Underrated Leg Exercise: The Standard Split Squat

The standard split squat is a phenomenal, yet underrated exercise.

We often talk about the glory of Bulgarian split squats, lunges, step ups, single leg box squats – which are all truly glorious single leg exercises.

But the standard split squat gets less press. I think it's because the movement is misunderstood which leads to people doing it all wrong. 

In the attached photo, you can see the 2 positions of the split squat.

Below is a quick checklist explaining how to do the exercise:

1. Set up with your feet spread apart pretty far – about 2 paces-worth. So take a step. Pause. Keep your back foot planted, and step forward about the same distance with the front foot. From here you can adjust to find what feels comfortable and allows you to complete the rest of the checklist.

2. Lift your back heel. That back foot's heel should never touch the ground. You'll keep all the weight on that foot on your back toes. But really, this foot is just for balance and emotional support. 80-90 percent of your weight distribution should be on the front foot. 

3. Keep your hips SQUARED at all times. An easy way to ensure you're doing this is keep your back knee and front knee both pointing directly ahead at all times. Don't you dare twist at the hips at any point of the exercise. This will open up that hip joint taking the tension out of the quads and glutes, effectively giving yourself a break during the exercise. No breaks allowed! Breaks are for sissies! 

4. Slowly lower yourself down and forward. Your front knee should track toward and even over your toes (if you have the flexibility to do so). Keep your front foot heel flat along with the rest of the foot. Slowly lower yourself until the back knee touches the ground.

5. You should feel the quads and glutes being engaged during the lowering phase in a stretched, muscle lengthening position. It will be intense, but good. Muscular intensity is the goal. The key is to go slow and gentle on the way down, keeping that stimulus on the muscles of the quads and glutes, rather than the knee joint or hip joint. Done slowly and correctly, this is a very nice, safe, and effective exercise for those joints and muscles surrounding the knees and hips (it's one of the best exercises for my hip labrum tears because I can get a great range of motion at the knee without going through a large range of hip flexion).

6. From this bottom position, press through the front foot, pushing yourself up and back. For whatever reason I cue the process of going down and up as moving like an escalator and it works for my clients. You're going down and forward, than up and back. You'll notice this in the pictures above if you take a look at where my chest is relative to my front foot in both positions. At the top of the movement (right side photo) my chest is quite a ways behind my front mid foot, more lined up with the heel. At the bottom position (left side photo) my chest is right over my mid foot. You can move more quickly on the standing back up phase of the exercise.

7. At the top, gently lock out the knee, then repeat for another rep.