Seems a few peeps aren't 100% sure of what these bad boys are, so here you go:

Split Squats are amazing. I use them with all my clients (if appropriate of course); good for core work too. Great at targeting the VMO muscle (teardrop on quads).

And the Split Squat could also be called a "Static Lunge".

Some key points for form:
1. Keep the front foot flat on the floor throughout the entire range of motion; and turn out about 5º
2. Maintain correct knee tracking; i.e. knee should be inline with front foot.
3. Aim to touch the hamstring on the calves in the lowest position; i.e. drive the knee forward
4. Keep the truck completely upright from start to finish, as the tendency will be to lean forward;
5. Split squats are a diagonal movement pattern and not an ‘up/down’ vertical exercise (like most people perform lunges). Therefore, the descent involves the knee and hips moving forward and down and the ascent is up and back as one smooth movement.

Bulgarian Split Squats are the same but with the back foot elevated on a step (or low box). This lower back foot position allows for a greater stretch in the hip flexors and a larger range of motion on the working knee.

---

Some pics here of Sprinters Squats & Bulgarian Split Squats. Normal Split Squats are the same just with back foot on the floor.

cheers mate

ill play around with those variations.

thats pretty much what ive been doing recently!

I like to use a 3-4 sec eccentric (lowering) tempo, and then a fast concentric tempo. So, 30X0 or 40X0 is good. Keep those muscles under tension for as long as possible

That's a bit of luck - was going to start a thread asking about these! Nice info

Just looking for some advice health4ni.

I think these have started to make my knees a little funny, should you place more weight on the forward leg when doing down or try to keep it relatively even across both?

I can feel a lot of pressure on the knees when doing them.

More weight will go to the front foot as the rear foot gets raised onto the ball of it. And the front leg knee extends over the foot, so yeah it has more pressure/weight on it.

What weight are you using and how (DBs, BB)?

The pressure in the knee was noticeable using 10KG dumbbells, but I tried 15KGs on Tuesday and really felt it a fair bit more, and my knees felt a little weird in the evening and this morning.

5KG jump was a little too much really so i'll be back down to 12.5 next time.

Sets, reps, tempo?

And you are doing it right aren't you? Keeping the knee over the foot. Front foot slightly turned out to the side (5 degrees)??

Tempo has been a slow negative and explosive positive (I don't really count, but around 2-3seconds).

My front foot has been planted straight with the knee doing just past the toes, iI forgot about the slight outwards turning of the front foot i'll have to remember.

Ok, the slight turn out of the leg may be the solution. In my experience it lends itself better to human anatomy to do that; hip joint etc