Quads exercise
Wall SitHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Quads
- Also works
- Glutes
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Wall Sit?
- Stand with your back flat against a wall.
- Walk your feet forward, shoulder-width apart.
- Slide down until your thighs are level with the floor.
- Keep your knees over your ankles and hold.
- Push through your heels to slide back up.
Cues
- Back flat on the wall.
- Knees stacked over your ankles.
- Breathe slowly while you hold.
Common mistakes
- Stopping too high, so the hips stay above the knees.
- Feet too close to the wall, pushing the knees past the toes.
- Pressing your hands on your thighs.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Stand with the back of the head, upper back and buttocks against a flat wall. Walk the feet forward about a thigh's length from the wall, shoulder-width apart, toes turned out a little.
The movement
Slide the back down the wall by bending the knees and hips. Adjust the feet, if needed, until the shins are vertical when the thighs reach level. Hold still: the back, buttocks and head stay on the wall, the whole foot stays flat, and the knees stay over the ankles and in line with the toes. To finish, push through the heels and slide back up the wall to standing.
End position
The hold position is a "chair": hips and knees each at about 90°, thighs level with the floor, shins vertical. The heel is about 5 cm behind the ankle joint, so the heel lands about 48 cm from the wall. Wiles' group sets the knee joint angle from 135° down to 95° included angle (45° to 85° of flexion) for graded tests [2]; 90° flexion is the standard full wall sit [1].
Tempo
2 s slide down, 4 s hold (breathing shows as a small chest rise only), 1.5 s slide up, 0.5 s stand. In use the hold lasts 20–60 s or more.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knee flexion in the hold | 90° | 80–100° | [1][2] |
| Hip flexion in the hold | 90° | 80–100° | [1] |
| Shin angle from vertical | 0° (vertical) | 0–8° (knee ahead of ankle) | [2] |
| Trunk angle from vertical | 0° (flat on the wall) | 0–5° | [1][2] |
| Thigh angle from horizontal | 0° (level) | ±10° | [1] |
| Stance width, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | 0.8–1.2 × | [1] |
| Toe-out, each foot | 10° | 0–15° | [1] |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Wall Sit is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
Sources
- Physitrack (physiotherapy exercise platform), Wall Sit
- Lea, O'Driscoll, Coleman and Wiles 2021, Sci Rep, "Validity and reliability of the 'Isometric Exercise Scale' (IES) for measuring ratings of perceived exertion during continuous isometric exercise"
- Wiles, Goldring and Coleman 2017, Eur J Appl Physiol, "Home-based isometric exercise training induced reductions resting blood pressure"
