The Y squat is a bodyweight squat performed with both arms held overhead in a wide Y position, training the quads while the raised arms force the torso to stay vertical. The arms are the constraint rather than the load: holding them back at roughly 45 degrees from the head locks the ribs down, so any forward lean, heel lift or stiff ankle shows up immediately as the hands drifting forward. Depth is therefore limited by your own hip and ankle range, not by weight. Coaches use it as a squat screen and a warm-up before loaded squatting.
What Muscles Does the Y Squat Work?
- Primary: quadriceps (vastus lateralis, medialis, rectus femoris)
- Secondary: gluteus maximus, adductor magnus
- Tertiary: lower trapezius, erector spinae, rectus abdominis
How Do You Set Up for the Y Squat?
Stand with your feet hip to shoulder width apart, toes pointing forward or turned out slightly, weight spread across the whole foot. Raise both arms overhead and spread them into a Y, about 45 degrees out from your head, palms facing in and elbows straight. Pull your shoulder blades down away from your ears and brace your abs so your ribs sit over your pelvis. Look straight ahead with the arms held still.
How Do You Perform the Y Squat?
- Set the Y overhead, elbows locked and shoulder blades pulled down, before your knees move.
- Break at the hips and knees together, sitting straight down between your feet with the arms unchanged.
- Descend until your hip crease drops below your knee, or until the hands start to fall forward, whichever comes first.
- Hold the bottom for one count with the arms still in the Y and both heels flat on the floor.
- Drive up through the middle of both feet, keeping the torso angle and the arm position exactly as they were.
- Finish standing tall with the knees soft and the arms still overhead, ready for the next rep.
What Are the Key Form Cues?
- Reach the hands back, not up: press the palms slightly behind your ears so the upper back stays extended through the descent.
- Ribs down over the belt: keep the front of the ribcage from flaring as the arms go overhead, or the lower back takes the reach.
- Feel both heels pinned to the floor from the first inch of the descent.
- Spread your knees over your little toes as you sink so the hips have room.
- Keep the neck long and the gaze level; chasing the hands with your eyes tips the chest.
What Are the Most Common Mistakes?
- Chasing depth past your range: the pelvis tucks under at the bottom and the lumbar spine rounds while the arms are loaded overhead, so stop at the depth where your back stays flat.
- Letting the arms drop forward: once the hands leave the Y the drill stops testing anything, so cut the set when they drift.
- Flaring the ribs to get the arms back: the reach comes from lumbar extension instead of the shoulders, so brace the abs and accept a narrower Y.
- Rising onto the toes: stiff ankles pull the heels up and the knees carry the descent, so shorten the range or stand on a slightly raised heel.
- Bending the elbows: the arms shorten and the shoulders soften, hiding the upper back restriction the position is meant to expose.
What Are the Best Y Squat Variations?
- Arms-crossed bodyweight squat: hands on the shoulders, the regression when the overhead position will not hold.
- Overhead plate squat: a plate held in the Y adds load to the same shoulder demand.
- Y squat to a box: sit to a box at a fixed height so depth is repeatable between sessions.
- Single-leg Y squat to a bench: one leg and the same overhead reach, for side-to-side comparison.
- Wall squat: the wall replaces the arms as the thing keeping your torso upright.
How Do You Progress the Y Squat?
- Progress by leverage first: hold a light plate overhead in the Y once bodyweight sets are clean, starting at 5 pounds.
- Build from 8 reps to 15 before adding anything overhead.
- Add a third and fourth set once two sets of 15 hold the Y to the last rep.
- Lengthen the bottom hold from one count to five, or take three counts to descend.
How Should You Program the Y Squat?
Use the Y squat in the warm-up before squats, front squats or lunges, or as a movement screen at the start of a lower body day. Train it two to three times a week for 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps with 45 to 60 seconds of rest. Stop each set when the arms fall out of the Y rather than grinding reps. Pair it with an ankle mobility drill.