Chair Squat
Also works: Calves · Glutes · Hamstrings
A squat with the bar on your back and your feet walked roughly 45 cm forward of it, so you sit straight down as if into a chair rather than hinging over. The forward foot position keeps the shins vertical and the torso upright, which spares the lower back and hammers the quads.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Set the hooks so the bar sits at roughly mid-chest height and you have to dip under it, not reach up.
- Rack the bar across your rear delts, hands just outside the shoulders, elbows pulled down and the bar squeezed into your back.
- Unrack by extending the legs, then walk the feet forward about 45 cm — far enough that your shins will stay vertical.
- Set a shoulder-width stance with the toes turned out around 15-20 degrees.
- Take a full breath into the belly and brace hard before the first rep; the upright torso does not brace itself.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Breathe in and brace standing, hold through the descent and the drive, exhale at lockout. Three seconds down, no bounce, up as fast as you can keep the torso vertical.
Before you load it
- Set the safety pins just below your bottom position. With the feet forward you cannot bail backwards the way you can in a free squat, so the pins are the only exit.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Start with the empty 20 kg bar and find the foot position before you add plates. Expect to use 60-70% of your back squat once the pattern is grooved. Add weight only when every rep breaks 90 degrees at the knee with the torso vertical and the heels flat — otherwise add a rep instead.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Reset with the feet about 45 cm out and check from the side: the shins should be near vertical at the bottom and the whole foot flat. Move in 5 cm steps until that is true.
Cue hips straight down between the heels and film one set from the side. If the torso angle changes through the rep, the feet are too far back.
Start at around 60% of your back squat and add 2.5 kg a week. This variation gives the quads no help from the hips, so honest weights are much lighter.
One breath taken and held at the top, released only after lockout. An upright torso under load depends entirely on that pressure.
Why bother
Moving your feet out in front of the bar changes the geometry of the lift. Your hips travel down rather than back, your torso stays close to vertical, and the shear demand on the lower back drops sharply. What is left is a knee-dominant squat that the quads have to finish on their own.
That geometry also means you cannot cheat with a good-morning. In a back squat, a heavy rep gets rescued by the hips shooting up and the chest dropping. With the feet forward there is nowhere for the hips to go — either the knees extend or the rep stalls. It is honest feedback about what your quads can actually do.
Where it fits
Use it as a main quad movement when your lower back is beaten up from deadlifts, or as a second squat pattern later in a leg day at 60-70% of what you back squat. Three to four sets of 8-12 works well. It is not a replacement for the back squat if you compete in one; it removes the very trunk demand that makes the free squat valuable.
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Asked and answered
How far forward should my feet be?
About 45 cm, but the real test is the shin angle. At the bottom your shins should be close to vertical, your heels flat, and your torso upright with no forward lean. Too far forward and you slide down the bar or the heels lift; too far back and it turns into an ordinary back squat with an awkward stance.
Can this replace the back squat?
Not if you care about the back squat itself. The forward foot position deliberately removes the trunk and hip demand, which is exactly what makes the free squat valuable. Use it as a quad-focused variation, a way to keep training legs when your lower back is fried, or a second movement after the main squat.
Is this the same as a hack squat?
Close in effect, different in constraint. A hack squat machine fixes the bar path for you; here you keep the bar path honest yourself, which means the setup matters and the loads are lower. If a hack squat machine is free, it is the more stable option for pure quad volume.
Should I go deeper than 90 degrees?
Only if your heels stay down and your lower back stays neutral. Because the shins are vertical, extra depth comes from the pelvis tucking under rather than the knees travelling, and that tuck is where the lower back starts to round. Just below 90 degrees at the knee is the useful stopping point here.