How to Split Squat Effectively: A VERY Deep Dive

How to split squat with Rua Gilna. Instagram: thebiomechanist
The split squat is the ultimate lower body exercise when done correctly. While most people believe that squatting or deadlifting are the best exercises, the same people are doing them in an extended spine position, not a neutral spine, and thus aren't really doing what they think they are doing. A split squat, done as Rua explains, takes any extension demands away and you can actually use the appropriate muscles: glutes, hamstrings, quads etc...without the involvement of your back.
www.posturalre...
Hey there, my name is Neal Hallinan.
The purpose of this channel is to help people understand and resolve chronic muscular and joint pain, primarily through the discipline of Postural Restoration.
As someone who lived with chronic pain for many years of my life, I know how debilitating and isolating it can be. But I also know it can be resolved.
I hold the following credentials:
Postural Restoration Trained (PRT)
Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS)
Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
Amateur Historian (AH, my own self-designation)
I live and work in the great state of New Jersey, USA.
I offer one-on-one training as well as online consultations via Zoom. The information can be found here:
pritrainer.com...
/ neal_hallinan
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Subscribe to my channel here: / @nealhallinan
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For an example of typical exercises for a beginner program, you can look here:
pritrainer.com...
Please note, this is quite generic and not sufficient for everybody!

[@davidhynes57]

Great work Neil, glad you're branching out into weighted exercises. The Irishman is superb.

[@NealHallinan]

He is superb, indeed. 👍

[@kyleclayton8436]

These deep dives with Rua are fantastic. Hope to see more of them in the future.

[@NealHallinan]

Thank you. I hope to do more, too.

[@adriangpuiu]

so the moral of the story , wear a heavy watch on left wrist :D

[@NealHallinan]

I'd prefer a heavy metronome, but a watch could suffice if heavy enough.

[@adriangpuiu]

@@NealHallinan there are plenty of smartwatches with the metronome app, but that buzz is not strong enough to feel it

[@gaara2503]

Please make more videos with practical examples such as this one! I can't explain in words how much this helps us, especially those who live in a country where there is no PRI specialist. I would love a video on cable fly/cable press or triceps pulldown.

[@kristinabelova5021]

Thank you so much for the videos with Rua!

[@ambarchatterjee9426]

Respected Neal if you explain this it will be more intrinsic. ❤🎉

[@72carles]

Respecto a la colocación de la mancuerna no estoy nada de acuerdo y creo que Neal también estará de acuerdo conmigo,de hecho se lo dice a Rua pero éste no le convence su explicación. Me explico,la mancuerna debería situarse contralateral a la pierna adelantada para que el cuadrado lumbar izquierdo se active e impida que la cadera se desplaze hacia la derecha y es un concepto que se aplica en las clases de PRI

[@ucfnathan]

excellent video series!!!!! keep doing more!

[@NealHallinan]

Thank you.

[@vacafuega]

Yessss this type of video is so great right now! Thank you :)

[@NealHallinan]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@wanjahe8749]

My mom was recently saying how her right side feels weighed down and compressed. It's really interesting that she noticed that all by herself. My physical therapist used to tell me to carry my bag on my right shoulder in order to get the left obliques and ql to work and bring the right shoulder up. From a purely bipmechanic perspective this may make sense but considering how the right side seems to bear all the weight already and how we tend to rotate towards any weight we carry, this seems very wrong to me now. Wouldn't I rather want to unload the right side and rotate towards the left side by carrying my bag there? Or maybe I just just switch to a backpack? I'm actually starting to feel like this is a huge factor in the persistant ache in my mid back and neck I've developed recently

[@CourageToB]

i m not so convinced regarding his explanation about holding the weight on the left - i d also exect that to create activation of right oblique. what would you make out of this, neal?

[@NealHallinan]

Well, he’s putting the emphasis on doing a split squat as if it were a phase of gait. If you put the weight in the right hand, you would be creating a compressive force on the right side while trying to load the left side, which is, now that I think of it, essentially the left AIC right BC pattern….a right side that is staying compressed when trying to load a left leg. The right side needs to decompress to fully load the left leg. If both sides are trying to compress at the same time, you’ve got a gym exercise that is fine, but probably not optimal from a natural movement point of view. I tried his method last week and liked it a lot.

