How to do the Cossack Squat (Warm-Up)
Step by step
- Stand with a wide stance, feet a bit wider than your shoulders and toes slightly out.
- Shift your weight to one side, bending that knee and sitting into the hip.
- Keep the other leg straight and both heels down as you sink.
- Push back to center and shift to the other side at an easy pace.
- Take short breaks whenever you need - this should warm you up, not wear you out.
The thing people get wrong
Keep both heels flat on the floor - if the bent-side heel lifts, take a smaller range until the hips loosen.
Coaching cue
Sit back into the hip and turn the toes of the straight leg up, keeping the chest lifted.
Stay safe
Ease down slowly; dropping fast into the bottom can strain the inner thigh.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Hold a wall or pole for support and only sink partway down.
- Harder: Sink lower and pause for a beat at the bottom of each side.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Hips, Glutes
- Secondary: Quads, Hamstrings
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.