Dumbbell squat

Name: Dumbbell squat exercise demonstration
Uploaded: 2026-11-03
Duration: PT6.57S
Description: A dumbbell squat is a squat with one weight hanging beside each leg. You bend your hips and knees to lower, then stand while keeping the dumbbells at your sides. This guide covers that two-dumbbell setup, rather than a goblet hold at the chest or weights supported on the shoulders.

Also called DB squat, dumbbell squats, side-held dumbbell squat.

What is a dumbbell squat?

A dumbbell squat is a squat with one weight hanging beside each leg. You bend your hips and knees to lower, then stand while keeping the dumbbells at your sides. This guide covers that two-dumbbell setup, rather than a goblet hold at the chest or weights supported on the shoulders.

Side-view illustration of a man standing and squatting with a dumbbell hanging in each hand beside his legs. His thighs and glutes are highlighted red.

How do you perform a dumbbell squat?

Set up

Pick up two matching dumbbells and stand with a clear space around your feet. Let your arms hang outside your legs, with palms facing your thighs.
Set your feet roughly shoulder width apart, turn your toes out comfortably and settle your weight across both feet.

Execution

Brace your trunk and bend your knees and hips to lower between your feet, letting your knees travel in line with your toes.
Keep the weights beside your legs. Stop where you can stay balanced with your heels down, before a dumbbell hits the floor.
Press into the floor to stand, straightening your legs without swinging or curling the dumbbells. Pause upright before repeating.

Common mistakes

Letting a dumbbell catch the floor
A large weight can run out of clearance before you finish lowering. Use smaller dumbbells or a shorter controlled range rather than bouncing off the floor.
Folding forward to keep the knees still
Allow your knees to bend as you lower. Keep the weights beside your legs instead of turning the squat into a reach toward the floor.
Curling the weights during the ascent
Keep your arms long so the dumbbells travel with your body. Reduce the load if you cannot keep that position.

Where it fits in a session

Use this as the squat in a dumbbell workout, with a load that lets you repeat the same stance and depth.

Record that the weights are held at your sides. Keep shoulder-racked and goblet sets separate when comparing your sessions.

Muscles worked

Front

Back

Primary

Secondary

Select a muscle name to locate it.

Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.

Variations

Barbell back squatA bar rests across the upper back instead of hanging in the hands.
Goblet squatBoth hands hold a single weight at the chest.
Front squatA barbell rests across the front of the shoulders.
Bodyweight squatRemoves the held weights for unloaded practice.

Frequently asked questions

Is a dumbbell squat the same as a goblet squat?

This version holds two dumbbells beside the legs. A goblet squat holds one weight at the chest. Holding two weights on the shoulders is a dumbbell front squat, a separate setup.

What if the dumbbells touch the floor?

Use smaller weights or stop the descent sooner. Do not build an improvised raised platform just to clear the dumbbells; choose another squat setup if clearance keeps limiting the range you want to practise.

How deep should I squat?

Lower only while you can keep your balance, your heels planted and the weights clear of the floor. The illustration shows one person's position, rather than a depth everyone must reach.