Dumbbell Somersault 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.

HOW TO PERFORM

Set Up the Foundation: Place two weight plates or a slant board on the floor. Prop your heels up to allow your knees to travel far forward smoothly. Take a narrow stance.
Secure the Load: Grab a dumbbell with a neutral grip. You can hold it straight down between your legs or pin it against the upper thighs/hips to secure it.
Descend Deeply: Lower yourself by bending entirely through the knees. Let your knees drive forward over your toes as your hips sink down into a deep squat.
The "Somersault" Extension: Instead of standing straight back up normally, push back through your legs while letting your hips rise up first and your torso tilt forward slightly under strict control.
5. Maintain Tension: Keep a soft bend in your knees at the top to preserve constant quad engagement before dropping directly back down into the next repetition.

Never stand up or lock the knees at the top. The whole point is that tension never leaves the quads, and standing hands the work back to the hips.
Start with no weight at all if your knees are unhappy, with a slow tempo and a short range, and add range before you add load.
It loads the quads hard without loading the spine, which makes it a finisher: high reps at the end of a leg day rather than a main lift.

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.