This 3-Step Split Squat Dropset Builds Up Your Legs
When it comes to Bulgarian split squats, properly programming them into your workouts can be just as challenging as performing the exercise.
Leg day conundrums like this might be the norm if you're not exactly sure what you want from your workouts. Should you sacrifice heavy load for high volume or vice versa, opting for big weights, small reps? Luckily, with this BSS workout from Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., you can get a healthy dose of both heavy load and high volume—and even add a nice core challenge—with the three-step Bulgarian Split Squat Dropset.
But no matter where you slot them in your workout or the variation—from Mixed-Load Bulgarian Split Squats to the Dead Stop BSS—don’t avoid Bulgarian split squats, as the benefits of this unilateral move are abundant. You'll build lower body and core strength while improving power, speed, and even leaping explosiveness.
How to Perform the 3-Step Bulgarian Split Squat
●Start in Bulgarian split squat position holding a pair of dumbbells or kettlebells at your sides. Blast through a normal set of split squats for six to eight reps—hopefully you went heavy enough that you’re at near failure.
●From here, drop one dumbbell (with the arm opposite your plant leg), while focusing on keeping your hips forward, which will begin kicking your core work into overdrive
●Once you hit the six-to eight-rep mark, place the second dumbbell on the ground, now going into a bodyweight split squat and finishing off the sequence. Lower all the way as you normally would in this exercise — by now you should be feeling a really strong pump in your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.
Three sets should be plenty. And just like that, you’ve just removed any confusion about which route—heavy load or high volume—out of the exercise equation. You can do both. Enjoy the burn.
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