Bulgarian Split Squat
The Bulgarian split squat is a single-leg squat with your rear foot up on a bench: holding a dumbbell in each hand, you lower your back knee toward the floor and drive back up through the front leg. It trains the quads and glutes of the front leg hard, with the hamstrings and the side of the hip helping, and it lets you build leg strength with much less weight on your back than a squat.
How to do the Bulgarian split squat
Stand about a long stride in front of a bench, a dumbbell in each hand, and place the top of your rear foot on the bench behind you.
Set your front foot flat, toes pointing forward, so that at the bottom your front shin stays close to vertical or tilts slightly forward.
Brace your midsection and keep your chest up, with a slight forward lean from the hips.
Sink straight down, front knee and hip bending together, until your back knee is just above the floor.
Drive through the whole front foot to stand back up, keeping your front knee in line with your toes.
Finish all reps on one leg, then switch sides and do the same number with the other leg.
Bench height and foot position
Use a flat bench or a step at about knee height. Stand with your back to it, a long stride in front, and rest the top of your rear foot on the bench; laces down is more comfortable for most people than balancing on the toes. Your feet should be about hip width apart side to side, not on one line, so you stand on a wide base. Test the distance with a bodyweight rep: at the bottom, your front shin should be close to vertical or tilt slightly forward, and your front heel should stay flat on the floor.
Torso angle and depth
A slight forward lean from the hips is normal and keeps your weight over the front foot. A longer stance and a bigger lean let the hip bend further and stretch the glutes more; a shorter stance and a more upright torso let the front knee travel further forward over the toes. Both are fine, as long as you keep the same setup from session to session. Go down until your back knee is just above the floor: in one study, glute, hamstring and quad activity in this exercise was highest in the bottom part of the movement.
Holding the dumbbells
Let the dumbbells hang at your sides with straight arms and your shoulders down. When the dumbbells get heavy, your grip may give out before your legs; lifting straps or a single heavier dumbbell held at the chest, goblet style, solve that. Keep the load the same on both sides of your body, so your hips stay level.
Bracing, breathing and balance
Take a breath and brace before you lower, breathe out on the way up. Fix your eyes on a point on the floor a few steps ahead: balance gets easier when your head stays still. If you wobble, slow the descent and pause briefly at the bottom; balance usually improves with practice.
Tempo and range
Lower yourself under control, touch the bottom position lightly, without resting the back knee on the floor, and drive up with intent through the whole front foot. Do all reps for one leg, then switch. Start with your weaker leg and do the same number of reps with the other leg, so both sides keep pace.
Muscles worked by the Bulgarian split squat
- Primary
- Quads
- Glutes
- Secondary
- Hamstrings
- Abductors
The quads and the glutes of the front leg do most of the work: the quads straighten the knee, the glutes extend the hip, and both work hardest near the bottom. The hamstrings help extend the hip, and the gluteus medius on the side of the hip keeps your pelvis level and your knee on track. In an EMG study that took each set close to failure, the rear-foot-elevated split squat matched the regular split squat and the single-leg squat for glute and quad activity and asked more of the hamstrings than the regular split squat.
Common Bulgarian split squat mistakes
Standing too close to the bench
With the front foot too close, your heel lifts and the knee shoots far forward. Move your front foot out until you can lower straight down.
Letting the front knee cave in
When the knee drifts inward, the hip stops doing its share and your balance suffers. Keep your front knee over your toes.
Pushing off the back leg
The rear foot only rests on the bench for balance. If you feel the back leg pushing, shift more of your weight onto the front foot.
Going only halfway down
Short reps let you use heavier dumbbells but skip the part where the glutes and quads work hardest. Lower until your back knee nearly touches the floor.
Uneven work between the legs
Doing fewer or sloppier reps on your weaker side keeps the gap open. Start with the weaker leg and match its reps on the other side.
How Muscla coaches the Bulgarian split squat
- End working sets with about two reps in the tank, two to three when you train for strength; beginners keep one more in reserve.
- Rest about 2 minutes between sets for strength and 90 seconds for every other goal. Count a set as both legs, then rest.
