Kickback Squat: Exercise How-To

When you are working out, you will find that the standard exercises that most everyone knows have some positions that offer even more of a benefit. The squat is one exercise that almost everyone is familiar with and have done time and time again. However, the kickback squat takes this and alters it to make it work even more muscles and do this. The good news is that this is not going to take any equipment and you can do it at home as long as you have a wide space to do this movement.

What is a squat kickback and what muscles does it work?

A kickback squat is one of those exercises that is going to add a new level of difficulty to a regular exercise. However, it does have a degree of difficulty associated with it, so be sure that you are ready to do this. But, what muscles does this work and why should you include it into your workout routine?

The main muscles that the kickback squat is going to work are the glutes, hips and thighs. However, it also works the lower back, core and calves. When you combine this into your workout routine, you will find that this workout can actually become a HIIT workout routine since it does use strength training along with movement to get your heart rate up.

For those who are new to this exercise, be sure that you have your balance. While performing this there are times that you are balancing on one leg, which can result in injury if you are not careful. There are some people who place a high back chair near them to grab onto if they were to lose their balance. This is something to consider if you are worried about this. Just be sure that you place the chair far enough away that you are not going to kick it behind you or hit this when you do the squat.

How to do a kickback squat?

So, now that you realize what muscles group that a kickback squat can work, how should you go about doing this? Believe it or not, this is a rather simple exercise that you are going to find it easy enough to do once you learn the moves.

To start, stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Then lower into a squat. As you stand up from the squat, transfer your weight to one leg and kick back with the opposite leg. Return to the starting position of standing with your legs a bit wider than shoulder-width. Then lower into the squat position, and do the exercise with the opposite leg.

While you are doing this exercise be sure that you are keeping your hips back and your core engaged. Your toes should remain pointed as they were, and the movement should be fluid and continuous, from one leg to the next. For added benefit, be sure that when you kick back your leg that you tighter your glutes as much as you can while still keeping your core engaged, this is going to help you maintain your balance.

You are going to find that just started you may only be able to do one set, where you work each leg at least 5 times each. However, as you get stronger you can add more of these into your routine.

This is an easy exercise to add into the workout that you already have that is going to use your own body weight as resistance, so it will be a great workout. When combined with other exercises, you can easily have a full body workout that you do at home in the spare time that you have!