Experts generally agree that exercises work best when you use a full range of motion or ROM for short. This means flexing and extending your limbs are far as safely possible.

For example, during bench presses, you bend your arms and lower the bar down to touch your chest, and then fully extend your arms again.

Anything less than a full ROM is cheating!

That said, partial reps can be useful, too, although they should supplement and not replace your full ROM workouts.

For example, you could do rack pulls instead of deadlifts from the floor to build strength for a better lockout.

Alternatively, you could use partial reps, also known as burn reps, to extend your sets beyond failure and trigger more significant hypertrophy. For example, after doing full ROM leg extensions, you can finish off your quads with a few quarter reps to get a deep pump.

Squat pulses are a bodyweight exercise that only uses a partial ROM. While not much use for building extreme muscle size or strength, they’re a useful way to overload your muscles when you don’t have access to a lot of training equipment.

In this article, we reveal how and why to do squat pulses and provide you with eight great variations and alternatives to try.

How to Do Squat Pulses

Get more from squat pulses while keeping your risk of injury to a minimum by following these guidelines:

1. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Raise your arms out in front of you so they’re parallel to the floor. Brace your abs and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and descend until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Do not round your lower back or allow your knees to cave in or fall out.
3. Drive your feet into the floor and rise up a few inches. Descend back down to parallel and repeat.
4. Continue for a predetermined number of reps, e.g., 20, or a set time, e.g., 30 seconds. Alternatively, keep going until the burn in your thighs makes it impossible to continue.

Squat Pulse Benefits

Do squat pulses deserve a place in your workouts? Consider these benefits and then decide!

Anywhere, anytime – with no equipment required, you can pump out a set of squat pulses whenever the opportunity presents itself. As such, they’re ideal for home workouts.

Easy to learn – squat pulses are one of the most straightforward squat exercises around, making them easy to learn and perfect for beginners.

Joint-friendly – partial movements are often easier on your joints and result in less wear and tear than full-range exercises. For example, if you’ve got knee pain and regular full ROM squats make it worse, squat pulses could make for a more comfortable workout.

No setup time– you can get into a set of squat pulses in just a few seconds. This means they’re useful for circuit training, high-intensity interval training, and other rapid-fire training methods, including supersets.

A great finisher – a finisher is an exercise that’s done at the end of your regular workout. Finishers are designed to fully fatigue your muscles and bring your workout to a close.

Squat pulses keep your muscles under constant tension, creating hypoxia (oxygen restriction) and a deep burn and pump. Just do a couple of high-rep sets to failure. Despite being a relatively low-intensity exercise, this means they’re perfect for exhausting your legs after you’ve completed the main exercises in your workout.

Squat Pulse Drawbacks

While squat pulses are a mostly beneficial exercise, there are also a few drawbacks to consider:

Limited overload – squat pulses are usually done with bodyweight only for resistance. As such, to make them harder, you’re limited to doing more and more reps. As you get stronger, this could mean you end up doing 30, 50, or even 100 reps. This is not a good use of your training time and won’t do much for your strength, either.

Strength increases are joint angle specific – muscles get stronger in the position they’re trained in. So, for squat pulses, that means at about 90 degrees of knee flexion. Squat pulses won’t do much for your strength above or below 90 degrees, so they’re not a particularly functional exercise. To develop full-range strength, you need to do full-range reps.

8 Squat Pulse Variations and Alternatives

Squat pulses are a reasonably effective lower exercise, but that doesn’t mean you need to do them all the time. There are plenty of variations and alternatives you can use to keep your workouts productive and interesting:

1. Split squat pulses

When you do squat pulses, your weight is divided equally between your feet. Split squats put more weight on your front leg – roughly 60 percent. This makes them useful for increasing overload. Also, split squats help improve balance and hip mobility.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet together, arms by your sides. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Take a large step forward and then stop.
3. Bend your legs and lower your rear knee down to within an inch of the floor.
4. Drive your front foot into the floor and rise up a few inches. Descend back down and repeat.
5. Continue for a predetermined number of reps, e.g., 20, or a set time, e.g., 30 seconds. Alternatively, keep going until the burn in your thighs becomes unbearable.
6. Rest a moment, swap legs, and repeat.

2. Bulgarian split squat pulses

Bulgarian split squats, also known as rear foot elevated split squats, put even more weight on your front leg, so they’re an excellent way to increase the intensity of your workouts. You’ll also need better balance and hip mobility to do this exercise.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your back to a knee-high bench or step. Bend one leg and place your foot on the top. Hop forward and into a split stance.
2. Bend your legs and lower your rear knee down to within an inch of the floor.
3. Drive your front foot into the floor and rise up a few inches. Descend back down and repeat.
4. Continue for a predetermined number of reps, e.g., 20, or a set time, e.g., 30 seconds. Alternatively, keep going until the burn in your thighs becomes unbearable.
5. Rest a moment, swap legs, and repeat.

