The universe of squats it is practically infinite. We find a large number of variants of this exercise with which the muscles of the legs are mainly worked, in addition to the buttocks and even the trunk or, in some variants, also the arms. When it comes to using weights, we can choose between bars, kettlebells, medicine balls or dumbbells, which is the subject on which we are going to focus in this article. If you have doubts on the subject, at OneHowTo we give you a few tips on how to do dumbbell squats.
Steps to follow:
1
The first thing you will ask yourself is, which dumbbell do I lame: the 5 or the 15 kilos? Logically there are several factors that influence the response such as the physical capacity of each one, the experience, the number of repetitions to do, etc. It is recommended start light and as you assimilate the technique, you will pick up heavier dumbbells.
Of course, keep in mind that you must be able to do 10 or 12 reps per set, and that a very heavy dumbbell can throw you off balance causing damage to your back or knees.
2
Solved this doubt, take a dumbbell in each hand and get into the starting position, which will be similar to that of normal squats: feet shoulder width apart, abs tight and trunk straight. Your feet and knees should point in the same direction.
Then bend your knees and start to go down, always controlling the descent. If you let yourself fall, without controlling the descent, you can become unbalanced or hurt your knees. Down to form a 90º angle and return to the starting position without ever lifting your heels off the ground.
Image: Deporlovers.com
3
Usually, dumbbell squats are done with little weight allowing us to do a double squat. Take the dumbbell with both hands and go down as if you were doing a normal squat, but unlike the conventional squats, when you reach the bottom instead of going up directly we will only push up a little and we will go back down before recovering the starting position.
A good tour would be:
Initial position> we go down to 90º> we go up to ¾ squat> we go down to 90º position> we recover the initial position.
4
We can also do squats overhead with dumbbells or Turkish, one of the most complete exercises because we exercise the muscles of the lower body, those of the trunk and even those of the upper body because the key to the exercise is to keep the dumbbell above the head.
Raise the dumbbell over your head and lower as if you were going to do a normal squat. It seems easy but it is not and can be made from easier to more difficult by holding the dumbbell with both hands, one hand, or with a dumbbell in each hand.
Photos: Routines and training.blogspot.com
5
Finally, we can use the dumbbells to do the sumo or open squat. Spread your legs beyond shoulder width, with your knees and feet pointing out, in a V shape, and grab the dumbbell in front of your body. Then lower yourself until your butt and knees are parallel, and remember to keep your torso straight.
If your idea is to strengthen your butt muscles, we recommend reading our article on doing squats for buttocks.
Image: Mundo Fitness.com
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