Written by Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

The barbell back squat is a classic strength training exercise. It’s the first lift contested in powerlifting competitions and a cornerstone of most bodybuilders’ leg workouts. According to many fitness coaches, the back squat is all but compulsory, whatever you are training for.

However, there is a dirty little secret that nobody tells you about squats – they’re HARD!

We don’t just mean they require a lot of effort. It’s more that they’re technically difficult and can even be painful. Resting and holding a heavy barbell across your upper back often hurts.

And as for the whole “back squats are functional” argument – forget about it! When was the last time you squatted down with a weight resting on your upper back? Barbell back squats are no more functional than any other compound leg exercise.

So, don’t feel that you have to include barbell back squats in your workouts, or front squats, for that matter. There are plenty of other exercises you can use to develop the lower body of your dreams.

In this article, we reveal the seven best dumbbell squat exercises for building strong, muscular legs.  

All dumbbell squat variations are compound exercises. That just means they involve two or more joints and multiple muscles working together. In fact, dumbbell squats work all of the muscles located below your waist and more than a few above waist height, too.

The main muscles involved in all dumbbell squat variations are:

The quadriceps are so-called because they’re made up of four separate muscles that come together at a single tendon. Known as the quads for short, the four quads muscles are the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. Located on the front of your thighs, the quads are responsible for knee extension, while the rectus femoris is also a hip flexor.

Known as the glutes for short, this is the largest and potentially most powerful muscle in the human body. Its principal function is hip extension, although it’s also a hip stabilizer and plays a part in the external rotation of the hip joint. The deeper you squat, the more active the glutes become.

Located on the back of your thighs, the hamstrings are responsible for knee flexion and hip extension. There are three hamstring muscles – biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus. However, it’s important to note that the hamstrings play a relatively small role in most dumbbell squat exercises, and the quadriceps and glutes do most of the work.

Located on the outside of your hip and thigh, the hip abductors lift your leg out and away from the midline of your body. The abductors are gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, and tensor fascia latae. During dumbbell squats, the hip abductors mostly work as stabilizers to prevent your knees from caving inward.

The adductors pull your legs in toward the midline of your body. During dumbbell squats, they mostly work as stabilizers to prevent your knees from falling outward. However, very deep squats tend to increase adductor engagement. The three adductor muscles are adductor longus, adductor brevis, and adductor magnus, meaning long, short, and big.

The core is the collective name for the muscles of your midsection. This includes the rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, and erector spinae muscles. Together, these muscles form a natural corset or weightlifting belt and support your lower back during all variations of dumbbell squats. Generally, the higher you hold the weights, the more work the core must do to stabilize your spine.

Depending on the type of dumbbell squat being performed, you’ll probably have to hold weights in your hands, working your forearms alongside your legs. In some instances, your grip may limit how much weight you can use or stop you from doing a lot of reps. Get around this problem by a) using chalk to prevent your hands from slipping or b) using lifting straps to enhance your grip.

Dumbbell squats are undeniably a lower-body exercise but holding dumbbells in your hands means your upper body is involved too. Depending on the dumbbell squat variation performed, you’ll also be working some or all of the following upper-body muscle groups:

We’re not saying there is anything bad about barbell back and front squats. Still, there are plenty of reasons why, sometimes, dumbbell squats could be more beneficial. Reasons to give dumbbell squats a try include:

Because of the position of the load, some dumbbell squat variations are easier on your lower back than either barbell front or back squats. This makes them useful for exercisers suffering from lower back weakness or back pain.

It’s nigh-on impossible to do barbell squats without a squat rack. That’s no problem if you train in a well-equipped gym, but if you don’t have a squat rack, you won’t be able to do back or front squats.

Dumbbell squats require no such equipment, so they’re ideal for home exercisers and anyone who trains in a less well-equipped gym.

Doing back squat to failure can result in serious injury, especially if you get pinned under a heavy barbell. Front squats are not a whole lot safer. However, with most dumbbell squats, all you need to do is drop the weights at the end of your set, which is a lot safer than trying to rerack a heavy barbell. Just mind your toes when you let go of your weights!

Drop sets are largely impractical for barbell squats. Reducing the weight on your barbell by the required 10-20% just takes too much time for drop sets to work. But, if you line up a few pairs of dumbbells, you can do pump-inducing squat drop sets and take your workout to a whole new level of intensity.

In fairness, there aren’t many downsides to dumbbell squats. The main drawback is that your grip strength can be a limiting factor, and you may find it awkward to get heavy dumbbells into the correct starting position.

The last consideration is that barbell squats are easy to load with very heavy weights – just keep slapping more plates on the bar. In contrast, most gyms only have dumbbells up to around 50kg/110lbs, so you may not have access to enough weight to challenge your legs. However, this is only a problem for very strong lifters.

Do you want to give dumbbell squats a try? Glad to hear it! These are the seven best dumbbell squat variations for muscle size and strength.

When the subject of dumbbell squats comes up, this is the version most people are talking about, so we’ll call it the classic dumbbell squat. With this exercise, you hold your arms down by your sides with a dumbbell in each hand. This makes the classic dumbbell squat as much a deadlift as it is a squatting exercise. Regardless, it’s an excellent quad and glute builder.

