StrengthIn review

Dumbbell Cossack Squat

A deep side-to-side squat with one dumbbell at the chest and the other leg straight.

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: Strength
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Alternating
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Hold one dumbbell vertically at your chest with both hands.
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, dumbbell close to the chest.
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 and keep the chest up with the dumbbell close.
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

Assisting

Adductors · moderate confidence
Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Dumbbell

Hold one dumbbell vertically at your chest with both hands.

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 11, adapted from existing Allena records and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 (#340). 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 owner rules; 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_reverse_lunge, the closest Wave 1 record. The draft carries no Wave 1 review evidence.
Technique uses 1 dumbbell(s). Load is logged in kg with load-and-reps only; the bodyweight variant is a separate record.
The CSV says bilateral. The movement is alternating and counts total_alternating, as the closest one-leg model.
The CSV bench-or-box is removed; the movement requires only dumbbells. Home changes from no to yes (rule 1).
Skill changes from CSV beginner to intermediate because full depth needs one-leg control and hip mobility, as ex_cossack_squat (rule 3).
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop with dumbbells or on one leg (rule 3).

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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