Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)
The Bulgarian split squat: the top of the back foot rests on a bench, shifting more of the load onto the front leg.
Split squat and lunge family
Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)
DemandMedium
Equipment requiredA bench or box
Muscle focusQuads · Glutes · Hamstrings · Adductors
Loading the 3D figure…
Watch it bigger, and flip through similar moves, in the studio.Open in the studio
Source-researched guide. Clinical review is pending.
How to move
- Stand facing away from a bench and rest the top of the back foot on it, the front foot well ahead.
- Lower until the front thigh is about level with the floor and the back knee nearly reaches it, the front knee bending over the foot.
- Drive up through the front foot. Finish all the reps on one side before changing.
Form cues
- Do not let the front knee cave inward.
- Keep the trunk only slightly forward.
Practice and cautions
No universal dose is assigned. Choose a manageable amount for your current capacity, leave room for controlled repetitions, and allow recovery. A clinician’s individual plan takes priority.
Lower the rear foot height if the trailing knee or the front hip pinches. This is movement education, not an assessment or treatment prescription. Stop for sharp or increasing pain, dizziness, numbness or tingling; seek individual guidance for symptoms, injury or restrictions.
Sources and review status
Sources support the educational description; they do not establish that this exercise is suitable for you.
No variation is labeled clinically validated.
What it works
Muscles
Main: Quads, Glutes. Also: Hamstrings, Adductors.
Anatomy: Sartorius, Quadriceps, Rectus femoris, Vastus medialis, Vastus lateralis, Gluteus maximus.
Equipment
A bench or box
Level
Intermediate. See the easier and harder options above.
Workouts that use it
- Leg day workout (gym) · 55 min
- Glute workout (gym) · 50 min
- Strength workout for runners (gym) · 45 min
- Strength workout for runners at home · 40 min
- Dumbbell leg workout B: single-leg and hinge · 45 min
- Ski fitness workout · 40 min
- Learn to lunge: split squat to walking lunge · 25 min
- Squat challenge workout · 15 min
Show all 36 workoutsShow fewer workouts
- Basketball strength and jump workout · 45 min
- Strength workout for fast bowlers · 40 min
- Netball strength and landing workout · 35 min
- Throwing arm strength workout · 35 min
- Strength workout for American football: power, legs, upper body, hamstrings and neck · 55 min
- Off-ice hockey workout: jumps, legs, groins and trunk · 50 min
- Strength workout for field hockey: legs, hamstrings, groins and trunk · 45 min
- Strength workout for triathletes: heavy legs, calves, pulling and trunk · 50 min
- Strength and landing workout for skateboarders: legs, ankles, wrists and core · 45 min
- Vertical jump workout: landings, jumps and strength · 40 min
- Squash strength and injury prevention · 35 min
- Table tennis strength and footwork workout · 40 min
- Strength and landing workout for snowboarders: legs, trunk rotation, landings and wrists · 45 min
- Strength workout for mountain bikers: heavy trunk work, legs, pulling and grip · 50 min
- Strength and landing workout for cheerleaders: legs, shoulders, trunk, wrists and landings · 50 min
- Strength workout for lacrosse: power, legs, hamstrings, groins and rotation · 50 min
- Strength workout for Gaelic football and hurling: drop jumps and sprints, legs, hamstrings and groins · 55 min
- Off-ice workout for figure skaters: landings, jumps, legs, hips, ankles and trunk · 45 min
- Strength and hamstring workout for sprinters and hurdlers: the athletics prevention programme, Nordic curls and heavy legs · 50 min
- Strength workout for handball players: jumps, barbell lifts, Shoulder Control, Nordics and Copenhagens · 55 min
- Strength workout for Australian football: sprints, lifts, Nordics, Copenhagens and neck strength · 55 min
- Windsurf and kitesurf strength workout: landings, legs, pulling, grip and trunk · 50 min
- Parkour strength and landing workout: landings, precision jumps, rolls, climb-up strength, legs and calves · 50 min
- Strength workout for spin classes: legs, jumps for bone, back, neck and shoulders · 45 min
- Squat strength workout: heavy sets, pause squats and single-leg work · 60 min
- Glute session A: bridges to hip thrusts, split squats and side-hip work · 20 min
- Jumping lunge progression: from split squats to switch jumps · 30 min
- Agility workout: change direction, land and react · 30 min
Pain guides that use it
Part of a staged plan, with when to get help first.
