Not all exercises are created equally. Effective training is often about the minimum dose for maximum effect. If you are looking for the biggest bang for your buck as far as leg strength and building glutes then you need the rear foot elevated split squat in your life/training. However, I see this exercise a lot on social media and I often question if coaches these days truly understand what they are doing. So I wanted to go through my preferred technique and set up.
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat
I classify this in my coaching as single-leg exercise, I aim for 75% of the weight in the front foot (weight of the torso and any additional load held), the back leg then only takes 25% of the weight.
The rear leg shouldn’t be the restriction, as mentioned in the video if a large step, block or bench is used for the rear foot elevation the lifter quickly hits a stretch on the back leg before the front leg is challenged. I like to set up on a low block or bar, ideally a split squat stand.
Eyes down & torso angled forward. There’s certainly an “it depends” aspect to this section, more often than not I want to challenge as much of the range as possible. I like to see maximal ankle flexion, and a good amount of knee and hip flexion when performing the lift. There is a rationale behind altering knee and hip angles to alter which joints take up more of the work. But 9/10 I’ll coach this version.
Loaded with dumbbells held in lengthened arms or front-loaded. It’s been years since I’ve backloaded this exercise with a client. For me, it’s just not worth it, when we work on 1 leg natural joint mechanic means the upper body has to rotate and lean in conjunction with what’s occurring in the lower limbs. Locking a bar onto the shoulders shuts 99% of that movement down.
I train my client’s longevity so I go for the safety, playing around with exercises for variation’s sake or to get as much weight on someone is a short term mindset. Take care of your body and learn how to set up and perform each exercise you do in the gym.
Here’s the thing, I live in a social media bubble where I surround myself with women lifting weights, getting strong and generally being freaking badass human beings. Yet when I walk into most gyms, this isn’t exactly what I’m seeing.
Elevate your conditioning with well-designed circuits. Far too many routines throw together exercises haphazardly, creating unbalanced fatigue and overwhelming recovery demands. It’s about strategic selection and smart planning—ensuring each session builds you up without burning you out.
The big scary carbohydrate is here to ruin your diet and make you gain weight. It’s time to separate the facts from the fiction, such as why you should not cut a whole food group out of your diet and why we need carbs.
It’s a common misconception that exercise must be long to be effective. This usually aligns with the notion that exercise is all about calories burned.
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