Really Awesome Article on My Favorite “Home Workout” Squat

The Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat (I'll just call it RFE Split-squat from here on) out is one of my *favorite* squats!

It's arguably the best squat for someone who works out at home, and deosn't have access to a squat rack.  Legendary strength coach Mike Boyle puts RFE Split Squats ahead of barbell back squats for athletes anyway.  And at Perform Better he talked a lot about how as clients get older, his team moves them away from barbell squats and deadlifts and more towards RFE Split Squats and single leg deadlifts.

From an FMS standpoint, RFE Split-squats are a great way to train the split stance pattern, if you break up your workouts like that.

Where RFE Split-squats Fit in a Gym Workout

For my clients, usually, I'll break up lower body movements like this:

Workout A

Barbell Deadlift 

RFE Split-squats – split stance

Workout B

Barbell Front-squat

Single Leg Deadlift – single leg

So on Workout A we're getting a bilateral stance heavy barbell deadlift, and then a split-stance squat.  Then on Workout B we're getting a bilateral stance heavy barbell squat, and then a single leg deadlift.

So sometimes I'm looking at it like a way to get in split-stance and single leg patterns.  And sometimes I look at it like I want to alternate the loading, heavy squat vs. lighter deadlift and vice versa.

Anyway, I'm getting way off topic.  Point is, I'm a huge fan of RFE Split-squats, and use them in a number of scenarios.

And probably the biggest scenario I use them for is just that a client works out at home and still needs a hard squatting exercise.

Keeping the Ribs Down

This article on RFE Split-squats is *awesome*.  In fact, just the part on bracing your core and keeping your ribs down is worth the price of admission, check it out:

http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/rfess-mfe-rear-foot-elevated-split-squats-made-everyone/