Bulgarian Split Squat

The Bulgarian split squat is the bridge between regular squats and true single-leg strength. You stand a couple of feet in front of a bench, rest the top of one foot on it behind you, and squat down on the front leg. Because your rear leg is supported but not really pushing, the front leg ends up doing around 80% of the work — close enough to a single-leg squat that you can build the strength needed for pistol squats without needing their balance demands yet.

Expect these to humble you. Most people who can rep out 20 bodyweight squats will gas out at 8 Bulgarians per side. That's the point — you're finally loading one leg at a time.

How to do it

Stand about a leg's length in front of a bench, chair, or couch. Place the top of one foot behind you on the bench. Your front foot should be far enough ahead that your shin stays roughly vertical at the bottom of the squat. Squat down on the front leg until your back knee lightly kisses the floor, then drive through the whole front foot to stand back up.

Target

3 sets of 8 reps per leg with full depth (back knee to the floor).

Key tips

• Front foot far enough forward that your knee doesn't drift past your toes at the bottom
• Lower under control until your back knee nearly touches the ground
• Keep your torso upright, chest proud — don't fold forward
• If balance is hard, hold onto a wall or doorframe lightly with one hand at first
• Feet roughly hip-width apart (laterally), not stacked on a tightrope

Progression

Before this: own 3×15 clean Full Squats. Add a pause at the bottom of the full squat for extra quad work if the jump feels big.

Next step: once 3×8 per leg feels comfortable, take the back leg off the bench entirely and work toward the Pistol Squat in Level 4 — either by squatting onto a bench or using a light assist to stand up.