- Hip impingement (FAI): exercise first, and what to expect
- Runner's knee (patellofemoral pain): exercises that help
- Stress fractures of the foot, shin, thigh and hip: recovery and getting back to running
- Quad strain (pulled thigh muscle): exercises from the first days to kicking
- PCL injury (posterior cruciate ligament): recovery, bracing and exercises
- Hip pain when squatting: the pinch at the front of the hip, finding your stance and building back
- Knee pain when running: what's likely, what to change in your running today and how to build back
- Knee pain when cycling: where it hurts, what to change on the bike today and how to build back
Show all 26 pain guidesShow fewer pain guides
- Knee pain when swimming (breaststroker's knee): the kick, the inner knee and how to build back
- Thigh pain: a strain or dead leg, the hip and back, a burning nerve, a clot and how to build back
- Hip pain in men: impingement when young, arthritis later, the back, a hernia and the signs to check
- Knee pain when lunging: the kneecap, the tendon, the back knee, stride and depth, and what helps
- Hip pain when doing lunges: the front of the hip, the joint, the outer hip, the groin and stride
- Knee pain in Bulgarian split squats: the front knee, the back knee, stance, depth and what helps
- Groin pain when doing squats: the inner thigh, the hip crease, a hernia, stance and depth
- Lower back pain when doing lunges: the arch, the trunk lean, the back hip, stance and balance
- Hip pain on the leg press: the pinch in the hip crease, depth, foot position, the groin and swaps
- Knee pain on the elliptical: the kneecap, stride and resistance, foot position and what helps
- Knee pain on a rowing machine: the catch, the kneecap, the back of the knee and the foot stretcher
- Ankle pain when doing lunges: a pinch at the front, the back leg, the outer ankle and your stride
- Hip pain when doing Bulgarian split squats: the back hip, a front-hip pinch, the outer hip and groin
- Lower back pain when doing Bulgarian split squats: the arch, the lean, the load, balance and swaps
- Back pain from bowling: fast bowling in cricket, young bowlers, ten-pin, and what helps
- Shoulder pain from bowling: fast and spin bowling, throwing in the field, ten-pin, and what helps
- Knee pain from bowling: the fast bowler's front knee, the ten-pin slide, lawn bowls and what helps
- Knee pain from netball: landings, the ACL, kneecap and tendon pain, growing knees and what helps
Guides that use it
- Progressive overload guide
- How to build muscle guide
- Pistol squats guide
- How to squat guide
- Lunges guide
- Bulgarian split squats guide
- Compound vs isolation guide
- Jump higher guide
Show all 62 guidesShow fewer guides
- Run faster guide
- Sprint faster guide
- Step-ups guide
- How to grow your glutes guide
- How to get bigger legs guide
- Increase your squat guide
- Walking lunges guide
- Split squats guide
- Reverse lunges guide
- Depth jumps guide
- Broad jumps guide
- Skater squats guide
- Jumping lunges guide
- Hip dips guide
- How to bulk up guide
- Muscle imbalances guide
- Build muscle at home guide
- Strengthen your knees guide
- Explosive power guide
- Strengthen your hips guide
- Stronger without getting bigger guide
- Strengthen your legs guide
- Strengthen your quads guide
- Build muscle as a woman guide
- Toned legs guide
- Running longer guide
- Running form guide
- Agility guide
- Running uphill guide
- Shrimp squats guide
- Running guide
- Football guide
- Skiing and snowboarding guide
- Basketball guide
- Cricket guide
- Netball guide
- Baseball and softball guide
- American football guide
- Ice hockey guide
- Field hockey guide
- Triathlon guide
- Skateboarding guide
- Squash guide
- Table tennis guide
- Snowboarding guide
- Mountain biking guide
- Cheerleading guide
- Lacrosse guide
- Figure skating guide
- Sprinting and hurdles guide
- Australian rules football guide
- Windsurfing and kitesurfing guide
- Parkour and freerunning guide
- Spin classes guide
Similar moves
3D demoBarbell Bulgarian split squatAdvanced · A barbell + A bench or box
3D demoBarbell side split squatIntermediate · A barbell
3D demoSmith machine split squatIntermediate · Strength machine
3D demoSplit squat with dumbbellsIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoHeel-elevated deep squat (slant board squat)Intermediate · A step
3D demoBodyweight squatBeginner · No equipmentBrowse more
Questions people ask
What muscles does the Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat) work?
Mainly the quads and glutes, with help from the hamstrings and adductors.
What equipment do I need for the Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)?
A bench or box.
Is the Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat) good for beginners?
It is graded intermediate. If it is too hard right now, start with the Reverse lunge.
What is an easier alternative to the Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)?
Try the Reverse lunge or the Walking lunge. Both are written steps in the same progression.
How do I make the Rear-foot-elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat) harder?
Progress to the Split squat jump or the Suspended split squat. Follow that guide’s technique and any stated timing.