Work?
There is a ton of evidence that performing dumbbell squats improves lower-body muscular endurance, strength, and explosive power. When done right, this exercise targets more than just your thighs. A squat is considered a “complete” lower-body movement because it requires the use of multiple joints and large muscle groups simultaneously.
When you do a dumbbell squat, you’re using the quadriceps. You’re also working the glutes during hip extensions and power when standing. The hamstrings offer stability and support (primarily through the hip and knee), and your adductors trigger when you’re in a wider stance.
However, what many people overlook is the benefits to your core. Weighted squats with dumbbells won’t lock you into a single movement pathway. Using dumbbells requires full-body control, which comes from the abdominals, obliques, and spinal stabilizers. Otherwise, your torso won’t stay upright and balanced.
You also get some decent hits to your upper back, shoulders, and grip, but that mostly depends on how you’re holding the dumbbells. Overall, this is an intense and effective workout for developing powerful lower-body muscles, a stable core, and extra definition in your arms and shoulders.
Now that you have a better idea of what to expect, let’s get into the different variations available to enhance your dumbbell squats.
Effective Dumbbell Squat Variations
1 – The Goblet Squat
Anyone looking for a good “beginner-friendly” variation should consider the goblet squat. All you need is a single dumbbell to get started. This position encourages you to keep your torso upright, improving core engagement.
The target muscle group will be the quads, with secondary impact on the abs, adductors, calves, glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.
To perform a good goblet squat, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a single dumbbell vertically at chest height. You want to brace the weight close to your body (like you’re holding a heavy goblet). Inhale, then sit down, bending your knees and tightening your hips. Be sure to keep your chest tall and pull your elbows inside your knees when at the bottom. Drive your heels to the floor as you stand back up.
2 – Dumbbell Front Squat
The dumbbell front squat is similar to the goblet squat, but uses two dumbbells held at shoulder level instead of one against your chest. You get a little more shoulder muscle hit as the elbows are pointed forward, carrying the weight.
Drop the weight amount compared to the goblet squat at first until you get the hang of the technique. This will challenge your core and upper back more than a traditional squat.
Hold the dumbbells at your shoulders with elbows up. Spread your feet hip-width apart, then squat by pushing your hips back and bending your knees. Be sure to keep your chest up and back straight. You only need to go as low as comfortable before driving back into a standing position. Try to keep your knees tracking over the toes as a guideline.
3 – Sumo Dumbbell Squat
The “Sumo” is one of our favorites. You’ll need a much wider stance than a traditional squat workout with weights, and to point your toes slightly outward at a 45-degree angle. You can do this exercise with one or two dumbbells held vertically in front of you.
Start by lowering your hips back and down, kind of like you’re about to sit in a chair. Keep your chest up the entire time and track your knees over your toes. As you push back up, focus on your glutes and inner thighs. Slowly stand, and you're done.
4 – Dumbbell Split Squat
With a true dumbbell split squat, you’re going to keep one foot forward while the other stays back. This variation will target your glutes, hamstrings, and quads. It’s a fantastic way to engage the core for stability and balance as you move.
Start in a staggered stance, about 2 feet apart. Hold dumbbells at your sides and keep your chest up. You’ll lower your back knee toward the floor. Don’t go any further than your front thigh being “near” parallel. Drive back up through your front heel to complete the movement.
A real benefit of any split squat is that you improve the range of motion in your hips, knees, and ankles. You’re still targeting the quads and glutes, but the balance improvements cannot be emphasized enough.
5 - Bulgarian Split Squat
BSS, or the Bulgarian split squat, directly hits the hammies, quads, glutes, and calves. You can also include the abs and spinal erectors, as the positioning puts a lot more load on the quads and forces you to use more balance.
Many athletes looking to run faster or get a few extra inches on a jump use the BSS as part of their routine. The whole idea is to elevate your rear foot (laces down) and then squat up and down on the standing leg. You can use dumbbells in several ways, like one at the chest in a goblet position, two at your sides (like suitcases), or a weighted vest if you have one available.
You can use a chair to rest your rear leg on, but a plyo box or workout bench is better, as you can adjust the height. These also work with kettlebells. Stand a few feet from the box, place your rear foot on the bench/box, bend your front knee, and go down until your rear knee almost touches the floor. When you go back up, push into the ball of your front foot. Try to keep the knee of your back leg just behind your hips the whole time.
