CalisthenicsIn review

Cossack Squat

A deep side-to-side squat on one leg while the other leg stays straight with the toes up.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Squat
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Alternating
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with the feet about twice shoulder-width apart and the toes turned a little out.

Do the rep

Shift the weight to one side and squat down on that leg, keeping its heel flat.
Keep the other leg straight and let its toes point up as you go down.
Push through the bent leg and return to the center. Change sides each rep.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hip crease drops below the bent knee with the other leg straight, and you return to a stand in the center.

One rep starts in a wide stance, lowers over one leg until the hip crease is below that knee with the other leg straight, and ends back at a stand in the center; each side counts as one rep.

Breathing

Breathe in as you lower; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Heel of the bent leg down.
Chest up, arms forward.
Go only as deep as you control.

Common mistakes

Heel lifting
What you seeThe heel of the standing foot leaves the floor at the bottom.
FixLower only as far as the heel stays down, and go deeper over weeks.
A flat foot gives a stable base for the squat.
Rounding the back
What you seeThe back rounds and the chest drops at the bottom.
FixLower less deep, keep the chest up, and reach the arms forward.
An upright trunk keeps the load on the legs.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain in the knee, hip or groin.
Stop if the feet slip.
End the set when you cannot return to the center under control.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Quadriceps · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence
Adductors · moderate confidence

Assisting

Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A coach reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 4, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_forward_lunge, the closest Wave 1 record.
The CSV says bilateral. The legs take turns, so the record counts both sides together, as the Wave 1 walking lunge (rule 1).
Rule 2 gives one-leg squat rows single_leg and secondary_lower, as the Wave 1 lunges.
Skill tier intermediate: full depth on one leg needs months of training and hip mobility (rule 3). The CSV says beginner. Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop on one leg (rule 3).
The optional box-step from the CSV is dropped; it does not fit the movement.
The CSV muscle list is the family hint; the record moves the adductors to the primary muscles.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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