10 Different Types Of Squats To Do At Home For Awesome Results

Switch up your squats and boost results with these different types of squats! Use the squat variations to strengthen the quads, glutes, and hamstrings to tone and sculpt your legs.

Squats are a crucial exercise to stay injury-free. And with so many squat variations you'd be silly not to find one you love! Plus, all of these squats can be done at home!

As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist I believe that squats are just about essential for everyone. They're a fundamental movement everyone should perfect. In fact, we come into squat position each and every day when we:

• Get up from the couch
• Go to the bathroom
• Talk to children
• Get out of the car.

The list goes on.

Unfortunately though, many people "cheat" this movement or perform them incorrectly because they're not strong enough or they don't understand the correct way to use them

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Tips For Safe Squats

• Your heels remain on the floor. Far too often people elevate the heels because they can't get low enough into their squat. Instead of doing this day in and day out, work to improve your mobility and get your foam roll on.
• Squats require a lot of mobility through the hips and ankles.
• Your knees shouldn't cave in when squatting. In fact, this is most common amongst females and much of the reason is poorly activated glutes. Here are six killer glute exercises.
• Your knees shouldn't hurt. When people complain about knee pain in a squat it's normally because they are falling forward, not sinking the weight back or the knees are caving in. However, there are a lot of exercises you can do to strengthen the knees and prevent pain.

How To Perform a Basic Squat

1. Have feet shoulder width (roughly apart).
2. Initiate the movement by pushing the hips back slightly.
3. Bend the knees and begin lowering the hips toward the floor.
4. Keep the chest up, the neck neutral, and do not over arch the low back.
5. Keep the heels on the floor.
6. Continue to descend as far as you can until you break form (heels come off the floor, knees cave, low back hurts).
7. Drive the knees out and push up through the feet evenly as you reverse the movement and bring your body back to a standing position.

Variation #1: The Goblet Squat

The best squat for beginners (after learning how to perform bodyweight squats of course!). A goblet squat is utterly useful for almost everyone because the load is placed in the front making it easier to sink the weight backward.

Likewise, this variation can also be done with a variety of equipment and is extremely low impact for a loaded exercise. While dumbbells and kettlebells are wonderful, kids, sandbags or anything you have around the house works too!

Lastly, the goblet squat still provides external load which helps stimulate your fast-twitch fibers and really hit your muscles. Remember to:

• sink the weight back
• drive the knees out
• sink down

 

Variation #2: Mini Band Squats

Banded squats are my go-to squat to improve glute strength and work on fixing the knees while squatting.

I like to use these mini bands for resistance because they're so effective.

The trick with the banded squats is to drive the knees out against the band to create consistent tension.

Variation #3: Squats With A Slide

This squat position challenges your endurance and also targets your legs in a bit of a unilateral way.

Variation #4: Squat With A Parlof Press

These squats challenge your endurance and your core muscles.

They require you to hold the squat at the parallel mark while pressing the weight outright in front of you. Thus they're challenging and rewarding.

This can be done with a resistance band or weighted with dumbbells (and kids!).

Variation #5: Paused Squats

This squat variation is my all-time favorite way to improve form and technique (learn more about pause rep training)! It can be used with any variation and requires you to pause at the bottom of a squat and focus on activating the muscles.

This makes it so you improve the hardest part of a squat (thus making you stronger) and also prevents any bouncing momentum from coming back up.

Variation #6: Single-Leg Squat

Training unilaterally is a great way to gain strength, prevent injury, and bust plateaus.

A single leg squat (also known as a pistol squat) can be done with a booster so you have a marker or free standing. Regardless, they`re extremely challenging so ensure good form as well as lower body mobility before working them into a program.

Variation #7: TRX Front Squats

TRX straps are one of my four top pieces of workout equipment.

This particular version takes much of the load off of the lower body and allows for an easier full range of motion once you understand how to rock the basic technique.

They're a great option to improve depth and mobility. Likewise, they're low-impact and perfect to help rehabilitate an injury.

Variation #9: Jump Squat

For anyone looking to boost power, the jump squat are a great place to start.

Make sure you practice landing (soft landing, knees not caving) in order to prevent injuries. I prefer these off the ground versus onto a box and you should only do as many as form allows- never past.

Of course, rolling jump squats are wicked too.

Tip: if you're a new-ish mom, jump squats are not for you. In fact, learn more about why some moms should avoid jumping.

Variation #10: Bulgarian Split Squat

A unilateral exercise worth putting into your training programs (which is why it's the dominant exercise in this at-home quad workout with dumbbells).!

A Bulgarian split squat can be altered to target the glutes or the quads. While it's necessary to start without weight, Bulgarian split squats can be done with dumbbells, kettlebells, a barbell, with hops. Truly any variation you can think of.

Want to step it up? You can add a hop to a Bulgarian split squat to make it extra fun!

Variation #11: Dumbbell Squat

A dumbbell squat is when you place two dumbbells onto your shoulders (holding with your hands) as you perform your squat.

This adds a lot more resistance coming back up. The extra resistance is a great way to streamline results.

Combo Squats

Using a squat in addition to another leg exercise is a great way to sculpt your legs and get in a cardio workout!

Some wicked squat combos are:

• squats with leg lifts
• squat to lunge
• squat with heel taps
• squat to single leg romanian deadlift

Bonus Squat Variations At Home

• Crossack squats
• Overhead squats
• Loaded squats (barbell back squats, front squats etc)
• Sumo squats and their variations
• Quadruped squats

Some of these squat variations at home require equipment but many of them can be done using just your own bodyweight- there's always options! 

If you do want to step up your game with bands, kettlebells or sliders, hit up prosoursefit.com- they have some great gear. And they're awesome enough to give my favorite mamas 15% off with code mamabearfit!

When To Use Different Types Of Squats

We naturally squat each and every day. Thus, it only makes sense to me that we perfect the movement, become strong in it, and truly understand the squat in order to make day to day tasks easier.

Bodyweight squats can become boring so use these squat variations when you want to:

• Bust through a plateau
• Challenge a performance goal
• Need to train unilaterally for injury prevention
• Are bored mentally
• Have new equipment

There are many valid reasons for using a squat variation. For myself, it's fun! Trying new exercises and recruiting muscles you may not use all the time helps boost workout motivation.

Plus, rarely is there just cause that some sort of squat shouldn't be in a program. So try out a few different squat variations to find one that suits your goals and abilities best.

Then, try more! 

Don't Forget To Pin These Squat Variations At Home!

Frequently Asked Questions About Different Types Of Squats

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Squats are an amazing exercise for just about everybody. They're functional, they boost your strength and they decrease your risk of injury. Similarly, there are squat variations for everyone.

Thus, find a version that suits your abilities, limits, and goals, and start squatting!