6 - Dumbbell Box Squat
For those looking to build serious explosive lower-body power, try this squat workout with weights. The dumbbell box squat is designed to target the glutes, hamstrings, and core without a stretch reflex at the bottom of the movement. These are great for newbies or those in knee rehab.
Stand about shoulder width apart in front of a bench or box. Hold a pair of dumbbells at your side (or in the goblet position). You want to hinge at the hips and keep your chest up and straight. Lower down until your butt lightly touches the box, then push back up through your heels to stand.
The idea of the box is to be a guide, helping you reach a good depth while preventing you from rounding your back if it weren’t there.
7 - Dumbbell Pulse Squat
When you want a good dumbbell squat alternative that increases “time under tension,” dumbbell pulse squats are an excellent place to start. You pulse at the bottom of the movement instead of standing all the way back up after each repetition.
Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a dumbbell at your chest. Squat down to parallel and pulse halfway up, then back halfway down, then stand. You want to keep your core and back engaged, and your knees aligned with your toes.
When done right, you get more stability in your adductors and lower back while also working quads, glutes, and hamstrings. There’s good evidence that you optimize more muscle growth when using them under tension.
8 – Cyclist Squat
Many athletes consider the cyclist squat the “ultimate” quad burner. That’s probably because this workout is a favorite among those who bike, cross-country ski, or do a lot of incline running. You will get much bigger legs and enhanced endurance from this exercise.
You want a narrower stance. Use a weight plate or a block under your heels. Slightly point your toes outward while keeping your heels close. Hold your dumbbell (or kettlebell) in the goblet position at your chest. Squat down until your thighs are just below parallel, then stand up with explosive effort, but do not lock your knees.
Not only will you hit your abs, glutes, quads, hammies, and core, but you’ll also develop better squat depth and more quads activation around the VMO (Vastus Medialis Oblique).
9 – Sumo Squat
The primary difference between the sumo squat and the sumo dumbbell squat is that you hold the dumbbells at your sides. Many athletes looking to boost hip development stick to this squat workout with a weight variation.
Point those toes at a 45-degree angle to engage the inner thighs, and get your feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your chest up and push your knees outward in the same direction as your toes as you move down.
Try to imagine pushing your torso into your hips. Go deep enough to put your thighs parallel to the floor and give it a little pause at the bottom before driving out of the squat like you are pushing the ground away.
10 - Overhead Squat
The overhead squat (OHS) is considered a full-body exercise. It improves a lot of hip mobility, but also gives your core, shoulders, and ankles a good tingle. Many Olympic weightlifters use this workout for snatch preparation.
You're getting all the major muscle groups in your legs, core, upper back, and shoulders. Traditionally, you do this exercise with a barbell, but dumbbells work just as well. You can hold one or two locked out overhead with straight arms.
Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged. While holding the weights, slowly descend into a deep squat. Keep your chest up and heels on the ground as you drive back up to the standing position.
11 - Offset Front Rack Squat
A single kettlebell or dumbbell is all you need for the offset front rack squat. With this alternative, you get a lot more core engagement to challenge rotational stability. In other words, using one side forces your core to resist twisting, which is why this mimics many functional and athletic movement patterns.
Put your weight in the “rack” position, sometimes called “cleaning it,” so it is resting on your shoulder with the elbow high in front of you. Descend as you push the hips back. Once your thighs hit parallel, reverse direction and drive your feet into the floor.
There are two schools of thought on neck position with this alternative. You can do a neutral, chin-tucked position during the lift, or focus on something straight ahead as you squat.
12 - Front Rack Squat
The front rack squat is different from the offset version because you’re using two dumbbells, one in each hand. It is used during heavy-weight training by lifters because it is a compound movement. You’ll hit your rectus femoris and vastus muscles for the knees while also getting the glutes and hips.
Shoulder two dumbbells (one in each hand) with your palms facing inward and elbows pointing forward. Squat until your thighs are parallel and then drive into your heels to stand back up. You can do this variation with hands facing up in a clean rack if you’d like.
When you rack weight in front, you get less force on the lower back, so this is sometimes preferred over the offset version by those with some back issues.
