Legs · Bodyweight
Close Stance Squat
How to do the close stance squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand tall with your feet close together, hips-width or narrower, and toes pointing forward. Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower until your thighs are about parallel, keeping your chest up. Drive through your feet to stand back up. The narrow stance shifts more work onto the quads.
- 1Quads taking the brunt of the work as you lower and rise
- 2Heels staying planted while you sit straight down
- 3Chest up and core braced through the whole rep
Common mistakes
- Letting your knees cave inward as you descend
- Coming up onto your toes with the heels lifting
- Rounding your back or letting your chest drop forward
Muscles worked
The close stance squat mainly works the quads, with the glutes, lower back, hamstrings, and adductors assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- GlutesSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- AdductorsSupport
- Upper AbsMinor
- Lower AbsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
- CalvesMinor
Kovo programs the close stance squat 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.