Bulgarian Split Squat

Exercise technique:

You are standing with your feet hip-width apart. One foot in front of the other far enough apart to be able to put one knee on the ground, the one behind on a bench.

Find your balance and stabilize it. You have a straight back, in no case should it be rounded. Fix your shoulder blades, gaze forward (fixing a point).

Starting the movement while standing, you flex the knee. The knee placed in front should never bend more than 90 degrees, that is to say, it should hardly exceed the tip of the foot.

Inhale on the descent and exhale on the ascent.

Muscles worked:

Main: glutes, quadriceps
Secondary: hamstrings, calves, lumbar

By spreading the legs more or less apart, the exercise will locate the muscle fibers differently; thus, by spreading the legs only slightly, the work of the quadriceps will be favored while a “big gap” will preferentially request the glutes and hamstrings.

Bulgarian Split Squat Interest
Lunges with foot on bench allow you to work the thighs.

However, lunges are an exercise requiring a certain agility (balance) which makes it an exercise where you cannot really force. They are therefore to be used in addition to other movements.

Bulgarian Split Squat variants

The dumbbell lunges with stand on bench can be performed at the barbell. They will then require more agility on this exercise.

Danger / contraindication

The exercise is demanding on the knee joint, especially if the walk is short. We advise you to precede it with several sets of leg extension seated and leg curl lying.

If you experience pain, feel free to reduce the range of your knee flexion so that you can perform the movement without pain. The maximum stride length is, when your thigh is parallel to the ground, that it forms a right angle with your calf.

In case of back problem, it is not recommended to practice lunges with foot on bench.

Be careful with this exercise if you have major ankle instability problems.