Cossack Squats - 5x10r per leg or total?

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere. I can't seem to find an answer. Is the mastery requirement of 5x10r for Cossack squats 10r per leg, or a total of 10r (5r per leg?).

 

Thanks!

 

Andrew

I did 5x10 each leg. But it was meant to be 5x5 each leg. It took a while to get the twisting squats so the 10 each leg was really hard. It meant I mastered the next level easy though.

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought (5x5 each leg), since I remember other exercises specifying "per leg" or "per side".

 

Yea the twisting squats are odd - mostly from the balance and coordination side of things. I can already do 5x5 of SLS, but the mobility is nowhere close, especially with the full GHR paired with the SLS in F2. It will take a while for the leg strength and mobility to balance out!

 

Andrew

Mark Collins said:

I did 5x10 each leg. But it was meant to be 5x5 each leg. It took a while to get the twisting squats so the 10 each leg was really hard. It meant I mastered the next level easy though.

If this is true than I've been doing it the long way, counting 1 rep when both legs squated.

I also had this question at first.  

 

I've seen it answered elsewhere as 5 reps per leg.  

 

I also noticed that the next exercise (SLS/PE3 Side-to-Side Squats) seemed MUCH easier to master (after 1 week in my case).   I hope not because I'm doing something wrong.

I reckon PE3 was easier to master because you didn't have to do those damn twisting squats.

But yeah it's 5 reps per leg

kimura said:

I reckon PE3 was easier to master because you didn't have to do those damn twisting squats.

 

Are you implying that twisting squats are not a gift from heaven?  Hmm.  Perhaps it's a matter of perspective!  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

The best gift the twisting squats have given me is that without them, I likely would have assumed I had mastered cossacks a long time ago. But they forced me to keep working on the cossacks, which caused me to realize how great a movement those are, and to push myself to a much higher standard particularly with regards to the depth and the subtleties of the ankle positioning. My squat depth has gotten noticeably deeper as a result. Even IF I ever master twisting squats, I'm keeping the cossacks in my warm-up forever.

That's consistent with my experience fitwell. I've only done Cossack squats for one workout, and I'm sore in all the exact same places as from a traditional back barbell squat (mostly hip adductors, medial glutes). I wasn't expecting this since I'm already comfortable doing SLS.

 

Coach - the twisting squats are great for balance and control! They are quite awkward when doing barefoot on carpet though. The tugging on the skin makes them kind of jagged in their motion, so sometimes it's hard not to plop down on your butt  .

 

I'm so ridiculously excited for future mastery of the Foundation and Handstand volumes I can't even properly express it in writing. The balancing of strength with mobility is just so elegant! I truly can't wait to see what several years of consistent dedicated training will bring  .

azey47 said:

They are quite awkward when doing barefoot on carpet though. The tugging on the skin makes them kind of jagged in their motion

 

Yep!

 

I've found a couple of tricks that can help:

• do the twisting squats after taking off shoes, the soles of the feet micro-sweat, and it forms a good lubricant
• do SLS towards the beginning of your training session to maximize the above
• as you twist, slightly lift the balls of the feet off the ground so your weight is on the heel - this eliminates drag substantially
• if you have luxury of choice, experiment with different floors, older beaten-down carpet is easier to twist on than newer fluffier carpet

I was terrible at twisting squats and took around 5 months to get them. Now I do 10 reps in my warm ups and they are so easy it is ridiculous that I ever found them hard. I honestly thought I would never be ale to d them

Wow, so 5 reps each side for Cossack and side to side squats? I've been doing my reps for each leg... 5x10 on each today.

PrimalMove said:

Wow, so 5 reps each side for Cossack and side to side squats? I've been doing my reps for each leg... 5x10 on each today.

I did the same thing. Be happy you're strong enough to do so, and move on to the next PE starting at week 5 or later . 

I probably will, but I'll need to work on the inside squats more. I tried the speed skate squats afterwards, they were easy, but my right knee drives in way to much do to my arch collapsing. So, I'll need to fix that first.

Coach Sommer said:

Are you implying that twisting squats are not a gift from heaven? Hmm. Perhaps it's a matter of perspective!

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Haha! I would imply nothing of the sort! They are surprisingly challenging, I'll put it that way

My strategy this microcycle for twisting squats is to do 5 x 12 of the Cossack squats plus 12 twisting squats instead of 10 after each work set. I was having trouble with a huge pump in my legs that I would need to shake out towards the last two sets, so I figure doing extra will help with testing for mastery. The worst part is the balance, for me, the more pump I have in my legs, the harder I find it is to keep good balance during the twist

So week 1 of Cossack squats is really 1 rep per leg?

 

Just wanted to make sure.

Glad this came up. 😳 I didn't really realize that a rep was 1,2,3,4. Not 1,1 2,2 3,3 4,4.

The Hansenator said:

So week 1 of Cossack squats is really 1 rep per leg?

 

Just wanted to make sure.

Turns out it's not so much the 1 rep per leg of Cossack squats which gets me, it's the 10 reps of twist squats.

Surely it's 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4.

It's a unilateral movement. To complete the exercise you need to do both legs, only then is it a repetition.

wheezer said:

Surely it's 1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4.

It's a unilateral movement. To complete the exercise you need to do both legs, only then is it a repetition.

That's what I thought too but others say otherwise. Hopefully Coach Sommer will chime in and have the final say on the matter.

At the seminar Coach confirmed it was 10 total.

Mark Collins said:

At the seminar Coach confirmed it was 10 total.

 

In that case, could Cory (or whoever looks after content) please specify this in the course materials? Afaik every other unilateral element specifies reps per arm/leg.

 

Although, working up to 5x10r per leg hasn't hurt my gracilis any. 

Mark Collins said:

At the seminar Coach confirmed it was 10 total.

Wait so today I did 4x6 cossack squat and did 6 per leg, so really I was only 1 set away from obtaining mastery. That's awesome if so. I will prob finish out this last week but good to know I can probably move on after getting my form checked on.

Does that mean, then, that the each squat of the twisting squats is one rep?  So 10 total rather than 10 each direction?