The Bulgarian Split Squat is an exercise you've probably heard of or tried before...and it's a great one for legs!

If you're not familiar with it, it's essentially a split squat done with your back foot resting on a bench. This position demands more work from the stabilizing muscles of the legs while doing a split squat.

This "stretch" version of the Bulgarian Split Squat I've got for you today is going to be very similar in movement...the difference will happen at the BOTTOM of the exercise, where the focus is going to be on getting a massive stretch on the quadricep of the BACK leg.

The idea here is to put a loaded stretch on the quads to force even greater adaptation in the muscles. Loaded stretching is one of my "trade secrets" for bringing up weak bodyparts.

There are two ways to perform this one. The first method will involve setting your back knee completely on the ground to get the quad stretch while the second method will keep your back knee a little off the ground.

I'm using a bar set on the rails of the power rack, set at just about mid-shin-height. I've got a barbell pad on the bar for cushioning and I've got a foam mat where my knee is going to set down. If you don't have a rack to set this up, you'll need to figure out another place to set your foot.

If all you have is a bench, you CAN still do this one...you'll just need to use the second version (unless your lower legs are extremely long or your bench is low to the ground).

Set your toes over the bar and set your other foot forward a few feet. You should be holding onto a pair of dumbbells.



Now come down into the bottom of the lunge position.



When you get to the bottom, rest your knee on the ground then lean back to get the stretch on the quads. Hold that stretch for a few seconds then come back up.



When you've done your reps on one leg, repeat on the other leg. I prefer to do this one for low to moderate reps (e.g. 4 to 8) rather than high reps but it's not a hard and fast rule.







Now, if you want to do this one WITHOUT the knee resting on the ground, that works great as well. This is the version to use if you only have a bench to work with. Instead of hooking your toes over the bar, you'll hook them over the edge of the bench.

If you are using the bar like I am, raise it up a few inches.



You won't need to lean back at the bottom as you'll get plenty of stretch on the quads simply coming down into the bottom position.

It's a bit hard to tell in the pictures but my knee is just slightly off the ground at the bottom and NOT resting on the floor as in the first version.



Do your reps on one leg then repeat on the other leg.





That bottom position puts a MASSIVE stretch on the quads and hip flexors. I find this kind of in-set loaded stretching to be extremely beneficial not only for flexibility but for improving results on hypertrophy as well.

I grabbed this exercise directly out of my latest book "The Best Leg Exercises You've Never Heard Of"...

And let me tell you, if your leg training needs a kick in the butt, this book will give it to you. It's got a total 154 leg exercises covering quads, glutes, hams, calves, squats, lunges, split squats...the works.



Got 5 more sample exercises on the page for it here, too...

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"