3. Plié squat pulses

Plié squats are done with a wider than shoulder-width stance, toes turned outward. This increases hip adductor, abductor, and glute activation. So, if you want to take a little stress off your quads and hamstrings and put more on your glutes and hips, this could be the variation you want.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet about 1.5 shoulder widths apart. Turn your toes outward to between 30-45 degrees. Raise your arms out to the side so they’re parallel to the floor. Brace your abs and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Bend your knees, open your hips, and descend until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Do not round your lower back.
3. Drive your feet into the floor and rise up a few inches. Descend back down to parallel and repeat.
4. Continue for a predetermined number of reps or a set time, or just keep going until the burn in your thighs becomes unbearable.

4. Booty band squat pulse

Regular squat pulses mostly work your quadriceps and hamstrings. Using a booty band makes squat pulses much more butt-centric and increases hip abductor activation. A booty band is simply a short, wide resistance band worn around the knees.

https://youtu.be/TH-uSdPoK8g

How to do it:

1. Put a booty band around your legs, just above or below your knees. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Bend your legs and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Push your knees out against the band. Maintain this outward pressure throughout.
3. Rise up a few inches, descend back down to parallel, and repeat.
4. Continue pulsing for the duration of your set, and then stand up to finish.

5. Goblet squat pulse

While bodyweight squat pulses are an effective exercise, the only practical way to make them more challenging is to do more and more reps. This could mean you end up doing 30, 50, or even 100 reps per set, and that’s very time-consuming. Or, you could make this exercise harder by using some weights.

How to do it:

1. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in front of your chest, just below your chin. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Brace your abs and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Do not round your lower back.
3. Rise up a few inches and then descend back to parallel. Continue for the prescribed number of reps or until the burning in your muscles becomes intolerable.

6. Full squat alternated with pulse

Can’t decide between full-range squats and squat pulses? Why not do them both! This variation can be done with or without weights and lets you enjoy all the benefits of squat pulses while also taking you’re your joints and muscles through a full range of motion.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward. Brace your core and pull your shoulders down and back.
2. Bend your legs and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Rise up a few inches, descend back down to parallel.
3. After pulsing once, stand all the way back up.
4. Descend again, pulse, stand back up, and repeat.
5. You can also do this exercise with weights (i.e., goblet squats) and/or a booty band.  

7. Wall sit

Where squat pulses involve a small range of motion, wall sits involve no movement at all. However, your muscles still have plenty of work to do and will be working isometrically or statically to hold you in position. This exercise really emphasizes your quadriceps.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your back to a smooth, strong wall, feet about 24 inches from the baseboard. Your feet should be between hip to shoulder-width apart.
2. Lean your back against the wall and slide down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor. Your shins should be vertical. Maintain good posture throughout.
3. Without resting your hands on your thighs, use your legs to push your back against the wall. Do not hold your breath, as doing so will cause your blood pressure to rise.
4. You can push as hard as you can for a short time (10-20 seconds) or simply try and stay in position for as long as possible.
5. On completion, either slide down the wall and sit on the floor to rest or use your hands on the wall to help you stand up.

8. Glute bridge pulses

Squat pulses are a useful lower body exercise that most people feel in their quads. As their name suggests, glute bridge pulses work your butt much more, making them a good alternative for or supplement to squat pulses.

How to do it:

1. Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat. Brace your core.
2. Drive your feet into the floor and lift your hips up, so your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line.
3. Lower your hips a few inches and then push them back up again. Clench your butt at the top of each rep.
4. Continue for the prescribed number of reps.
5. Use a booty band to increase glute engagement.

Squat Pulses – Muscles Worked

Squat pulses are a compound exercise, which means they involve multiple joints and target several different muscles. The main muscles involved in squat pulses are:

• Quadriceps – the quadriceps are the muscles on the front of your shins. There are four quadriceps muscles (which is what quadriceps means): rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. Known as the quads for short, these muscles extend your knees and also play a part in hip flexion.
• Hamstrings – located on the back of your thighs, the hamstrings flex your knees and extend your hips. The three hamstring muscles are the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.
• Gluteus maximus – known as the glutes for short, this is the largest muscle in the human body. Located on the back of your hips, the glutes are your primary hip extender and are basically your butt.
• Adductors – located on the inside of your thighs, the adductors draw your leg in and toward the midline of your body. The adductors mostly work as stabilizers during squat pulses and stop your knees from falling out. The three adductor muscles are the longus, brevis, and magnus.
• Abductors – the abductors lift your legs out and away from the midline of your body. The three abductor muscles are gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, and tensor fascia latae. The abductors mostly work as stabilizers during squat pulses and stop your knees from dropping inward.
• Core – the core is a collective term used to describe the muscles of your midsection, namely the rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominus, and erector spinae. These muscles stabilize your spine by contracting inward and generating intra-abdominal pressure. Doing squat pulses with weights will increase core engagement.

Squat Pulses – Wrapping Up

Squat pulses are a simple yet effective lower body exercise that you can do with or without weights. The quick setup time means they’re perfect for circuit and HIIT workouts, and you can do them at the gym, at home, or anywhere you’ve got a little space to move, such as a hotel room.

While they aren’t the most challenging leg exercise around, done for long enough, even experienced exercisers will feel their muscles working, and there are plenty of variations and alternatives you can use to make your workouts harder.