If you’ve never tried the Hunter Squat for BJJ performance, you are missing out on tremendous benefits for strength, mobility, and resilience.
The Hunter Squat is essentially a combination of a squat and a lunge, which offers unique advantages, especially for the grappler over 35.
At O&P we prioritize high-value moves that provide multiple qualities in one, like strength, mobility, and durability.
The Hunter Squat is one of those moves, and should be a staple in every grappler’s training routine.
Let’s look at the benefits first, then applications to the mat.
Strength Benefits
Most people program squats for their amazing ability to build lower body strength. The Hunter Squat does the same, but with single leg strength, which I regard as more import for BJJ performance.
The muscles of the glutes, quads, and core are strengthened while your spine and posture become more stable and resilient.
The muscles directly above the knee are developed for better knee stability and injury resistance – a must for aging grapplers.
Your core works to maintain spinal integrity while managing the frontal load, meaning less threat of back and hip pain.
You can take the strength benefits even further with front presses, overhead presses and manipulating load placement.
Both sides of your body are also strengthened evenly for balance and to reduce asymmetries.
Mobility BENEFITS
True resilience is developed when strength is built on access to a full range of motion. The Hunter Squat provides all three by simply performing reps.
You might struggle at first to reach rock bottom in the Hunter Squat, but over time, your hip mobility will improve, as will your knee range of motion.
The Hunter Squat naturally mobilizes your hips, knees, and ankles – it’s loaded mobility training.
It also provides some unique benefits to the feet that I haven’t received from any other exercise.
The bottom of the trailing “kickstand” foot, or plantar fascia, is stretched and lengthened with every rep. This is vital for “toes on the mat” ability in positions like side control, half guard, and finishing takedowns.
If you flatten the “kickstand” foot, in the Seiza variation of the Hunter Squat, you mobilize the top of the ankle, giving you more mobility up the chain, but also more resilience against toe holds and ankle locks.
The Hunter Squat is a smart option because it improves mobility without thinking about it.
On The Mat BENEFITS
I realized the true value of the Hunter Squat when I found myself in the bottom position of it while defending against a sweep. It’s an actual position we use on the mats, often as a stable place to hunker down against attacks, as well as to transition up from.
It’s also known as the S-Mount (pictured above) on the mat, which is the bottom of the Hunter Squat.
The S-Mount is used to pin and trap your opponent, and transition between attacks while on top.
The S-Mount requires a certain degree of mobility to access, and even more hip dexterity to transition in and out of.
You can forge that by simply performing Hunter Squats.
Plus, the Hunter position is used to wrestle up, finish takedowns, and a safe way to maintain strong, upright posture while transitioning up from or down to the mat.
Once you try it, you’ll see the Hunter position all over the mat – and you’ll be more capable there by training the Hunter Squat.
Final Thoughts
The Hunter Squat is a high-value move that provides a list of benefits to the grappler.
And it doesn’t require anything complicated to get all of them – simply do weighted reps a few times a week.
You can also use the Hunter Squat to warmup and prime your hips, knees, ankles, and spine for dynamic BJJ.
There are also countless variations of the Hunter Squat, as well as transitions to other valuable moves like the Cossack Squat, Shin Box, Rock Bottom Squat, and more.
It’s best performed with kettlebells or clubs, making it accessible anywhere.
This is a must-do exercise that every grappler should add to their arsenal.
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