How to do it
- Hold a support for balance and rise onto the balls of your feet.
- Let the knees travel forward as you lean back, keeping hips and shoulders in one line.
- Lower until you feel a deep quad stretch, then pull yourself back up.
Cues that matter
- Hips stay extended the whole time — this is knee flexion only.
- Build up slowly; the knees need time to adapt.
Common mistakes
- Breaking at the hips and turning it into a squat.
- Adding load before mastering bodyweight.
Muscles worked
Primary
- Quads
- Rectus femoris
- Vastus medialis
Also works
- Core
Sets and reps
What to do with it depends on what you are training for. These are the ranges MuscleMap uses when it puts Sissy Squat in a session, with 75 seconds between sets.
- Strength
- 6–8 reps
- Build muscle
- 10–15 reps
- Endurance
- 15–25 reps
Same muscle, different kit
Movements that train the same part of the quads with different equipment — for a day the bodyweight is taken, or a gym that does not have one.