- When every set reaches the top of your rep range, add one step of about 5%, at least the smallest dumbbell step (2 kg or 5 lb): 12 kg dumbbells become 14 kg.
- Each set counts fully for your quads and half for your glutes. If you tell Muscla to spare your knees, it leaves split squats and other lunges out of your plan.
- After the last set, Muscla asks “How heavy was that?” Light adds weight, Good keeps the normal progression, Heavy holds it, At the limit holds it or takes off one step.
Bulgarian split squat sets, reps and rest
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8–12 | 2 min |
| Muscle | 6–10 → 8–12 | 90 s |
| Lose fat | 6–12 | 90 s |
| Fit | 8–12 | 90 s |
| Comeback | 8–12 | 90 s |
An arrow marks the range for the next 4-week block.
The Bulgarian split squat counts as a compound lift in Muscla: the same rep ranges as the big lifts for muscle, fat loss and fitness, 8 to 12 for strength, and shorter rests than the heavy lifts. Muscla plans warm-up sets for the first compound lift of each day and every heavy one, so a split squat after squats goes straight to working sets.
Estimate your Bulgarian split squat one-rep max
Filled in with example values. Replace them with yours.
Estimated 1RM
Brzycki 29.8 · Lombardi 29.5
Epley: 24 × (1 + 8 ÷ 30) = 30.4 kg
| Reps | Weight | % of 1RM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 kg | 100 % |
| 2 | 27.5 kg | 94 % |
| 3 | 27.5 kg | 91 % |
| 4 | 27.5 kg | 88 % |
| 5 | 25 kg | 86 % |
| 6 | 25 kg | 83 % |
| 7 | 25 kg | 81 % |
| 8 | 25 kg | 79 % |
| 9 | 22.5 kg | 77 % |
| 10 | 22.5 kg | 75 % |
| 11 | 22.5 kg | 73 % |
| 12 | 22.5 kg | 71 % |
Bulgarian split squat alternatives
- Dumbbell Lunge
- Dumbbell rear lunge
- Smith single leg split squat
- Dumbbell step-up
- Barbell lunge
- Barbell rear lunge
- Band step-up
- Split squats
- Forward lunge (male)
- Walking lunge
Bulgarian split squat questions
Are Bulgarian split squats as good as squats?
For leg strength, they can be: in a 5-week study with rugby players, rear-foot-elevated split squats improved back squat strength, 40-metre sprint time and agility as much as back squats did. They need far less weight on your back.
How heavy should the dumbbells be?
Muscla's first suggestion for a man new to training is about 0.1 times body weight per hand, rounded down to your dumbbells: 8 kg at 80 kg. If you get clearly more reps than planned in your first set, the app raises the weight for the remaining sets.
Why do I feel Bulgarian split squats in my back leg?
Usually the front foot is too close, or you are pushing off the bench. A stretch in the front of the back hip is normal; the work should come from the front leg.
Do Bulgarian split squats work the glutes or the quads more?
Both work hard. In a study of joint loads, the hip did more of the work than the knee in both the Bulgarian split squat and the back squat, and the knee moved through less range in the split squat.
How high should the bench be?
About knee height suits most people. If you cannot reach a good depth or your rear hip feels strained, use a lower step.
Train it with Muscla
Muscla plans your sets, reps and rest, and sets the next weight after every session.
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Sources
- Mausehund L, Skard AE, Krosshaug T. Muscle activation in unilateral barbell exercises: implications for strength training and rehabilitation. J Strength Cond Res. 2019;33 Suppl 1:S85-S94. PubMed
- McCurdy K, Walker J, Kelly C, Polinski M. Hip and knee extensor activation during the hip thrust and rear-foot-elevated split squat in trained females. J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(5):1201-1207. PubMed
- Speirs DE, Bennett MA, Finn CV, Turner AP. Unilateral vs. bilateral squat training for strength, sprints, and agility in academy rugby players. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(2):386-392. PubMed
- Mackey ER, Riemann BL. Biomechanical differences between the Bulgarian split-squat and back squat. Int J Exerc Sci. 2021;14(1):533-543. PubMed