HOW TO DO SPLIT SQUAT
- Take a split stance: front foot flat, rear foot on the ball. Hips square. This footwork does not change during the set.
- Brace and lower mostly straight down. Front shin stays roughly vertical; rear knee travels toward the floor.
- Drive through the front foot to stand. Keep the torso stacked — a slight lean is fine, a twist is not.
- Finish the set, then switch legs. Do not turn it into a walking lunge between reps.
COMMON MISTAKES
- Stance too short. The front heel lifts and the knee shoots forward. Lengthen until you can sit between the feet without teetering.
- Elevating the rear foot and calling it this lift. That is a Bulgarian split squat. Different range, different slug.
- Shuffling the feet every rep. If you are stepping, you are lunging. Plant, squat, stand. The feet stay where you put them.
- Logging both legs as a walking lunge. In-place split squat, walking lunge, and Bulgarian are three PRs. Keep this one honest in LIFTAG.
VARIATIONS
- Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat — Rear foot elevated, more range, harder on the hip flexor of the back leg.
- Walking lunge — Stepping version. Use it when you want gait, not a planted stance.
- Dumbbell lunge — Loaded lunge, usually stepping or reverse, not a frozen split.
- Smith machine split squat — Fixed bar when balance, not the legs, is the limiter.
PROGRESSIONS
- Bodyweight split squat to a consistent back-knee depth.
- Goblet or dumbbell load once the stance no longer wobbles.
- Pause in the hole when you start bouncing the rear knee.
- Rear-foot elevated (Bulgarian) when you want more range on the front leg.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Accessory: 3–4 sets of 6–12 per leg after the main squat. Log each side. Rest between legs if the second side always folds. Bodyweight is a valid load — do not skip the row just because the hands are empty.
EQUIPMENT ALTERNATIVES
- Dumbbell lunge — Keep single-leg work when you would rather step than plant.
- Walking lunge — Need a lane, not a bench. Still a split-stance pattern.
- Barbell lunge — Bar on the back when the dumbbells are not heavy enough.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Split squat keeps the feet planted for the whole set. A lunge steps. If you reset the feet every rep, log the lunge you actually did — walking, reverse, or barbell — not this slug.
