1. Drills
  2. Wrestling
  3. Conditioning

Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat

A split squat with the back foot on a bench. Strong single-leg work with your own body weight.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated October 30, 2026

Set up

Rest the top of your back foot on a knee-high bench.

Core: Medium. Steady, with no strain.

Ages
13 and up
Time
12 min
Players
Just you
Space
Yard or field
Bring
Bench or step
Level · skill
Advanced · Conditioning

The steps

How it works

  1. Rest the top of your back foot on a knee-high bench.
  2. Lower straight down until the front thigh is about level.
  3. Keep the front knee tracking over the foot.
  4. Push up; do 3 sets of 6 each leg.

Coaching point

Front heel heavy.

Safety: Only with a coach or trained adult watching. Light load only, never a maximal lift. Stop the set when form slips.

Make it fun

Play it, don't drill it

Game version

Tower build: take turns doing slow reps while your partner tells you how level you stay. Swap.

Challenge

Pick a level: Less (shallow), Core (medium), More (a slow count). Steady, with no strain.

Story

You are a castle guard standing tall.

My best

Beat your own count

Steady, with no strain. Only your own number counts: today against last time.

Practice makes progress

Print it now, or save it free

Free for families and teams

Save this drill to your child or team, free

Sign up and the free wrestling week for this age opens in your child's planner, kept to healthy limits. A coach can send this drill to the whole team as homework, and parents see every session logged.

14 days free for a family, no card · Running a team is always free

Does your child's coach know about this?

An email from you to the coach, with the words ready. Nothing is tracked and nobody is rewarded.