CalisthenicsIn review

Prisoner Squat

An air squat with the hands behind the head and the elbows wide.

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: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand with your feet at a comfortable squat width.
Put the fingertips lightly behind the head and open the elbows wide.

Do the rep

Bend the knees and hips and sit down between the feet. Keep the elbows wide and the chest up.
Push through the whole foot and stand up tall.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hip crease drops below the top of the knee and you return to a full stand with the hands behind the head.

One rep starts standing with the hands behind the head, lowers until the hip crease is below the top of the knee, and ends with the hips and knees fully extended.

Breathing

Breathe in as you lower; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Elbows wide.
Chest up.
Do not pull on the head.

Common mistakes

Pulling the head forward
What you seeThe hands push the head and neck forward.
FixRest the fingertips lightly behind the head.
A neutral neck avoids strain in the neck.
Elbows closing
What you seeThe elbows move forward and the chest drops.
FixOpen the elbows and lift the chest.
Wide elbows keep the upper back upright, which is the point of the variation.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
Stop if your heels lift or you cannot stand without losing 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

Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Adductors · 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_air_squat, the closest Wave 1 record.
Skill tier beginner, failure cost low, as ex_air_squat (rule 3).
The optional box-step from the CSV is dropped; it does not fit the movement.

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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