CalisthenicsIn review

Lateral Squat

A side-to-side squat in a wide stance, with the feet staying in place.

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: Beginner
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, the toes forward or a little out.

Do the rep

Shift the hips to one side and bend that knee. Keep the other leg straight.
Lower until the bent thigh is close to parallel to the floor, with both feet flat.
Push through the bent leg and return to the center. Change sides each rep.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the bent thigh is close to parallel to the floor with both feet flat, and you return to the center.

One rep shifts the hips to one side and bends that knee until the thigh is close to parallel to the floor with the other leg straight, and ends back at the center; each side counts as one rep.

Breathing

Breathe in as you lower; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Feet stay planted.
Hips back, chest up.
Knee follows the toes.

Common mistakes

Knee falling inward
What you seeThe knee moves inside the line of the foot.
FixPush the knee out so it stays over the toes.
A knee over the foot keeps the load on the hip and thigh muscles.
Feet rolling
What you seeThe foot of the straight leg rolls onto its edge or lifts.
FixLower less deep and keep both feet flat.
Flat feet give a stable base for the side squat.

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 beginner, failure cost moderate, as the Wave 1 lunges (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.
ex_bodyweight_lateral_lunge and ex_cossack_squat (this batch) are close to this row. The lateral squat keeps the feet in place and stops near parallel; the lateral lunge steps out; the Cossack squat goes to full depth. Coach review must confirm that all three stay.

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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