Cossack Squat

How to do it

1. Stand in a wide stance with toes turned slightly out.
2. Shift your weight to one side, bending that knee and sinking into a deep squat.
3. Keep the trailing leg straight with the heel down and toes up.
4. Sink as low as your mobility allows, keeping the chest tall.
5. Drive through the bent leg back to center, then repeat to the other side.

Muscles it trains

Percent of one session's target for that muscle. Anything at 100% finishes that muscle on its own.

How it compares

Compared with the Hip Adduction (Machine), it loads Quads 55 points higher, Glutes 40 points higher, Hamstrings 25 points higher. It needs Bodyweight where the other uses Machines. Compared with the Split Squat, it loads Adductors (inner thigh) 45 points higher, Abductors (outer hip) 35 points lower, Quads 30 points lower.

Other ways to train this

• Hip Adduction (Machine) Machines
• Cable Hip Adduction Cable machine
• Sumo Goblet Squat Dumbbells
• Band Hip Adduction Resistance bands
• Side-Lying Hip Adduction Bodyweight

Other exercises for the Adductors (inner thigh)

• Split Squat 35% Bodyweight
• Bodyweight Squat 30% Bodyweight
• Jump Squat 30% BodyweightIntermediate
• Pistol Squat 30% BodyweightProfessional

Exercise illustrations and data by RepDB (repdb.co), used under licence.