2023-11-06 15:00:41
Today we’re going to tackle a monument: the best bodyweight exercise for your legs, no less.
Her name, the pistol squat!
What is the pistol and why make it?
The pistol squat is simply a squat performed on a single leg.
Removing support means removing a lot of stability, but that is not the only difficulty of the movement…
To be able to sit at the table of those who chain the pistols, you will have to count on:
lots of strength in your legs, logic, strong hip flexors and core, some ankle mobility, good coordination and balance skills.
Let it be said, this is clearly not an exercise that can be mastered overnight and That’s what’s magnificent!
By setting yourself the goal one morning of doing a one-legged squat, you embark on an adventure whose outcome is learning a “skill”, a new skill.
Your body will thank you, but you will also feel immense pride.
Let’s start by seeing what a perfect pistol looks like and then see the path to take to get there.
Make no mistake, while this gymnast makes the exercise look ridiculously simple, the single leg squat is a complex movement.
Common mistakes to avoid when performing it are:
Standing with your feet together, you must raise one leg straight in front of you at a right angle, which is already a challenge for many (lack of mobility and strength in the hip flexors will often put a stop to this first step). then go down while keeping your balance (the arms stretched out in front of you help to counterbalance), your back straight and your knee aligned with your foot (the knee must never go inwards), your heel must remain on the ground (which is complicated when you lack ankle flexibility) and you have to push hard to get back up (which requires a lot of strength in the leg). Finally, you need to unlock the skill on your own two legs…
And this is how an exercise that seems trivial becomes a real challenge with several potential blocking points.
This is why you should probably start with the following…
3 progressions to unlock your pistol squat
I hope you have some time on your hands, because you’re going to need to be patient to prepare your body for its first single-leg squat.
1. Le box squat
A first interesting variation is the box squat, which simply involves working on the movement by sitting on a support placed behind you.
The more we progress, the more we can reduce the size of the support.
Brake the descent well to work in an eccentric position, you will strengthen yourself by learning to control.
It is often recommended to start with a TRX or resistance band in hand for assistance, but this is not a good idea since it removes the essential component of balance work.
2. Le leg squat touchdown
It is with this exercise that you will make most of your progress, it consists of putting the foot that will work on a support and lowering into a pistol squat position with the other leg extended, slightly in front of you.
The idea of elevating the foot is to not have to use the hip flexors as much as on the ground (you will need to extend your leg less high).
Start with a very low height (a weight plate for example) and then continually increase.
To find out everything, we have dedicated an entire article to this wonderful exercise which also strengthens the knees: Single leg squat touchdown: the best exercise to protect your knees against pain
3. Rolling pistol squat
Finally, this last little exercise can also help to understand the movement technique.
For example, you can start standing with a small weight disc under your heel to require less dorsiflexion (this way you need less ankle mobility and your straight leg doesn’t need to be raised too much off the ground).
Go down with as much control as possible then do your rolling pistol to get up, trying to bring the heel as close to the glutes as possible.
At the same time, work on your mobility!
The pistol squat is about strength, technique and as we mentioned, some ankle and hip flexor mobility!
If this last component gets stuck, you will not be able to progress properly.
In addition to the exercises above, work on your flexibility at the start of the session with:
Deep squat (Asian squat), during which you will make sure to push your knees forward by contracting the muscle at the front of the shins, A position where you sit on your calves, knees completely bent, maintaining one to two minutes (which will be impossible if you lack ankle mobility), Calf stretches, Deep split squat, which involves a lot of dorsiflexion of the ankles, you will have to push your knee as far forward as possible (it will exceed your front foot) and bring as much of your rear hamstring into contact with your rear calf as possible (raise the front foot to have less mobility demand on your ankle).
After that ?
In conclusion, the pistol squat is a great strength exercise if you don’t have access to weights, but it’s far from being its only asset!
We have seen that it is excellent for flexibility and your ankles and your often neglected hip flexors. It will develop your balance, your coordination in addition to being fun!
And once mastered? We continue to raise the level with dragon squat!
Good luck…
Updated by Quentin on: 06/11/2023
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