Barbell Narrow Stance Squat

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. 2. Hold the barbell across your upper back, resting it on your trapezius muscles. 3. Step your feet closer together, keeping them about hip-width apart. 4. Keeping your chest up and core engaged, initiate the movement by bending your knees and pushing your hips back as if sitting on a chair. 5. Lower your body down until your thighs are parallel to the floor or as low as you comfortably can, ensuring your knees are tracking in line with your toes. 6. Push through your heels and drive your hips forward to return to the starting position, squeezing your glutes at the top. 7. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions while maintaining proper form throughout the exercise.

How to perform the Barbell Narrow Stance Squat

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Barbell Narrow Stance Squat using your barbell.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your quadriceps.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your quadriceps rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

Build a free routine

Stage exercises here, then sign up to save them as a real Fitly routine — synced to web and mobile.

View staged routine (0)

Related exercises

0 exercises staged Save your routine — sign up free.