Wall Sit
Squat, bodyweight, quadriceps
The wall sit is a hold: you slide down a wall until the knees are bent at about a right angle and stay there. It trains the quadriceps, with the glutes and adductors helping. It suits nearly everyone, needs nothing but a wall, and builds the kind of leg endurance that skiing and long walks downhill ask for.
Setting up
- Stand with your back flat against a smooth wall.
- Walk the feet out about two foot lengths from the wall, hip width apart.
- Let the arms hang, rest the hands on the hips, or cross them over the chest.
- Start with short holds that end while you can still keep the position, and make them longer over time.
How to do a wall sit
- Slide down the wall until the thighs are about level with the floor and the knees are bent at about a right angle.
- Check that the knees are over the ankles, and move the feet if they are not.
- Keep the back and head against the wall and the weight in the heels.
- Hold while breathing steadily.
- If the thighs shake and the hips start to slide down, stand up and rest rather than holding on in poor shape.
- Slide back up the wall to stand when the hold is done.
Breathing. Breathe slowly and steadily through the whole hold.
Muscles worked
- Mainly
- Quadriceps
- Also
- Glutes and adductors
Common mistakes
- Feet too close to the wall, so the knees go past the toes. Then the knees take the strain, so walk the feet out until the shins are upright.
- Hands pushing on the thighs. It takes the work off the legs, so cross the arms over the chest or let them hang by the sides.
- Knees caving in. They twist under load, so keep the knees in line with the toes all through the hold.
- Holding the breath. It makes the hold harder than it needs to be, so breathe slowly in and out.
Easier and harder
- Easier
- Stability Ball Wall Squat
- Harder
- Squat Hold
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