Archer squat

Who it's for

Wide stems, big drop knees and anything that asks you to load one leg while the other stays straight. It builds range and strength in the same rep, which is why it earns its twelve minutes.

It suits most climbers from their first months onwards, because the only load is your own body and you choose the depth. Skip the deep version for now if a knee or hip is sore when you sit low, and get a physio to look at it if that doesn't settle.

Common mistakes

• Heel of the straight leg lifting. Keep it down. The moment it lifts you're getting range from your ankle instead of your hip.
• Chest collapsing forward. Stay upright. Folding forward turns it into a hamstring stretch and takes the load off the working leg.
• Rushing the ten seconds. The hold at the bottom is where the range comes from.
• Going as wide as possible on day one. Start narrower than you think and widen over weeks.
• Letting the bent knee cave in. Point it the same way as your toes, out over the foot. A knee falling inwards takes the load off the hip you're trying to train.

How to progress

Turn the toes of the straight leg up for a Cossack squat, which adds calf and hamstring range. Once two sets of twelve are comfortable, hold a light weight at your chest, which counterbalances you and lets you sit deeper.

How to make it easier

Hold onto a door frame, a post or the edge of a bench so your arms take some of your weight. Shorten the stance, stop higher and keep the ten-second hold at whatever depth you can control. Once you can reach the bottom without help, hold on with one hand only, then let go.

Where it fits in your week

It belongs in a Base, Endurance or deload period, when the legs have time to adapt and nothing heavy is competing for them. Do it after climbing or on a rest day, when your hips are warm. Before a session, a lighter set of five per side works as part of a warm-up for a day with lots of wide stems.

Questions

What does an archer squat work?

An archer squat works the legs and hips, with the bent leg taking most of your weight and the straight leg stretching along the inner thigh. For climbers that combination matters on wide stems and drop knees, where one leg has to push while the other stays long. The hold at the bottom builds control at the end of your range.

What's the difference between an archer squat and a Cossack squat?

The difference is the straight leg. In an archer squat its foot stays flat with the heel down, and in a Cossack squat you point the toes up and rest on the heel. That small change adds a stretch through the calf and the back of the thigh, so the Cossack version feels deeper and a little harder to balance.

How do you do an archer squat if you can't get low?

Hold onto something solid and only go as low as you can control. Keep the straight leg's heel down, sit into the bent leg, hold the bottom for ten seconds and come back up. Over a few weeks the depth tends to come, and you can let go once you reach the bottom without pulling on your hands.