[@ericsalinas1839]

@@NealHallinan Neal, why do I feel you held off on releasing this video before you had a chance to try these cues out and make sure they're PRI appropriate. 😃

[@CourageToB]

@@NealHallinan this reminds me of another biomechanics lesson i had regarding passive compression. the thought then was though, that the right hand load would reflexively activate the left oblique and thus unload the right. another version of that would then be to - instead of using a dumbellon the right, using a pulley or elastic band or so on the left, that is coming from above so one would actively press it down on the left. what do you think about that idea?

[@dcs241]

I'm a little confused. He comments that the split squat is being done in an "early left stance" but his shin angle is seemingly perpendicular to the ground, whereas in Bill Hartman's model, he's in already in mid propulsion (assuming I'm grokking Hartman's model correctly, of course). I assume I'm misunderstanding something!

[@NealHallinan]

Great question. However, besides knowing his name, I don't know anything about Bill Hartman and his model. In regards to this video: If someone stays aware of their left heel the entire time, they will be in early left stance regardless of shin angle. This is because we are not talking about this biomechanically, we are talking about it from a "neuro-sensory" perspective. Personally, I couldn't care less about biomechanics because humans do move or lift with biomechanics. They lift with their senses. Senses give the brain the proper input to produce the movement that we then call "biomechanics". It's not the other way around. That is what is so shamefully missed by essentially everyone other than Postural Restoration Institute. A neuroscientist knows this, but they don't make exercise videos. If you shift your sensory awareness to your left arch, you'll be in mid-stance, and your left pelvis will start moving forward, and, most likely lose your left hamstring. The left AIC pattern can be defined as someone who is living in left mid-stance, so we don't really need more of that. We need to learn to stay in left early stance under load. I believe Rua is purposely staying in early left stance (at least that's how I understood it, and that's how I do it personally) for this reason.

[@dysonadams]

If I’m left AIC pattern should I only mainly do this exercise with my left foot forward?

[@bbr00tal96]

Can or should still be done on both sides?

[@adriangpuiu]

i've tried with the watch on the left wrist and noticed that my left hand wont swing or moving during gate cycles ... when i've put the watch on the right wrist everything started to move more fluently

[@NealHallinan]

That’s interesting! How heavy is the watch?

[@Kti432]

Love this collaboration.

[@NealHallinan]

It was quite enjoyable for me, too.

[@jekrkrbddbkfbrbebdjd8952]

Should you only tuck the pelvis of the stance leg or tuck the entire pelvis?

[@hanwang-vp6cn]

impressive

[@brendalawer55]

Thank you !! Helpful 😊

[@marcusvrcosta]

I'm trying those exercises right now, and a doubt appears. What distance should we take between our feet in frontal and transversal plane? If anybody knows it, I'll be glad!

[@roryfrench1153]

I get knee valgus on right while running, would this mean i have opposite right aic?

[@Tanis-n2b]

Would you be able to make a "short" video on this topic..?

[@rangagrips7156]

In relation to running and gait should the landing foot be supinated with a posteriorly rotated pelvis. Essentially if you where to land on the right foot the pelvis should be rotated to the right so at push of the right foot pronates as the leg travels behind and rotates the the left engaging the external rotators ready for left foot landing?

[@grumpyguss]

So, this is half of what we need. How to work your right leg split squat without undoing everything you just worked for.

[@ShadyDogg]

Isn't that a good Video idea - why training mobility is wasted time

[@YouilAushana]

All other techniques are absolutely worthless

[@richardmiller3817]

yes, thank you for the advice on weighted exercises!

[@saadimadina1337]

Hey Neil. Conor Harris holds the DB in the right hand for certain patterns such as turning into ur left side as your lunging. Rua states never hold the db in ur right side. From ur experience, any benefits from holding the db on ur right side if ur doing the left leg ?

