maratoolBarbell Side Split Squat
How to do the barbell side split squat
- Stand up straight while holding a barbell placed on the back of your shoulders (slightly below the neck). Your feet should be placed wide apart with the foot of the lead leg angled out to the side. This will be your starting position.
- Lower your body towards the side of your angled foot by bending the knee and hip of your lead leg and while keeping the opposite leg only slightly bent. Breathe in as you lower your body.
- Return to the starting position by extending the hip and knee of the lead leg. Breathe out as you perform this movement.
- After performing the recommended amount of reps, repeat the movement with the opposite leg.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the quadriceps across the front of the thigh, which straighten the knee and, just as importantly, control it on the way back down.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down; the lower back keeps the spine from rounding.
Every exercise for:QuadricepsCalvesHamstringsLower back
How this movement works
The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the quadriceps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Bench Jumpbody only
- Bicycling, Stationarymachine
- Cable Deadliftscable
- Dumbbell Lungesdumbbell
- Front Squats With Two Kettlebellskettlebell
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 173 quadriceps exercises in this database, 70 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.