Weighted Cossack Squats

How to do the Weighted Cossack Squats

1. 1Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and toes angled slightly outward. Hold a dumbbell, kettlebell, or weight plate at chest height with both hands.
2. 2Shift your weight toward your right foot and begin bending your right knee, lowering your hips toward the right side.
3. 3Keep your right foot flat on the floor with your knee tracking directly over your toes as you descend.
4. 4Extend your left leg fully as you lower, keeping the left foot flat or allowing the heel to rise if ankle mobility requires it.
5. 5Lower until your right thigh reaches parallel to the floor or as deep as your hip mobility allows while your torso stays upright and your back remains flat.
6. 6Pause briefly at the bottom, then drive through your right heel to return to the wide starting stance.
7. 7Perform the same movement to the left side to complete one full repetition.
8. 8Alternate sides for the desired number of reps, maintaining control through both the descent and the return.

Form tips

• Keep the heel of the squatting leg pressed into the floor throughout — letting it rise shifts load forward onto the knee and away from the hips and adductors.
• Track the knee of the working leg in line with your toes, not caving inward, to protect the joint and keep the inner thigh engaged.
• Hold the weight close to your sternum rather than extended in front of you so your center of mass stays over the working leg.
• Limit depth to what your hip mobility genuinely allows — a rounded lower back under load is a sign you have reached your range ceiling.
• Control the descent deliberately; a slow eccentric phase builds more adductor strength than dropping quickly into the bottom position.

Common mistakes

• Letting the knee of the squatting leg cave inward instead of staying aligned with the toes, which stresses the medial knee structures and reduces adductor activation.
• Allowing the heel to lift off the floor, which shifts load onto the knee and shortens the effective range of motion in the hips and glutes.
• Rounding the lower back at depth — the lumbar spine is under compression in this position, so depth should be limited until mobility improves.
• Loading too heavily before the movement pattern is established, which produces compensations such as a forward lean or early heel rise rather than building true depth.
• Rushing through the return phase and losing tension between reps, which reduces time under tension in the adductors and increases the risk of a groin strain.

Frequently asked questions