[@NealHallinan]

I don't see any benefit to holding the dumbbell in the right hand. Holding a weight in the right hand will likely create right side compression, which would prevent full compression on the left side.

[@Harry-cg5gs]

Thank you for sharing this Neil!

[@BaileeGunlin]

Is this exercise for left leg only?

[@matthewwatson2977]

Would be good to see raised leg split squat

[@rajveerrajpurohit3011]

Which exercise should I do in left AIC right BC right TMCC pattern?

[@Kti432]

What's his videos and or get yourself assessed.

[@exphys6513]

Hey Neal, great video. I missed the point that was made regarding which hand to put the weight. My understanding is it depends on what one would like to bias IR/ER. Weight in opposite hand than foot forward should bias IR, weight in same side hand as foot forward should bias ER. Especially with low weight we turn away (feed forward) from the resistance. His example of barbell on back biases a "locked" extension position of the back would be consistent with that understanding.

[@NealHallinan]

I’m not saying I am correct, but this is how I think of it: If you put a weight in the right hand with the right hand at your side (so forces are perpendicular to the ground) you immediately compress the right hip/thorax to one degree or another and/or the right neck will have to engage so that the weight doesn’t fall. A compressed right side prevents true left AF/IR compression. In a split squat you are working one leg at a time which requires compression on one side of the body and decompression on the other. The right arm has to “reach” forward in shoulder flexion while the right side is decompressing/ungrounding to truly accomplish left AF/IR but I’m not sure that can really happen if you put weight in the right hand because the right side has to engage somewhat to not drop the weight, which means the arm will be pulled down and create compressive force. However, if the weight is in the left hand, and you stay on your left heel, you’ll have both an IR moment (descent) and ER moment (ascent) with a right side that is decompressed and a left side where all the forces are going in the same direction (down). Again, I’m not saying I’m correct. At any rate, weight lifting is a different animal than “walking and breathing” (PRI). Weightlifting is mechanically driven while walking and breathing is sensory driven, which is why I don’t like to mix the two for the average person.

[@exphys6513]

@@NealHallinan Neal you make a good point as I read your comment closely your vision of where the load was slightly different than mine. With contralateral load instead of holding weight straight down at outside of body if the weight was instead just inside of front leg that will change the shoulder position. How do you see biased spinal rotation with contralateral vs. ipsilateral load?

[@MagikarpPower]

i do get that hip explosion he was talking about. but my left quad usually hurts when i do them and feels like its doing all the work. right is fine, i get plenty of glute there. any ideas?

[@NealHallinan]

If the left quad is doing all the work, that is a result of the left AIC pattern.

[@MagikarpPower]

@@NealHallinan that makes sense. should I not do these when patterned?

[@H3c171]

​@@MagikarpPowerfocus on the left ham instead, use this on your right leg to help push you over to your left

[@MagikarpPower]

I do them regularly now and I think my form was off and i was probably too far forward. twisting to pull my left hip back can help too

[@ericsalinas1839]

Should left glute be actively squeezed to ensure ppt?

[@NealHallinan]

Do you mean at the top or at the bottom? I don’t actively squeeze anything.

[@ericsalinas1839]

@@NealHallinan At the top before, descending, to avoid going into extension.

[@schminke89]

You dont squeeze actively, the muscles contracts itself If you put it in the right position. So If youre not feeling it, youre compensating elsewhere

[@nikosstef6034]

Neal Hallinan i have this gait cycle problem,my left side uses abs,my right is in extension when i walk,my right lateral flexion is problematic!i think i was born like this,its very difficult to change it..also right shoulder pain due to this pattern so is this a right or a left aic pattern because i am confused..thanks for your videos,greetings from greece!

[@NealHallinan]

It’s still the same pattern, but probably extra compensation on top. Search for one of my videos about “pattern vs. orientation” and “left AIC confusion”

[@nikosstef6034]

Thanks very much for your answer!!

[@billsemenoff]

Isn't horse stance a.bilateral exercise that targets the hamstrings and adductors? A whole other discussion?