Single Leg Squat with Barbell

🎯 Quadriceps🏋️ BarbellCompoundCalves (2°)Hamstrings (2°)

How to do the single leg squat with barbell

  1. This is an advanced exercise and modification of the basic squat. Mastery of the squat is recommended before attempting this exercise.
  2. Place a barbell on your back, above your shoulders with a wide grip.
  3. Cross the lower leg above the knee of your supporting leg (the leg you will squat with).
  4. Squat down as low as you are able.
  5. Slowly return to an upright position by straightening your hip and knee.
  6. Switch legs and repeat.

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.

Every exercise for:QuadricepsCalvesHamstrings

How this movement works

Several joints move together, so effort spreads across a chain rather than concentrating in one place. Coordination is part of the difficulty: the movement is only as good as its weakest link, and improving it often means fixing a position somewhere other than the muscle you meant to train.

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:

Related exercises

Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →

ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.