Single leg

Bulgarian split squat

A split squat with the back foot raised, so the front leg takes more and the stretch is longer. Widely disliked, which is not an argument against it.

Coming to the App Store

The movement pages are part of MacroChef Plus

How the lift is performed, what it trains, and where it belongs in a split — for all 67 movements. One subscription covers the training side and the whole recipe library.

How Plus works

Bulgarian split squat, working end — Working end

Trains

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

Programmed at

3 × 8-12 each leg

Appears in

Lower B

It is in 1 of the six splits, which is as good a signal as any that it earns its place. See which one matches your week.

The muscle itself

The four heads of the quadriceps seen from the front: rectus femoris down the middle, vastus lateralis outside, vastus medialis inside and lowest, vastus intermedius deep behind, all joining one tendon over the kneecap. — Rectus femoris is the only one that crosses the hip, which is why it works differently depending on where your hips are.

Swap it for

Not lesser versions. What to do when the rack is busy, the gym has no cable station, or a joint objects to the first one.

Reverse lungeQuads, Glutes
Step-upQuads, Glutes

Everything else that trains this pattern

Split squatQuads, Glutes
Walking lungeQuads, Glutes, Hamstrings

Training is the easy half

You will not build anything on the wrong number of calories, and most people are eating a long way under the protein they think they are. Get your daily number, then have the week built to it — every recipe on the site is costed from gram weights, so the figures are checkable rather than rounded up to sound better.

This is not a form tutorial. There is no technique walkthrough here and no claim about the one correct way to move — a page cannot watch you lift. What it gives you is what the movement trains, how much of it to do, and what to do instead when the equipment is taken. If a movement is new to you, get someone qualified to watch your first few sessions. If you are under 18, pregnant, or managing an injury or medical condition, talk to someone qualified rather than a website.