I want to tell you a secret!

You don’t have to BARBELL Squat… Whilst the squat is a brilliant exercise, performing a full range squat is a complex and technical skill.

To hit full depth you need sufficient strength, mobility, and coordination which takes time to develop. Plus, factoring in your own anatomy, goal and needs is crucial too.

But you should train the Squat MOVEMENT pattern if you want to grow muscle and build strength! The key is using the right squat variations to suit you, plus the right combinations of squat exercises within a training program too.

Today I want to share with you my #1 squat variation, which I use with all my clients. In my opinion, it is possibly the most underrated exercise in the gym, which everyone can benefit from. So, what is it?

The Front Heel & Back Foot Elevated Split Squat!

 

I want to now showcase why this split squat is likely the best squat you’re not doing. Plus, I’ll focus on the following areas to support my argument:

1/ Setup – Why the exercise design is magic.

2/ Suitability – Why it’s often the most ideal squat for some.

3/ Muscle gain – How the Split Squat can help you grow.

4/ Structural balance – What is it and why it matters.

5/ Strength – How the Split Squat can aid performance.

Let’s now dive into it and take a deeper look at the exercise itself.

1 – SETUP

If you take a good look around the gym, you’ll see lots of half rep barbell squats. Whilst this could be a coordination issue, it’s often due to mobility limitations which is a common dilemma with barbell squats.

Yet, even if you have poor mobility, rarely will anyone struggle to get deep with a split squat. Why?

It all comes down to the exercise setup, with the split stance, elevation and wedge all being crucial. Plus, as the load is held in the hands, we remove any upper body factors which can impact depth too.

Why the back foot ELEVATION?

The elevation allows more range of motion and ensures your back knee doesn’t hit the ground. This aids greater hip, knee, and ankle flexion. Depending on the person and execution, you’ll usually want either a 5cm or 10cm elevation.

Why the front heel WEDGE?

This addition is the less common one! Whilst the wedge also provides some extra elevation, the objective here is to aid your ability to achieve more ankle dorsi flexion. This allows greater depth to be achieved and more knees over toes movement.

As many people lack the mobility to train this key position, the wedge can alleviate mobility limitations. Now, if you’re thinking “but knees over toes is bad”, this is a myth and simply not true for non-rehabilitation scenarios!

In fact, research has found its favourable or necessary to allow knees over toes to aid optimal training outcomes, plus to minimise the stress on the lumbar spine and hip! Thus, restricting this natural knee over toes action is not an effective strategy for healthy training populations (PMID 37109294).

Why not a BARBELL?

Whilst you can use a barbell split squat, getting the load off the back and into the hands provides a lot of benefit. It removes the upper body mobility requirements, reduces the core demands and changes how the load is distributed.

This altered setup and load placement doesn’t necessarily mean it is a better exercise than the barbell squat. Rather, it means it has key differences which can be very advantageous for certain scenarios and goals. Speaking of, let’s now look at a few in more detail.

2 – SUITABILITY

Think back to starting school and kindergarten – were you learning university level physics and neurobiology? Or were you drawing with crayons and eating paste like Ralph Wiggum?

In school, you learn the essentials first, then progress onto the more complex stuff later. The same applies in the gym!

If you’re a beginner lifter, it takes time to develop the strength and skill to maximise the barbell squat benefits. Here you’re likely going to be a wobbly mess and very timid when squatting.

Whilst this will still happen with a split squat, by placing the load in the hands rather than on the back, a beginner can push harder quicker. With a barbell squat, technical breakdowns are more likely to occur, and you run a bigger risk of getting cut in half by the barbell.

This is why the Dumbbell Front Heel and Back Foot Elevated Split Squat can be a brilliant choice for many people as their primary squat variation initially... Once superior competence has been developed, you can phase this squat down to be performed after other barbell variations.

Now, if you’re thinking “well I’m not a beginner”, hold that thought. This split squat is not just for beginners! In fact, I use it with all clients I coach, from world champions to pro physique competitors, to professional athletes.

For non-beginners, view the split squat as a tool to compliment your other squat variations and to better aid your specific goal. The key is knowing how to use it, when and why.

Let’s now look more specifically at certain scenarios where this split squat has benefit.

3 – MUSCLE GAIN

Current research supports that muscles likely grow best when challenged in a lengthened position (Kassiano et al. 2022; Wolf et al 2022). As the split squat design typically allows you to easily achieve ideal range of motion, this is crucial for better training the Glutes, Quads and Adductor Magnus at longer lengths.

Let’s now talk about the QUADS!

As established, the wedge and elevation allow more range of motion, to better challenge the Quads in a lengthened position. Plus, as a staggered stance is used, the Quads will be challenged in a different way versus a bilateral squat with an even foot placement.

Whilst many view the split squat stance as a unilateral exercise, the reality is both legs are still heavily involved. Crucially, the split stance allows the back leg Rectus Femoris (Rec Fem) Quad muscle to be challenged differently.

