Sumo squats can be a good exercise to switch up your leg workouts. Keep in mind that you do still need to do the right amounts to see results.
The first thing to note is that sumo squats are mainly a resistance training leg exercise.
That means the main goal of the movement is growing and strengthening muscles like your quadriceps (front thighs and hip adductors (inner thighs).
To achieve these goals you preferably want to do 3 to 6 sets of sumo squats with a weight where you can barely complete 6 to 15 repetitions per set.
That being said, even without good weights available, 3 to 6 sets of up to 50 bodyweight sumo squats could help you build muscle if you can barely complete these sets and really push yourself to failure.
At least until you get too strong to see results from the bodyweight version of the exercise. When this happens, you need to do weighted sumo squats or one-legged alternatives.
How effective are sumo squats?
Before going into how many sumo squats you should do, you need to know what this exercise is mainly effective for.
If you are strong enough up to a point where bodyweight sumo squats start being cardio, you could do a lot of them to lose weight. However, this is not the most effective purpose of this exercise.
Sumo squats are mainly a resistance training exercise that works your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, inner thighs, outer thighs, and lower back.
In simpler words, that means sumo squats can be effective for growing some of these muscles, especially the quadriceps (front thighs), if you do the exercise with enough weight, do enough repetitions, eat enough, and rest enough.
How many sumo squats you should do for muscle growth
What enough weight and enough sumo squats exactly mean for you personally depends on things like your current strength level, body, and goals.
The leg muscles sumo squats work are relatively strong so this exercise is often done with weights. That being said, it is possible that the bodyweight version is challenging enough to grow your muscles too.
If you can barely do 3 to 6 sets of 6 to 50 bodyweight sumo squats, you should be able to grow your quadricep muscles without any weights (1). At least for now.
One thing to keep in mind with high-repetition resistance training sessions like this is that you really need to push to muscle failure to see muscle growth. Otherwise, you are working more on muscle endurance.
That being said, it is also possible that you can easily do the set and rep ranges above with bodyweight sumo squats. In that case, you want to do sumo squats with weights to keep seeing progress.
More specifically, for muscle growth, you want to do about 3 to 6 sets of 6 to 15 weighted sumo squats per workout with a weight where you can barely complete these ranges.
Should you do them every day?
Something important to note is that you don’t want to do sumo squat workouts like this every day.
During resistance training exercises you damage the muscles you use. At first, this may sound like something you don’t want.
However, this damage starts a variety of processes that repair the muscles and make them stronger to be better prepared for similar efforts in the future.
That being said, your body still needs time to complete these processes. Especially in the case of the bigger muscles sumo squats work.
If you do sumo squats with the reps, sets, and weights mentioned, you generally want to have at least one rest day before you do a similar workout again. So you generally don’t want to do sumo squats every day.
Something else to note is that you can still do resistance training exercises for other muscles or cardiovascular exercises on these days.
