Cyclist Squat

The cyclist squat uses a narrow stance with the heels elevated on a wedge or small plates, which lets the torso stay nearly vertical throughout the movement and shifts almost all the work onto the quads rather than the glutes and hamstrings. Stand with your heels elevated and feet closer than shoulder width, then squat straight down while keeping your torso upright, staying as vertical as a normal squat's forward lean would prevent. It's a deliberate quad-isolation variation, commonly used by cyclists and bodybuilders chasing quad development specifically rather than a balanced posterior-chain squat.

1. Stand with heels elevated on a wedge or plates, feet closer than shoulder width
2. Squat straight down while keeping your torso as upright as possible
3. Drive back up through the whole foot, maintaining the vertical torso position

• Letting the torso lean forward, which defeats the point of the vertical, quad-focused setup
• Using a heel-elevation height that causes knee discomfort instead of just enabling the upright torso

• Bodyweight version for learning the vertical-torso pattern before adding load
• Goblet cyclist squat holding a dumbbell at the chest instead of a barbell