Weighted Sissy Squat with Weight Plate

🎯 Quadriceps🏋️ OtherIsolation

How to do the weighted sissy squat with weight plate

  1. Don't let the name of this exercise fool you, it is a an assisted squat which effectively works the quadriceps (leg muscles).
  2. Grasp a weight rack or bar for support with one arm and hold a free weight plate across your chest with your other hand.
  3. With your abs drawn in, squat down lowering your body to the floor until your knees are almost fully flexed.
  4. Return to the starting position.
  5. Note: Keep your feet placed firmly on the floor throughout this exercise.

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.

Every exercise for:Quadriceps

How this movement works

Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

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.