Kneeling Barbell Squat
- Secondary muscles
- Glutes, Hamstrings, Calves
- Body part
- Upper Legs
- Position
- Kneeling
- Laterality
- Bilateral (both sides together)
- Category
- Strength
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Kneeling under the bar shrinks the squat to a short, strict range: you sit back toward your heels, then drive the hips forward to stand tall on your knees. Treat it as a specialty accessory - modest loads, always with padding under the knees - not a replacement for standing squats.
How to do the Kneeling Barbell Squat
- Start by kneeling on the ground with your knees hip-width apart and your toes pointing forward.
- Place a barbell across your shoulders, gripping it with an overhand grip and your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Engage your core and keep your chest lifted as you slowly lower your body down by bending your knees, keeping your back straight.
- Continue lowering until your thighs are parallel to the ground, or as low as you can comfortably go.
- Pause for a moment at the bottom, then push through your heels to return to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Screw the feet into the floor and spread it apart to keep the knees out and the arch of the foot from collapsing.
Muscles worked
Primary
Quads · Legs
The quads extend the knee and drive you out of the bottom, and front squats and close stance variations put more on them.
Secondary
- Glutes — The glutes extend the hip on the way up and take more of the load the deeper you go and the wider your stance.
- Hamstrings
- Calves
Common mistakes
- Knees caving inward — push the knees out over the toes on the way up, especially out of the bottom where they most want to collapse.
- Hips shooting up first — if the hips rise faster than the chest on the way up, you turn the squat into a good morning; drive the chest and hips up together.
- Cutting the depth — get the hip crease below the top of the knee on every rep unless mobility genuinely stops you, in which case work on it.
- Losing the brace — take a big breath into the belly before each rep and hold it through the sticking point, then exhale on the way up.
Where it fits in a workout
Squats go first in a lower body session when you are freshest. Follow them with Romanian deadlifts or leg press, or superset lighter sets with pull-ups to use the same rack.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
Without barbell
When to talk to someone
- Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
- Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
- Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.
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More exercises
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.