stop messing up this exercise
The Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat (RFESS) or often referred to as the Bulgarian Split Squat is a very popular lower body strength exercise.
From a position standpoint, it’s fairly specific for pedaling a bike.
You get a lot of the benefits of single-leg training but with that back foot on a bench, you still get a lot of stability.
So this means that you can still lift a serious amount of weight and you can do it with decent speed.
That makes it a good choice for building power.
But, this exercise is often butchered.
I know because I have the tendency to be sloppy with my technique.
I’ve seen clients and I myself in videos mess it up in a bunch of different ways.
If you’re not familiar with the exercise, below is a video I found on YouTube to give you a bring you up to speed.
It looks pretty simple.
One foot on a bench. One foot on the floor. Sit down and bend the knee. Go H.A.M!
But wait, there are a few things to consider to get the most out of this exercise.
First, do you have the mobility to do this?
Many of us can get into this position, bend the ankle, knee, and flex the hip to lower down. But if you look closely, a lot of people will cheat somewhere to get into this bottom position.
Watch out for these things
The back leg is something that I missed for far too long.
Although it felt like I was aligned over my front foot, I really wasn’t.
If you look at my back leg it rotates out when I lower down too far. My hip on the front leg is higher than the back.
The hips wouldn’t be facing straight ahead and there would be a twist in the spine.
Pay attention to the back leg.
Keep the pockets of your pants level.
Only move through the range of motion you have with your hip.
Many people will do RFESS with their feet spread too far apart.
A lot of people wouldn’t have the hip mobility to pull this off well.
This puts a lot more weight on the back leg in an awkward position.
I like to start with my front foot just slightly in front of my hip.
Another mistake would be losing full foot contacts on the front foot.
You want to push through your heel, just behind the big toe, and small toe.
Above is a video on my YouTube page where I go into a little more detail and show you a couple modifications for working around mobility issues. While you’re there, go ahead and subscribe to my page if you would.