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How to do it
- Stand with your feet well outside shoulder width and toes pointing forward.
- Brace your abdominals and lift your chest tall.
- Shift your weight over one leg and bend that knee, sitting the hips back and down.
- Keep the other leg straight and let its foot roll onto the heel with the toes up.
- Descend only as far as your hips and ankles allow with the loaded heel flat.
- Push through the bent leg to return to center, then repeat on the other side.
Common mistakes
- Arching the lower back to reach depth, which loads the lumbar spine instead of the hips.
- Letting the heel of the squatting leg lift, which is an ankle mobility limit, not a strength one.
- Bending the extended leg, which removes the adductor and hamstring stretch.
- Rushing the transition between sides, which loses control at the deepest position.
Muscles worked
- Secondary
- AbsGlutesHamstrings
Good to know
- What muscles does the Cossack Squat work?
- Mainly the adductors and quads. It also works the abs, glutes and hamstrings.
- What equipment do you need for the Cossack Squat?
- None. It is a bodyweight exercise.
- Is the Cossack Squat good for beginners?
- GymVim rates it intermediate. For a beginner-rated exercise on the same muscle and movement, see the Goblet Squat Prying Hold.