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Also known as: Jackknife squat, Supported squat.

Technique

  1. Hold on to a stable object in front of you and bend your knees to squat down.
  2. Go down in a controlled manner, without falling quickly into the bottom position.
  3. Go all the way down until the back of your thighs are compressed against your calves.
  4. Then extend your legs back to the starting position.

Form tips

  • The feet stay flat on the ground, with your weight evenly distributed on them; do not let your heels come off the ground. If needed, you can elevate your heels with a board or another thin object to make it possible to go all the way down, without being limited by your ankles flexibility (and make sure to work on your Ankle dorsiflexion with other exercises).
  • Push your knees out: do not let them cave in when you go down, but pull them out with your glutes (butt muscles). They should be aligned with your toes when going forward.
  • Ideal feet width and angle depends on your body mechanics - play with different positions to see what works best for you.

Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Quadriceps

Secondary

  • Hip adductors
  • Pelvis
Flexibility

Primary

  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings

Secondary

  • Hip adductors
  • Gluteus maximus
  • Semitendinosus
  • Semimembranosus
  • Biceps femoris (long)
  • Rectus femoris
  • Vastus medialis
  • Vastus intermedius
  • Vastus lateralis

Equipment

Appears in

Progressions

e031

Deep squat

Beginner
e0xp

Deep squat hold

Beginner
e11n

Cyclist squat

Beginner
e11j

Stability ball wall squat

Beginner
w012

Deck squat

Novice
e11o

Goblet cyclist squat

Novice
e02o

Close squat

Novice
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.