Cossack Squat
How to Do It
Stand wide, feet ~1.5× shoulder width, toes slightly out. Shift onto one leg, bending that knee and sitting the hips down and back while the trailing leg stays straight with toes up. Keep the planted heel flat and chest tall; descend until the working thigh is near parallel, then drive through the heel back to center. Alternate.
Why It Works
Loads the working hip into deep flexion and abduction while the trailing adductors lengthen under tension (eccentric), developing single-leg strength, frontal-plane control, and hip/ankle mobility through a long range a bilateral squat can’t train.
Hockey Transfer
Mirrors the wide, laterally loaded position of the stride and crossovers; strong, mobile adductors and single-leg control improve push-off power and protect against groin/hip strains, among the most common hockey injuries.
Coaching Cues
- "Heel glued down"
- "chest proud"
- "sit between the legs, not forward"
Common Mistakes
Heel lifting; planted knee caving in; chest collapsing forward; not reaching honest depth
Progression / Regression
goblet DB or 3-sec eccentric
hold a pole/TRX or reduce depth
Primary Muscles
Energy System
Strength/neural (low-rep)
Put it to work
on the ice.
This exercise is part of a fully periodized 12-week off-ice program — built by a sport scientist who coaches at the national level.
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