Tuesday was skill day at Practical-Stewardship, and I introduced the ladies to the glories of the pistol squat. That’s a one-legged squat, nicknamed “pistol squats” because (I believe) with your hands at your sides you look like you’re firing a pair of six-shooters. Or maybe at the bottom of the rep you look like a pistol with the extended foot simulating a gun barrel…. Sorry; I digress.
For those of us who cannot just drop and do one-legged squats (aka “pistol squats”) with perfect balance and technique and minimal effort, there are a few steps to get you there. In all cases, focus on the following:
- Keep your heel on the ground!
- Pause at the bottom of the rep and stay there for a moment if you want to practice your balance and feel all those muscles firing.
In terms of helps, here are a few suggestions:
- Use a counter-balance. I hold a light-ish kettle bell out in front of me to help with the balance. This is a genius trick. Many people are strong enough to do a pistol, but don’t have the flexibility or the balance, so adding a 25# KB to the rep is not a big deal. Try it; you’ll see what I’m talking about.
- Elevate your heel a bit. Try putting a 10# iron plate on the ground and put it under your heel before you attempt a pistol. This is a step to help you build the strength, and even flexibility. But don’t plan on keeping this forever!
- Try it facing downhill on a modest decline. The steeper, the easier; the flatter, the harder.
- Use a rope anchored to a point in front of you that will help you cheat with your arms and help your balance. Hold the rope at two points (one with either hand) and attempt the rep. It is the easiest of all these progressions.
In every case though, you want to move up to being able to do a barefooted pistol squat on flat ground. That is the the ultimate goal. Once you’re there, you’re able to do it for time and reps. I’m not there yet, but someday.
If flexibility is keeping you from successfully pistol-squatting and these things don’t help, there are some other things you can do to increase ankle and hip mobility that I’ll save for another post.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you find this helpful.
Great lower-body strength builder. I like using these as a compliment to kb swings since they’re great at building max strength. Thanks for the tips!
You bet. Thanks for visiting. After doing heavy swings AND pistols, I’ll bet you’re feeling it in the glutes and quads pretty intensely.
This is not an easy one. I am trying to build up strength by using a stairstep box below me. Also, I am just raising one leg up a bit vs. having it extended all the way. I am hoping that next I can extend the leg out and then go from there. Thanks for the challenge!!
Way to go. Stay after it. The stair behind you will help, I think, because my tendency is to fall straight backward when I fail, but using the rope option out front is cheating too much.