Homemade Roman Chair Squat

Roman-chair squats, an old school bodybuilder exercise, are one of the best thigh builders around. This exercise is performed on a roman chair squat device, not a Roman-chair sit-up/hyperextension found in most commercial gyms.

Legendary trainer Vince Gironda describes the movement as follows:

Place feet 12 inches (30 cm) apart, toes and knees pointing outward. Keep your back straight, hands on hips, and lower right down to the maximum low position. Rise upwards without leaning forward, all the way to the extended position, but do not straighten the whole body. Stop at a slightly rearwards-leaning angle to maintain stress on the legs. Lower and repeat.

The key to this exercise is to do 3/4 reps. Never reach completely vertical. This keeps the tension on the quads from start to finish. If you do these correctly, bodyweight will be enough.

Begin the exercise in an upright position then lean back slightly-this lean places the tension completely on the quads. Keeping your back as straight as possible bend your knees and lower yourself towards the floor reaching at least a 90 degree bend in the knee. As you rise upwards come to a fully extended position in your legs while maintaining the rearward lean. Again, this will keep the stress on the quads. The most common mistake is to rise to a completely upright position which releases the tension on the quads.

I took my homemade belt squat platform and beefed it up so I could use it as a dead lifting platform, and then added an addition so I could use it for homemade roman chair squats: