Shrimp Squat

What the shrimp squat actually trains

A shrimp squat is a single leg squat in which the free leg is folded behind you and you lower until the rear knee touches the floor, then stand back up without the rear foot touching down.

The standing leg does the work, and the emphasis is clearly knee dominant. The quadriceps extend the knee through a long range with substantial forward shin travel, gluteus maximus and adductor magnus extend the hip, and the calf and foot work continuously to keep you balanced. The hamstring of the rear leg works isometrically to hold the fold, and the abs work to stop the torso pitching forward.

Compared with the pistol squat it is the more knee dominant of the two. Folding the rear leg behind you shifts your centre of mass backwards, which forces the standing shin further forward to compensate. That is why people who find the pistol impossible sometimes find the shrimp achievable, and why people whose knees are unhappy with deep flexion feel this one more.

Both are skill exercises before they are strength exercises. That is the honest framing. Speirs and colleagues found unilateral squat training produces comparable strength gains to bilateral work, so single leg squatting itself is not in question. What is in question is whether an unloaded, technically fussy version is a good way to get there, and for most people the answer is that it is a fine thing to be able to do and a poor way to build legs.

Setting up and executing

Stand on one leg and fold the other so the heel comes towards the glute. Hold that foot with the same side hand if you can, or leave both arms free while you are learning.

Set the standing foot flat with the weight through the middle, and reach the free arm forward as a counterweight.

Brace the abs and take a breath.

Bend the standing knee and lower the rear knee towards the floor, letting the torso lean forward slightly. Fighting for an upright torso here will simply tip you backwards.

Touch the rear knee down softly onto a pad. It should make contact, not arrive.

Drive up through the whole standing foot and finish standing tall, without the rear foot touching down between reps.

The mistakes that cost you the most

Crashing the rear knee into the floor is the fault that turns a controlled exercise into a series of small collisions. The last few centimetres are the part of the rep where the standing leg is working hardest, and rushing them removes exactly the range you came for.

Letting the rear leg trail is the technical error that makes the movement feel impossible. A loose back leg lengthens your lever behind you and drags your balance with it. Fold it tight, heel to glute.

Forcing the torso upright fights the mechanics. A forward lean is a feature of the movement, not a compensation.

Expecting hypertrophy from it is the strategic mistake. Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and growth, and an exercise where you manage six reps per leg on a good day is not a strong volume tool.

Sets, reps and rest by goal

Programme it as skill work with a strength component, not as a size builder.

For muscle gain, three sets of five to ten per leg with two minutes rest, with the caveat that a loaded split squat will do more. For strength, four sets of three to six with three minutes. In a fat loss phase, three sets of eight to twelve with ninety seconds.

Progress by removing assistance and lowering the pad rather than by adding load. Once you can do ten clean reps per leg with the knee touching the floor, holding a light dumbbell in the free hand is the next step, at which point the movement becomes awkward enough that most people move on.

Refalo and colleagues found training close to failure produces comparable growth to reaching it. Here the rep before failure is the rep where your balance goes, so stopping short is both the sensible and the safe option.

Where it fits in your split

Early in a lower body session, or as its own short skill practice.

On push, pull and legs it goes on legs day near the start. On a bro split it comes before the loaded lifts. On an upper and lower split it belongs early in the lower session. On a full body programme it is a fine legs choice with no equipment. On a bodyweight programme it is a legitimate legs movement once the pattern is solid.

The honest comparison is with a rear foot elevated split squat, and the split squat wins on almost every practical measure if your goal is leg size or leg strength. It is easier to learn, easier to load, easier to progress, and it takes the front leg through a comparable range.

What the shrimp squat gives you that a split squat does not is control at the very bottom of a deep single leg position with nothing to lean on, plus the ability to train hard legs with no equipment at all.

Variations worth knowing

The beginner shrimp squat lowers the rear knee to a raised pad or a stack of mats, shortening the range while you build the pattern. This is where almost everyone should start.

The assisted version puts one hand on a rig upright or a strap, taking balance out of the equation so the standing leg does the work.

The pistol squat is the other full depth single leg squat, with the free leg extended in front, demanding ankle and hamstring range instead of quadriceps range.

The reverse lunge trains a very similar knee dominant pattern with the rear foot on the floor, which makes it dramatically easier to load and progress.

And the Bulgarian split squat is the version to use if you want the single leg squat pattern to build muscle rather than to demonstrate control.

What the evidence says

Speirs and colleagues compared unilateral and bilateral squat training in trained athletes and found comparable strength gains with better transfer to single leg tasks, which supports single leg squatting in general without saying anything about which version to pick.

Kubo and colleagues trained squats at different depths and found greater lower limb muscle volume increases with deeper squatting, which supports taking the rear knee all the way to the floor rather than stopping halfway.

Hartmann and colleagues analysed knee and spinal loading across squat depths and found no support for the claim that deep knee flexion is inherently harmful, which is the relevant reassurance for a movement that lives in deep flexion with substantial forward shin travel.

Pallares and colleagues found full range training produced better strength and hypertrophy outcomes than partial range training, reinforcing the case for the full descent once you have earned it.

Schoenfeld and Grgic reviewed range of motion and muscle development and reached a similar conclusion, that longer ranges generally produce more growth, which is the mechanical appeal of a deep single leg squat.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, which is precisely why an exercise limited to a handful of reps per set is a poor primary size tool, and Refalo and colleagues found training close to failure works as well as reaching it, which suits a movement where the failure rep is a balance failure.

Common questions

How is the shrimp squat different from the pistol squat?

Both are full depth single leg squats and both are skill exercises first. The pistol holds the free leg straight out in front, which demands ankle dorsiflexion and hamstring length. The shrimp folds the rear leg behind, which shifts your mass backwards, forces more forward shin travel and makes the movement more knee dominant. Most people find one clearly easier, and which one says more about your mobility than your strength.

Will this build my quads?

Not efficiently. It loads them through a long range, which is the right idea, but you can only do a few reps and you cannot add meaningful load. A rear foot elevated split squat with dumbbells covers the same pattern with far more usable volume. Do the shrimp squat for control and for equipment free training.

Is the deep knee position safe?

Yes, with control. Analyses of knee loading across squat depths do not support the idea that deep flexion damages the joint. What is worth avoiding is crashing the rear knee into a hard floor, which is a contact problem rather than a loading one. Use a pad.

How do I get my first one?

Lower the rear knee to a raised pad, keep one hand on a rig, and do sets of five each side. Take a couple of centimetres off the pad every week or two and reduce the hand assistance to a finger, then to nothing. Most people get there in a couple of months.

Should I do this or a Bulgarian split squat?

If you want bigger or stronger legs, the split squat, without much doubt. If you want single leg control, deep position strength or a leg session with no equipment, the shrimp squat. There is no reason you cannot do both, with the split squat carrying the training load and the shrimp squat as skill work.