Barbell Side Split Squat
Also works: Calves · Hamstrings · Lower Back
A wide-stance lateral squat under a back-racked bar: you shift your weight sideways onto one bent leg while the other stays long and straight. It loads the adductors of the trailing leg through a stretch almost nothing else in a barbell programme reaches, and that groin stretch is both the point and the risk.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Rack the bar across the rear delts as for a back squat and walk out into clear floor.
- Set your feet roughly twice shoulder-width apart, both feet flat, toes turned out about 20 degrees.
- Angle the lead foot a little further out to the side so the knee has a line to travel along.
- Brace hard and set the ribs down. A wide stance under a bar tempts you to lean, and the brace is what stops it.
- Take one practice rep with the empty bar each session to check the trailing heel stays down.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Inhale as you shift sideways and down, hold the brace through the bottom, exhale as you return to centre. Three seconds down, one second pause, controlled return.
Before you load it
- Stop the set at the first sharp pull in the groin. Adductor strains at end range under a loaded bar take weeks, not days, to settle.
- Walk the bar out of the rack before you widen your stance — a wide stance inside the uprights leaves no room to step out of a failed rep.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start with the empty 20 kg bar, or bodyweight with your hands on your hips if the stance itself is a struggle. Roughly 25-35% of your back squat is a sensible working range. Add 2.5 kg only after you can hold the bottom for a full second on both sides with both heels flat.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Take three seconds to lower and pause for one count at the bottom. Loaded end range earns adaptation only when you control it — a bounce is how adductor strains happen.
Narrow the stance by 10 cm and stop the descent at the depth where the heel stays flat. Widen again over weeks as the adductors tolerate more length.
Push the hips back and sideways rather than down, and keep your eyes on a fixed point at head height. If the chest still drops, the bar is too heavy for the range you have.
Cap the working weight at about a third of your back squat and progress by adding reps and depth first. The limiting tissue here is the adductor at length, not the quad.
Why bother
Sitting sideways into one hip flexes and abducts it while the opposite adductor group is dragged to end range under load. Squats and lunges train the frontal plane almost not at all, which is why lifters who only move forwards and backwards pull groins the first time a sport asks them to shuffle sideways.
It is also a blunt mobility test. Most people cannot reach a bent knee near 90 degrees without the trailing heel peeling off the floor or the lower back rounding. That is the honest limit of the movement — you load whatever range you own today, and the range expands from doing it, not from stretching beforehand.
Where it fits
Accessory slot on a lower-body day, 3 sets of 8-10 per side, after your main squat. Sets in the 8-12 range with modest load do far more than heavy triples here — the tissue at end range wants repetition, not maximal effort. Once a week is plenty alongside any other single-leg work.
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Asked and answered
Is this the same as a Cossack squat?
Close, but not identical. A Cossack squat lets the trailing foot roll onto its heel with the toes up and generally goes deeper. This version keeps both feet flat and both toes forward-ish, which limits the depth but keeps the load line safer under a back-racked bar.
Should the trailing foot point forward or turn out?
Turn it out roughly 15-20 degrees, the same as the lead foot. A trailing foot forced to point dead ahead puts a twist through the knee at exactly the moment the adductor reaches length, and that is a worse deal than the small amount of stretch you gain. If you want the toes-up, heel-rolled trailing foot, you are doing a Cossack squat and you should not have a loaded bar on your back for it.
Will this help with groin pulls?
Loaded adductor work through range is one of the better-supported ways to reduce groin injury risk in field sports, and this is a reasonable way to do it. It is not a guarantee, and it only works if you train the range you actually get exposed to in your sport.
Should I use a barbell or hold a weight in front?
A goblet-style front load is easier to balance and lets most people reach more depth, so start there. Move to a back-racked bar when the stance is comfortable and you need more load than you can hold at your chest.