Exercise library

How to do the Weighted Sissy Squat

A expert compound exercise using barbell, working the quadriceps.

Primary musclesQuadriceps
Secondary musclesCalves, Glutes, Hamstrings
EquipmentBarbell
LevelExpert
TypeCompound
ForcePush

Steps

  1. Standing upright, with feet at shoulder width and toes raised, use one hand to hold onto the beams of a squat rack and the opposite arm to hold a plate on top of your chest. This is your starting position.
  2. As you use one arm to hold yourself, bend at the knees and slowly lower your torso toward the ground by bringing your pelvis and knees forward. Inhale as you go down and stop when your upper and lower legs almost create a 90-degree angle. Hold the stretch position for a second.
  3. After your one second hold, use your thigh muscles to bring your torso back up to the starting position. Exhale as you move up.
  4. Repeat for the recommended amount of times.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the weighted sissy squat to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.