CategoriesExercises You Should Be Doing

It’s been a minute since I’ve shared an Exercise You Should Be Doing.

Anyone who’s familiar with this series or has kept tabs on the types of exercises/movements I gravitate towards will dig this one.

Which is to say: It’s not flashy, it’s not sexy, and it doesn’t take a PhD to set up or perform.

Copyright: gekaskr / 123RF Stock Photo

Goblet Split Squat w/ Coil

 

Who Did I Steal it From? – My coach, Greg Robins, plugged this into my program this month. When I saw it, at first I was like “tha fuck!?!”

What’s up with this foo-fooey exercise?

But then I performed a few sets and was like “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.”

I like it a lot

(cue Dumb & Dumber voiceover).

What Does It Do? – Well, like any single leg variation it challenges balance, core/hip stability, and helps to “temper” any strength imbalances between one leg or the other. Too, it gives the spine a bit of a reprieve from aggressive axial loading.

What separates this variation, however, is the addition of the COIL (or rotation of the upper torso). This subtle tweak offers a bit of a varying training stimulus in that it takes us out of the traditional up/down, forward/back nature of exercise we’re accustomed to and adds rotation into the mix; or transverse plane motion.

The twisting action also leads to a bit more internal rotation of the front hip which feels divine (unless you’re someone with a history of FAI; in that you’ll probably want to avoid this one).

As a quick aside I had my wife perform this exercise the other day after she tweaked her lower back/SI joint and she loved it. As noted in THIS article written by Dr. Erika Mundinger on this site a few years back, introducing rotation can be a game changer for those with chronic SI joint issues.

Key Coaching Cues – This exercise is pretty self-explanatory.

  • Assume a split squat position.1
  • Whichever foot is in front rotate the opposite shoulder TOWARDS that direction making sure to keep the torso upright and shoulders back.
  • Perform the drill “squatting” up and down while maintaining the same torso position throughout. Perform  allotted reps (6-10) and then switch sides.
  • My god, you’re so hot.
  1. One thing to note, and something I like to cue, is to try to push/pull the feet away from one another. Meaning, the front foot is trying to “push” the floor forward and the back foot is trying to “pull” the floor back. Collectively, this action elicits a bit more torque/tension in the hips.