StrengthIn review

Dumbbell Split Squat

A split-stance squat with a dumbbell in each hand and both feet on the floor.

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

Pattern: Lunge
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Unilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Hold one dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
Stand in a long split stance, one foot forward and one foot back, with the back heel up.

Do the rep

Lower the back knee toward the floor and keep the chest up.
Stop when the front hip crease is below the front knee, just before the back knee touches the floor.
Push through the whole front foot and stand up. The feet stay in place.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the front hip crease drops below the front knee and you return to a full stand without moving the feet.

One rep lowers until the front hip crease is below the front knee, then ends with the front hip and knee fully extended, with the feet in place; count each side.

Breathing

Breathe in as you lower; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Lower straight down.
Front knee follows the toes.
Keep the dumbbells at your sides.

Common mistakes

Short stance
What you seeThe front heel lifts at the bottom.
FixMake the stance longer.
A long stance keeps the whole front foot on the floor.
Back knee hitting the floor
What you seeThe back knee bumps the floor at the bottom.
FixLower more slowly and stop just above the floor.
Control at the bottom protects the knee and keeps the legs working.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if you lose balance.
End the set when you cannot reach the depth 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 in each hand at your sides.

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_bulgarian_split_squat, the closest Wave 1 record. The draft carries no Wave 1 review evidence.
Technique uses 2 dumbbell(s). Load is logged in kg with load-and-reps only; the bodyweight variant is a separate record.
The CSV says squat. The record uses lunge, as the Wave 1 and batch 4 lunges.
The CSV says bilateral. The movement is unilateral and counts each_side, 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).
Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop with dumbbells or on one leg (rule 3).
Both feet stay on the floor. This is distinct from ex_bulgarian_split_squat, which raises the rear foot.

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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