Secondary: Abductors, adductors, core, forearms.

Read more about the classic dumbbell squat here.

Goblet squats are traditionally performed using a single kettlebell. However, they work equally well using one dumbbell. Goblet squats force you to squat with good technique and are an excellent exercise for beginners. However, they’re also a great choice for more experienced lifters looking for a safe but effective quads workout.

A lot of lifters struggle to squat below parallel. This is usually an ankle mobility issue. Lifting your heels and resting them on blocks usually unlocks this problem and also increases quads engagement. Raising your heels turns any dumbbell squat into a cyclist squat. You can do this exercise with your dumbbells by your sides or with one held in front of your chest as preferred.

The dumbbell front squat is a challenging exercise. Not because it hits your legs any harder than any other variation, but because you’ll need to put extra effort into supporting the weights. This exercise provides your upper body and arms with a good workout as you train your legs. Dumbbell front squats are an excellent movement for athletes.

While you’d be forgiven for thinking that a single-arm squat should be pretty easy, this is actually one of the most demanding exercises on our list. Holding a weight overhead will challenge your balance, mobility, and core strength. So, don’t go too heavy too soon; this is a very humbling exercise.

Most types of dumbbell squats load your legs evenly. However, when you do split squats, about 60% of your weight ends up on your front leg, providing some welcome overload for your quads. This is an excellent option if you only have light dumbbells to train with but still want to work your quads a little harder.

The dumbbell Bulgarian split squat builds on the foundation of the regular split squat and increases the workload on your front leg. In addition, it involves a larger range of motion and requires even better balance. In short, this is an excellent dumbbell squat exercise!

Do you have a question about dumbbell squats or leg training in general? No sweat – we’ve got the answers!  

It’s generally accepted that to build muscle, you should do anywhere from 6-35 reps per set, taking each to within a couple of reps of failure. This contrasts somewhat with previous advice to train from 6-12 reps per set.

However, given that high-rep leg training can be very draining and puts a lot of stress on your cardiovascular system, it’s probably best to train in the 6-20 rep range for most dumbbell squats. This will also make your workouts a little more time efficient.

But, if you are training for brute strength, you should use heavier weights – typically 85% or more of your 1RM – and do 1-5 reps per set.

Yes indeed! Dumbbell squats are great for building muscle, especially in the quadriceps and glutes. Take your sets close to failure, and you should experience muscle growth. However, you must also train your legs often enough and with enough volume to optimize growth. Your diet and lifestyle (sleep, stress, rest, recovery, etc.) also need to support your workouts if you want to maximize your progress. 

Because barbell squats allow you to lift more weight, they’re usually the better choice for building absolute strength. Dumbbell squats WILL make you stronger, even if you lift light to moderate weights, but if you want to get REALLY strong, heavy weights and barbells are the way to go.

Most lifters should train their legs twice per week, e.g., Monday and Thursday. This makes it much easier to accumulate enough volume to trigger increases in strength and muscle growth, i.e., 10-20 sets per week.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to do the same dumbbell squat variation every time you train.

In fact, you’ll probably get better results (and experience less boredom) if you do a few different types of dumbbell squats, e.g., classic dumbbell squats one day and dumbbell goblet squats the next.

You COULD train your legs three times per week, but this is probably overkill for most people and could result in overtraining if you don’t manage your recovery correctly.

While all types of dumbbell squats involve your hamstrings, they’re not the most dominant muscle group. Rather, it’s your quadriceps and hamstrings that are doing most of the work. So, if you want to develop your hamstrings to their maximum potential, you must also train them directly with exercises like leg curls and Romanian deadlifts.

Provided you perform them correctly, dumbbell squats are a very safe exercise. By correctly, we mean you use an appropriate weight, descend under control, avoid bouncing out of the bottom of the movement, don’t round your lower back, and don’t snap your knees straight when you stand back up.

In fact, it could be argued that dumbbell squats are safer than the barbell version as you won’t get trapped under a heavy weight if you cannot complete a rep.

It’s common for your forearms to fail before your legs, especially when using heavy weights or doing high-rep sets. Avoid this problem by:

Read also: Dumbbell Squat vs. Barbell Squat

No barbell or squat rack? No problem! You can train your legs using any of these dumbbell squat variations. Each one works your quads and glutes and, to a lesser extent, your hamstrings too.

That said, the barbell back squat is called the king of exercises for a reason – it ROCKS!

So, if you can do back squats, and they match your training goals, there is a laundry list of reasons to include them in your leg workouts. Very few exercises have the potential to build lower body muscle mass and strength like the barbell back squat.

The main thing to remember is that friends don’t let friends skip leg day, and ideally, you should train your legs twice a week. So, whether you use dumbbells or a barbell, make sure you do your squats!

Patrick Dale is an ex-British Royal Marine, gym owner, and fitness qualifications tutor and assessor. In addition, Patrick is a freelance writer who has authored three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos. He’s not just an armchair fitness expert; Patrick practices what he preaches! He has competed at a high level in numerous sports, including rugby, triathlon, rock climbing, trampolining, powerlifting, and, most recently, stand up paddleboarding. When not lecturing, training, researching, or writing, Patrick is busy enjoying the sunny climate of Cyprus, where he has lived for the last 20-years.

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