Reps Only exercise

Shrimp Squat form, muscles worked, and workout tracking

The shrimp squat is a single-leg squat in which the free leg is bent behind the body and often held at the ankle, requiring the lifter to lower until the trailing knee touches the floor, heavily loading the quadriceps and glutes of the stance leg. Lifters use it as an advanced bodyweight strength progression that also demands balance and quadriceps flexibility, and many find it a more knee-friendly alternative to the pistol squat.

Shrimp Squat illustration

How to do Shrimp Squat

  1. 1Stand on one leg and bend the other knee so the foot lifts behind you; hold that ankle with the same-side hand or let the leg hover.
  2. 2Reach your free arm forward for balance and brace your core.
  3. 3Inhale as you bend the stance leg and lower slowly until the trailing knee lightly touches the floor just behind your stance foot.
  4. 4Keep your chest up and the stance heel down, avoiding a crash landing onto the back knee.
  5. 5Exhale and drive through the front foot to stand back up without pushing off the floor with the rear leg, then switch sides after all reps.

Related exercises

Ab Wheel

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Archer Push-up

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Assisted Pistol Squat

Legs · Reps Only

Back Extension

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Track Shrimp Squat in Plates

Save this movement to a workout template, log sets and rest periods, and keep your training history in one focused gym tracker.