Cossack Squat Reach
Quick Intro
Cossack Squat Reach starts from the Cossack squat, a lower-body exercise where you shift your weight deep to one side, bending that knee into a full squat while the other leg stays straight. Standing face to face in a wide stance with both hands joined, you use each other’s counterbalance to reach a deeper and more controlled position than many people manage alone. The inner thighs, hips and quads work in the same way for each of you.
If you want the movement broken down, including how to build depth over time, Cossack Squat has it.
What You’ll Need
Floor space for a wide stance each, and enough room to stand opposite each other with your arms bent.
How to Do It Together
- Take your stance. Stand facing each other in a wide stance and hold both hands.
- Shift together. Move your weight to one side at the same time, using the hand hold as a counterbalance as the working knee bends deeply.
- Squeeze and return. Give your partner’s hands a gentle squeeze at the bottom, then return to center together, keeping the hold light.
- Alternate sides. Continue switching sides for the set.
Breathe out as you sink to one side and in as you return to the middle.
Using Each Other as a Counterbalance Without Leaning on It
The Cossack squat is a hard shape for many people, because the deep side needs ankle and hip mobility while the straight leg has to stay long. A partner’s hands change that. When you sink into the deep side, your weight moves away from your center, and a hand to hold gives you something to resist against, which lets you sit lower and stay more upright than you could alone. The hand hold can help you reach a depth you struggle with unaided.
Which way you shift is worth agreeing. If you both move toward the same side of the room, your hands travel together and give you less to resist against. If you shift to mirrored sides, so that you sink toward opposite sides of the room, the joined hands pull gently outward against each other and that tension is the counterbalance. Agree which side each of you sinks toward before you start, and use the same pattern for every rep.
The grip has to stay light. Treat the hands as a guide rail to steady yourself, and avoid using them to yank yourself out of the bottom, which pulls your partner off balance and loads the shoulders and elbows. If you notice you’re hauling on your partner to stand up, soften your grip and let your legs do the push.
The squeeze at the bottom lasts a couple of seconds. That brief pause also gives each of you time to settle into the low position and reset your balance before you rise, which makes the rep steadier as well as more connected.
This is a useful exercise on its own merits, because the counterbalance can help you reach a deeper, steadier rep than either of you could manage alone. If you’d like to add a contest, Cossack Squat Race turns the same movement into a rep-target race, and Cossack Squat Fist Bump swaps the hand hold for a quick touch of fists.
If You’re at Different Fitness Levels
A shallower depth suits a couple who are both newer to the squat, and the hand hold gives real balance support given tighter hips. If one of you is stronger, that partner performs the full depth while offering a stabilizing hand to the other’s shallower squat. Both of you go as deep as your own hips allow, and the grip bridges the difference between your two ranges.
Safety and Consent
Keep your grip light and never use the hand hold to pull yourself out of the bottom position. Stop if you feel knee discomfort. Your heel should stay as flat as your ankle allows, and a depth that makes you wobble is deeper than you need.
Every connection moment in these exercises is something either partner can skip or scale back at any point, including this one, no explanation needed. If holding on isn’t helping, squat side by side with your own hands free.
FAQ
Do we both shift to the same side? Mirrored sides work best. Sinking toward opposite sides of the room creates the pull that gives you the counterbalance.
How tight should we hold hands? Lightly, like holding a guide rail. A tight grip tends to turn into pulling.
Is this useful if we are not looking for a moment of closeness? Yes. The counterbalance can let you reach a deeper, steadier rep than you can alone, so it works as a mobility aid.
What if my partner is much more flexible than me? Each of you goes only as deep as your own hips allow. The stronger partner can offer a steadying hand.
What separates this from the race version? Cossack Squat Race turns the movement into a rep-target contest. This one is cooperative and focuses on depth.
Can we do Cossack squats on our own? Yes. Cossack Squat covers the solo movement and how to build depth.
Built on Cossack Squat. Cossack Squat Race races to a rep target on the same movement, and Cossack Squat Fist Bump connects with a touch of fists.