Legs · Bodyweight
Brettzel
How to do the brettzel, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- time
- Movement
- Rotation
- Mechanic
- Isolation
How to do it
Lie on your side and draw your top knee toward your chest, holding it with the opposite hand. Reach your other hand back to grab your bottom ankle, then gently rotate your upper back toward the floor. Hold the position and breathe, feeling the stretch through your quad, hip, and spine.
- 1A stretch through your bottom-leg quad and hip flexor
- 2Your upper back gently rotating open toward the floor
- 3A long, easy breath letting the stretch deepen
Common mistakes
- Forcing the rotation instead of easing into it
- Holding your breath through the stretch
- Letting the held knee drift up off the floor
Muscles worked
The brettzel mainly works the quads and hip flexors, with the obliques, lower back, and glutes assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- Hip FlexorsPrimary
- ObliquesSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- GlutesSupport
- Upper ChestMinor
- Mid ChestMinor
- LatsMinor
- Mid TrapsMinor
- Upper AbsMinor
- Lower AbsMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the brettzel for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.