13 - Landmine Squat
You can technically do a landmine squat with dumbbells, but you may not get as good results. You should use a barbell anchored at one end with a decent weight. You’ll need a barbell, a weight plate, and a landmine attachment. Some people go without the attachment for a little more core control, but it’s not recommended when you're starting.
Lock your barbell into that attachment and add enough weight to comfort only. Stand tall, about shoulder width, and grip the barbell with both hands. Keep it relatively close to your chest. Tighten up like you’re about to get punched, and push your hips back as you lower until your thighs are parallel. Return to the starting position by driving heels into the floor.
You’ll hit all the major squat muscle groups here, but get a little more engagement in the posterior chain.
14 - Single-Leg Squat (Pistol Squat)
The pistol squat is an advanced exercise. It is a complete split squat with the single leg pointed out, and it can put a lot of strain on the knees if you’re not prepared.
Move slowly and carefully through this squat workout with weights. Hold a single dumbbell in a goblet style or forward as a counterbalance. Or hold a dumbbell in one hand at your side. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and extend one leg straight out, toes pointed. Lower down while pushing your hips back and keeping the heel of your working foot on the ground. Drive back up through that heel while keeping your leg extended. That is one.
As you can imagine, you can increase the difficulty of this workout by adding more weight, going down as close to the floor as you want, or moving incredibly slowly. Just take your time. This is an advanced exercise and uses a lot of balance.
Dumbbell Squats for Beginners
Any squat workout with weights is beneficial. As a beginner, your goal should be to focus more on controlled reps and a full range of motion. You’ll start to feel progress as you become more consistent in your form.
Always start with a lighter weight to build your confidence and ensure you’re hitting muscles that will support you through more compound techniques. The goblet and sumo squats are good starting points. Both will work your essential series of squat muscles without putting too much pressure on your body. If you’re really worried about knees, you can also go with the box squat.
Best Dumbbell Squats for Building Muscle
For those looking to hit hypertrophy goals, look for squat variations with progressive overload and high muscle tension. Those will include the BSS (Bulgarian split squat) for glutes and quads, front rack squat for heavy loading, and the cyclist squat for pure thigh growth. You can also throw in some pulse squats if you want more time under tension.
If you’re looking to build muscle, stick to 6-12 reps per set with heavier weights. That will give you solid results.
Dumbbell Squats for Glute Growth: How to Do Them Right
Glute growth isn’t just about the squat. You want variations that provide enough hip extension and depth. For that goal, stick to sumo squats, BSS, and split squats. Try to get enough depth so you feel a stretch in your glutes, then drive back up through the mid-foot and heel.
Tempo is also a factor. Move slowly and pause at the bottom. That will increase glute recruitment. You don’t need much weight to achieve these goals, just good focus and depth.
Squat Workout with Weights: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who are weighted squats suitable for?
Squat workouts with weights are suitable for anyone. You can be a beginner to weights or a professional athlete, and squats will help you improve. Dumbbells are used because they allow natural movement without putting too much strain on your joints.
How much weight should a 150-pound person squat?
The total weight will vary based on your goals. That said, a good goal might be to start with 10-25 lb. dumbbells and then progress to 40-70 lbs. Focus on form first and then add weight as you progress. Learn More: How Much Weight Should YouDumbbell Bench Press?
What are good dumbbell squat options for seniors and people with knee issues?
When performed properly, dumbbell squats can help with knee rehabilitation. If you have knee discomfort, focus on box squats, goblet squats, and shallow-range split squats. Start without weights to control your tempo and depth, and only add dumbbells when you feel ready.
Conclusion
Dumbbell squats are fantastic for home, in-gym, and on-the-road workouts. They are versatile, work a lot of muscle groups, and help you build power where you want it. There are many variations of a squat workout with weights, so start slow and listen to your body.
We at FED Fitness believe strength should be functional, scalable, and accessible to all. These squat variations are excellent additions to any weekly plan, ensuring your legs, glutes, and core get the boost they need.
You can find some of these variations in our FED Fitness App and pick up a functional pair of dumbbells in our store. Adding dumbbell squats is a reliable way to improve your glutes and quads. Be sure to take progress photos. You'll be surprised at how quickly these exercise variations take effect.
This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. For questions related to your health or medical conditions, please consult your physician. Always seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional before starting any exercise program or health regimen. In the event of a medical emergency, call 911.
