Barbell Kneeling Squat
A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.
- Equipment
- Barbell
HOW TO PERFORM
- Set the rack pins low enough to take the bar on your upper back while kneeling, and put a pad under your knees.
- Kneel with the knees about hip width and the toes tucked under, then take the bar onto your upper back.
- Brace and sit the hips back toward your heels, keeping the chest up.
- Drive the hips forward hard to return to tall kneeling, squeezing the glutes at the top.
FORM TIPS
- The knees stay on the floor, so the quads do little and the glutes do almost all the work. Treat it as a hip lockout drill.
- Return the bar to the pins at kneeling height rather than trying to stand up with it.
TARGET MUSCLES
Primary
- Glutes
Secondary
- Lower Back
- Adductors
- Abs
- Hamstrings
Log it in Ægir Iron to track your PRs and estimated 1RM, and to see the sets each muscle gets every week. Free for individual lifters.