SLS SE1

Hi all, have recently progressed onto the Hawaiian Squat, wondering how others are finding this excercise? Im not struggling with it from a strength point of view but purely from a balance perspective. Is this the point of the excercise, ie to build strength through balance, or am I just weak in another area (like core?) and this is my problem?

Also related to this, Im finding the shoulder bridge leg curl as the mobility, significantly less challenging than the naturel leg extension on the previous PE. Again interested to hear what others have experienced?

Balance is definitely a challenge with these and from what I have read that is intentional. Plenty people struggle with balance in full pistols. I did find that the balance issue is a bit connected to whether or not I stretch my outer hip before these: if I do, it's easier to get into the bottom position which resulted in less struggle with balance. I was mostly losing my balance in a way that I would "fall" backwards.

The iM for this one is the start of hamstring focussed iMs, whereas the nLE is the last of the knee prehab iMs plus it has a quad focus. You can increase the intensity of this iM by taking your arms off the floor to make sure they don't assist and by using a not so slippery implement. Or by peeking ahead to the iM for SE2

Hi Gareth,

I remember struggling with Hawaiian Squats when I first tried them as well. It is okay to use a table or counter top for balance as you get used to this exercise. As you improve, you will be able to minimize support and eventually be able to do them free-standing.

Keep practicing and it will get better. 

Thanks both for the feedback. Kai my balance problem is more toppling to one side or the other, ive tried putting my standing foot in slightly different angles to help counter this but with no luck, guess its just more practice needed  Will try the hip stretching as well! Thanks

@Gareth Jenkins Feel free to post a video to Video review or on the Form Check Forum. We are happy to help in any way that we can.

I have a tip for you to improve balance that has nothing to do with GST but has been amazing for me. Try some balancing on rails! I was working specifically the position where your feet are perpendicular to the (low!) rail, and the improvements and transfer to one-legged balance I've seen were large and surprised me. 

If you don't have appropriate rails easily accessible, you can use most parallettes or make a 3 ft long training rail from 1" galvanized pipe.