What you'll gain

• Loads the quadriceps hard without a barbell or a machine.

• Trains knee flexion and extension through a long range with the hips held extended.

• Scales by depth alone, so progression needs no extra load.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and hold a support with one hand.

2. 2

   Rise onto the balls of your feet, or place your heels on a two to four inch block.

3. 3

   Brace your trunk and squeeze your glutes so the hips stay extended.

4. 4

   Lean back from the knees, letting them travel forward while your torso stays in line with your thighs.

5. 5

   Descend as far as you can control, keeping the hips from folding backward.

6. 6

   Press through the balls of your feet to return to standing, then repeat.

Common Mistakes

• Letting the hips fold backward, which turns the rep into a shallow ordinary squat.

• Arching the lower back to reach depth, which loads the lumbar spine instead of the quadriceps.

• Dropping fast and bouncing at the bottom, which spikes load on the knee with no control.

• Pulling hard on the support hand, which removes the resistance the exercise depends on.

About This Exercise

The sissy squat removes the hip hinge from a squat. You rise onto the balls of the feet, keep a straight line from head to knees, and lean back as the knees travel forward, so almost all of the movement happens at the knee joint. That makes the quadriceps the prime mover, with the trunk and calves working to hold the line and the balance. EMG work on knee extension across hip angles shows the four quadriceps heads work together rather than in isolation, so treat this as a quadriceps emphasis exercise rather than a way to single out one head. For a library this clip fills the bodyweight quadriceps slot that squats and lunges do not cover, and it is a useful visual for knee-over-toe programming and for advanced bodyweight plans that need progression without added load.

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