This is because the Rec Fem is different to your other Quad muscles as it is a “biarticular” muscle, meaning it crosses two joints (hip and knee). Due to the staggered stance, the Rec Fem muscle on the back leg will be more stretched, which differs to a barbell squat. Depending on your objective and mobility, you can also increase this Rec Fem stretch to an even greater degree than I’m showcasing here.

Additionally, the front heel wedge supports superior movement mechanics too by aiding ankle dorsiflexion, especially at the bottom range. This allows the knee to travel further forward from the front foot, which increases the challenge to the Quads.

Let’s now talk more about the GLUTES!

As you’re easily able to achieve deep hip flexion with this split squat, Glute Max will get challenged hard when it is stretched at the bottom range. Plus, if desired you can also create more hip flexion by adding more of a forward leaning torso too, resulting in an even greater Glute stretch.

Plus, due to the split stance, the lateral Glutes have a key job too. This is because the staggered stance forces you to work hard to stabilise the hips, which isn’t a big issue with a classic bilateral squat.

Let’s now talk about EFFORT & FAILURE!

As the split squat is less complex and requires less mobility, you can push a higher effort, especially beginners. If you push a higher effort, you can achieve a closer proximity to failure, which is crucial for muscle gain potential!

This allows you to recruit more individual muscle fibres and expose them to mechanical tension overload, which is the primary training stimulus which triggers muscle building pathways.

4 – STRUCTURAL BALANCE

Have you felt weaker on one side of the body? Or have you consistently struggled with injuries and soreness primarily in one key area?

If so, you could have subpar structural balance!

Structural balance is a concept popularised by the legendary strength coach Charles Poliquin. It asserts that the more balanced you are in times of strength, muscle mass and coordination, the greater your ability to progress, whilst reducing your injury potential too.

So, to be structurally balanced, you want to ensure:

1/ The left and right sides of the body are balanced.

2/ The agonist and antagonist muscles are balanced (e.g., Quads vs Hamstrings)

3/ Your stabilising muscles are balanced with your big prime mover muscles.

Whilst structural imbalances are relatively common, they are usually not desirable. Though there are exceptions to this (e.g., Baseball pitchers’ elbows and shoulders).

This is why it’s important to prioritise unilateral style training in the gym too, regardless of the goal! Plus, why this split squat has so much value, as it trains the Quads in a differing way so it can improve structural balance and aid your end goal outcome!

To illustrate this, research (PMID 26504480) has found that the main factor causing patellofemoral (knee) pain is an imbalance between the Quads.

This can occur when the Vastus Medialis (VMO) is contextually too weak and underdeveloped, relative to the Vastus Lateralis (VL). When the VMO is excessively dominated by your Vastus Lateralis, this can cause excessive lateral tracking of the patella and knee pain.

The VMO is commonly referred to as your “tear drop” Quad muscle within the bodybuilding community. It is also an optimal muscle to develop from a Quad symmetry standpoint too!

Crucially, research (PMID 28210036) has found that the activation of the VMO muscle is highly dependent on knee flexion angle, plus the degree of stability present. In one study, the VMO displayed higher muscle activation when:

• In deeper knee flexion (60° versus 15° knee flexion)
• Higher activation at shallow knee flexion (15°) when instability was higher

So, the VMO Quad muscle must work hard at these positions, especially as the staggered stance is less stable relative to a standard bilateral squat.

Yet, as shown below from additional research findings, if we get even deeper the VMO activation reduces due it being at a longer length (PMID 27504484). Crucially though, this can be beneficial to muscle gain potential as already stated above!

So, if you want to develop your Quads and potentially aid injury robustness too, this Split Squat can be an awesome option!

5 – STRENGTH

If you want to optimally build a stronger barbell back squat, naturally you must prioritise it. This is due to one of our key training principles – specificity!

Yet, we can still use other supportive exercises like the Split Squat to potentially build your squat, grow your lower body muscles, and aid your injury robustness.

This can be especially beneficial if you’re a Powerlifter who uses a Low Bar Back Squat. This is because low bar variation is a more hip dominant squat and typically will feature less knee over toes action.

Whilst a low bar squat can allow superior load, the Quads often won’t be challenged with the same knee flexion, relative to a high bar or front squat. Yet if we use the split squat here as a supportive movement, we can still train this greater knee flexion, whilst not overlooking the dominant low bar squat we need to prioritise.

Doing this can aid more complete muscular strength and development, along with superior structural balance which can potentially reduce the frequency of any injuries you suffer. If you’re able to stay healthier over the long run, this supports even greater progress over time as you take less backwards steps due to injuries.

So, there you go – 5 reasons why the Front Heel & Back Foot Elevated Split Squat is an amazing exercise!

Thanks for reading,
Glen Carroll

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