A frog squat is a wide-stance squat variation where your toes point outward more than 45 degrees, resembling the low, wide posture of a frog. The exaggerated toe turnout opens up the hips and lets you sink deeper than a standard squat, making it a popular choice for building lower body strength while improving hip mobility.
How It Differs From a Standard Squat
In a regular squat, your feet sit about shoulder-width apart with toes pointed slightly outward. A frog squat changes the geometry significantly. Your feet go wider than shoulder width, and your toes rotate outward well past 45 degrees, almost into a ballet-like position. This rotation creates more space in the hip joint, which is why many people can squat noticeably deeper with this stance than with a conventional one.
The depth advantage is the real draw. If you’ve ever felt “blocked” at the bottom of a squat, like your hips just won’t let you go lower, tight hip muscles are likely the bottleneck. Years of sitting shorten the muscles around the hip joint, and the frog squat’s wide, externally rotated position works around that tightness. Over time, training in this position can help you achieve better depth in other squat variations too.
Frog Squat vs. Sumo Squat
These two exercises overlap enough that some sources use the names interchangeably, but there is a meaningful distinction. A sumo squat uses a wide stance with moderate toe turnout. A frog squat pushes that toe angle further, past 45 degrees, which shifts more of the stretch into the inner thighs and groin. Think of the sumo squat as the broader category and the frog squat as a more extreme version within it. Both train the quads, glutes, and hamstrings while challenging core stability, but the frog squat places greater demands on hip mobility and the adductor muscles along your inner thigh.
Muscles Worked
The primary target is your quadriceps, the large muscle group on the front of your thigh that drives you back up out of the bottom position. Your glutes and hamstrings share that workload as secondary movers, especially at the deepest point of the squat where your hips are most flexed.
The wide, turned-out stance also loads your adductors (inner thigh muscles) more than a standard squat does. These muscles work to stabilize your legs and control the descent. Your calves contribute at the ankle, and your core, including your abs, stays engaged throughout to keep your torso upright and your spine neutral. It’s a true compound movement that recruits muscles from your midsection down to your feet.
How to Do a Frog Squat
Start by standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width and your hands on your hips or clasped in front of your chest. Turn your toes outward past 45 degrees. The exact angle depends on your hip anatomy, but you should feel like you’re opening your hips wide without forcing anything painful.
From here, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower yourself as deep as you can while keeping your chest up and your back flat. A good cue: when viewed from the side, your torso and shins should form roughly parallel lines. That means you’re not pitching your chest forward or letting your weight drift onto your toes. Press through your heels and midfoot to stand back up, squeezing your glutes at the top.
If you’re new to the movement, bodyweight alone is plenty. Focus on controlled descents and hitting consistent depth before thinking about adding load.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The two errors that cause the most trouble in frog squats are the same ones that plague squats in general, but the wide stance makes them easier to fall into.
- Knees collapsing inward. With your toes pointed so far out, your knees need to track in the same direction as your toes throughout the movement. When they cave inward, the stress shifts to the inside of the knee joint. A helpful mental image: imagine there’s a ball between your knees and you’re trying not to let them touch it. If your knees consistently collapse, your inner thigh and hip muscles may not be strong enough yet for the full range of motion. Reduce your depth until you can maintain alignment.
- Rounding the lower back. At the bottom of a deep squat, the pelvis tends to tuck under, pulling the lower spine into a rounded position. This transfers load from your legs to your spine. The fix is to initiate the movement by pushing your hips back first, keeping your chest tall, and only going as deep as you can while maintaining a neutral spine. If your lower back rounds before your thighs reach parallel, that’s your current working depth.
Hip Mobility Benefits
The frog squat doubles as a mobility exercise. The deep, wide position stretches the hip adductors and groin with every rep, gradually increasing your range of motion in the hip joint. This is the same tissue targeted by the frog stretch, a dedicated flexibility drill where you kneel with your knees wide apart and lower your hips toward the ground. The squat version adds the benefit of strengthening those muscles through their full range, not just passively stretching them.
For anyone who does a lot of squats, lunges, or deadlifts, better hip mobility translates directly into better positions under load. You’ll be able to sit deeper into a squat without compensating with your lower back, and your knees will track more naturally when your hips aren’t fighting for space.
Progressions and Variations
Once bodyweight frog squats feel comfortable for sets of 12 to 15 reps with full depth, you can increase the challenge in several ways. Holding a kettlebell or dumbbell at your chest (goblet style) is the most straightforward progression. The front-loaded weight also helps counterbalance your torso, which can actually make it easier to stay upright while adding resistance.
Tempo variations are another option that doesn’t require any equipment. Lowering yourself over a slow three- to four-second count dramatically increases the time your muscles spend under tension, especially in the quads and adductors. You can also add a pause at the bottom, holding the deepest position for two to three seconds before standing. This builds strength at the most challenging point in the range and reinforces good positioning where form tends to break down.
For a more explosive variation, add a small jump at the top of each rep. This turns the frog squat into a plyometric drill that builds power alongside strength, though it’s worth mastering the controlled version first to protect your knees and hips.