How To Do A Cossack Squat

It may not be easy at first, but the benefits are very much worth it, so here’s how to build up to it:

Bit by bit…

Step by step:

1. Split squat ankle rocks: lift the toes of your front foot, raise the heel of your back leg, and shift your weight forwards and backwards, to warm up your ankles and challenge your balance.
2. Narrow squat heel lifts: bend your knees into a narrow squat and alternate lifting each heel to mobilize your ankles, while stabilizing your body in the squat position.
3. Rear-leg calf stretch: extend one leg back until you feel a stretch in your calf, then lift your heel slightly, to intensify the stretch through the back of your lower leg.
4. Pulsating sumo squats: take a wide stance with your toes turned out, lower into a sumo squat, and pulse up and down, to warm up your adductors and open your hips.
5. Wide lateral weight shifts: keep your legs wide and shift your weight side to side while bending the knee of the working leg and keeping the opposite leg straighter, to prepare your hips for the cossack squat pattern.
6. Cossack position practice: shift deeply to one side, bend that knee, keep your opposite leg straight with your toes pointing upwards, and alternate sides while controlling the position.
7. Supported lateral shifts: put yoga blocks in front of you, keep your legs wide, and do deeper side-to-side shifts, using the blocks for balance and a greater range of motion.
8. Supported deep squats: put yoga blocks in front of you, sink into your deepest squat with control, then stand back up, to build strength entering and exiting the bottom position.
9. Floor adductor and hamstring stretch: bend one knee and extend your other leg to the side while lowering your hips to stretch your inner thigh, then straighten your bent knee, to shift the stretch into your hamstring.
10. Heel-elevated deep squat: place a thin block or book under your heel and use blocks or a chair for support while lowering into a deep squat, to access deeper ranges when ankle mobility is limited.
11. Heel-elevated cossack hold: keep the heel elevation, shift into a deep cossack squat with one knee bent and your other leg straight with your toes pointing upwards, and hold the position.
12. Full cossack squat: remove all supports and shift side to side into a deep cossack squat using only your strength and mobility, while maintaining control at the bottom position.

Note: if you don’t have yoga blocks, something similarly-sized will do, and it can also simply be a conveniently-positioned surface such as a table or chair.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations in a follow-along fashion, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

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Tight Hips? Stiff Back? These 5 Exercises Improve Everything ← cossack squats are in this shortlist!

Take care!