How about Pistol Squat? Marek Vácha, the best Czech crossfitter, will tell you!

Author Marek Vácha and RUFF training team

After the quarterfinals we are back and this time we will be doing drills for Pistol Squats or squats on one leg! As always, it is necessary to realize why I want to do the drill. The correct execution is ideally on the whole leg, the athlete does not lift the heel, the knee goes in the direction of the toe (2nd-3rd toe). Therefore, if you have already mastered Pistol Squats, it does not mean that the following tips will be useless to you. It's always good to improve each movement, so there's no harm in taking a step back and trying the drills listed.

What's important?

Single leg squats (hereafter referred to as pistols) will test you from all sides, using the full range of motion in the ankles, knees and hips. Therefore, the limitations of any joint mentioned will be reflected in the performance of the pistol. The mobility of the joints in question can be improved incrementally in the simpler positions we will review below. It is also suitable to work before training, a kind of preparation of the joints before movement.

Next, you need to be able to stabilize the knee, i.e. have a sufficiently mastered strength component - hand on heart, how many times have you tried the pistols and the knee flew in, you definitely don't want to go that way. Recommended by 11/10 physiotherapists.

Stability

Since this is a one-legged exercise, logically our stability is worse. That's why it's good (and not just for this exercise, but for life) to practice stability outside and anytime. I'm not referring to barefoot exercises, but simply just lifting one leg in a standing position and holding it for, say, a minute, then switching limbs. When you feel good, you can close your eyes and continue the exercise. You can progress and reinvent in different ways, such as reducing the area of support. The goal is simply to activate the vestibular system, whose function deteriorates over time. If you have mastered stability, the pistols will go much easier.

Here we go.

To get started, you'll need a crate, which will make practicing much easier. Also prepare your reels according to your level.

Step Downs

In addition to strengthening, this exercise is absolutely great for getting your knee in the right position. Stand on a box, say on your right side, and shift your weight to your inside, left leg. Your hips will start to move backwards, as you do this your left knee will bend and come forward. The other leg, the right leg, is pointing down. In order to keep the knee from running inwards, smoothly and as slowly as possible come into contact with the disc. The right foot goes for a very gentle touch, you can imagine that there is something fragile down there that you don't want to break. Then you come back up, ideally without the bounce of the bottom foot. Try to touch only the heel in the bottom position. The higher you set the discs, the easier the execution becomes, so over time you can take the discs off and get down to performing the movement from the box only. The priority remains a stable knee and the ability to go down in the slowest possible execution. So don't skip single height unnecessarily fast.

Lighter version of pistols

Try out different variations before taking on pistols in their entirety. You can start by sitting on the crate so you're standing in front of it. You always want to do a few reps so that you fix the correct movement pattern, so first of all watch the direction of your knee, then move on. The crate can be lowered or you can use a smaller bench.

Skater Squats

The next level is Skater Squats, which are squats where you are already approaching the pistol version. The advantage here is to take out the strength of the hip flexors and possibly limit the range of the muscles on the back of the thigh at the free leg. At the same time, you're already strengthening the standing leg nicely for the squat. Instead of the non-standing leg going forward in front of the body, it goes backwards with the knee bent and you can push the hips towards the glutes. It's a good idea to use the help of abmats, pads, something to raise the surface under you so you don't have to drop too low if you haven't already. You go to a depth where you can hold the knee of the standing leg again, touch the mat with the other knee and manage to lift yourself up.

A lighter version would be without holding the shin at the buttocks by touching the mat with your whole shin, not just your knee, during the squat position.

Box Pistol Squats

Continuing on to the box squat, where you hold the disc in front of you, this gives you a slight balance and you don't have to keep the other leg straight out in front of you like you do with the full pistol squat. You can practice that here though. So try playing around with the position and when you're already down in the squat, lift your free leg higher in front of you a couple of times and release down again.

Once you're able to do this, perform the movement with your leg extended as high as possible.

Pistol Squats

If you can do Box Pistol Squats with ease, there's no reason not to get into performing the full pistol squat. So start standing, weight on one leg, sit into a squat position, free leg extended in front of your body.

If you can't hold your leg in front of you yet and it falls to the mat, you can hold it with one hand. Another option can be a pistol with an external weight (in this case the weight should not be too heavy). You hold the disc in front of you like on a box (see above), performing the movement should be easier as it will help bring your center of gravity a little more forward.

When lifting from the squat, you should be able to finish the standing leg before adding the free leg.

Limit range at the ankles

Since ankle restriction tends to be a big stumbling block not only in pistols but also in normal squats, we'll show one of the many exercises that can be used to improve range.

Banded Joint Mobilization

Place your front foot on the disc, the rubber should be locked against the tibia as you see in the picture. For proper mobilization, the rubber should not rest on the tibia. When you have this ready, slide your knee forward over the toe, hold here for a few seconds and come back a little. Do 10-15 reps on each leg.

That's it from us for today. Try out each drill, we hope this helps you to better your either your current pistols or directly to your first one. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

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