Pistol Squats

[ryantherobot]

I don't have access to videos and haven't found a good photo tutorial of pistols. My problem is when on one foot I can't seem to go down all the way like I can with a regular squat or a calf squat (squats with my heels up). Should I be able to go all the way down in a Pistol Squat?

[David Picó García]

Yes

Here you have a tutorial.

http://www.beastskills.com/Pistol.htm

You can't because of lack of strength or flexibility?

You can start from down, put on a squat position with your butt touching your calves, and then extend one leg and try to go up (you can assist with your hands on something). The most difficult part is the transition the parallel position. It worked for me to go down thinking on put the butt backward as far as possible (as if you sit down) and the chin as forward as possible at the same time.

[Nick]

I always found the descent to be the hardest part to. If you have the strength to come up, you can just hold on to something to help you practice the descent until you get comfortable doing it. Obviously, over time, just reduce the tightness of your grip on your support.

[ryantherobot]

Its somewhat strength and somewhat form I think. When doing a regular squat I've always been taught not to have my knee go forward. No matter how hard I try on a one legged squat my knee comes over my toes thus putting pressure on my ankle and knee.

Starting from the bottom helped me a little so thanks for that piece of advice. Any other tips for getting this going would be great.

[JaredLLL]

http://www.powerathletesmag.com/pages/pistols.htm

Here is another article on Pistols.

The author makes a suggestion to rock ups, If you dont have the strength to do a pistol then you can just roll backwards on your back at the bottom of the movement. roll back forward on to your feet and press through. The added momentum can help you complete the rep.

Lots of good info on this article as well as on beastskills

[Blairbob]

Flexibility, Balance, Strength. Somewhat in that order.

Ryan that tells me you are probably suffering from a lack of flexibility in your hamstrings coupled with tight hip flexors. Some other places people are inflexible in a pistol is ankle and knees.

When, you squat you shouldn't purposely try to have the knees go forward but think about pushing the hips and knees away from each other. Because the body needs to balance over the mid foot, the knee will go over the foot; especially as you go butt to the ground. Doing so also requires a lot of ankle, knee, and hip/ham flexibility.

If the descent is difficult, it is a matter of coordination and balance.

If you can get into the bottom position but cannot get out of it, it is mostly leg strength.

This is why I train the flexibility in the bottom first to loosen up the ankles, knees, hips and hams. This is also injury prevention.

After an athlete trains that position with or without an assist, ( a spotter or holding a pole for balance or putting their foot on a slope ) I focus on having them do assisted pistols to build up strength and some balance and flexibility.

Another drill is to stand and simply practice lowering to the bottom. This requires being able to hold the pistol at the bottom. Otherwise it's kind of just a fall to your butt. This can also be down on a height if hip flexor flexibility is poor.

My next step tends to be with a backward rock/roll to back and standing up on the foot. An athlete rocks back to a height ( a box or a panel mat stack ) so the ROM is less and less strength is requires because it isn't so deep. Eventually we take away height and layers of mat till it's on the floor.

From there, it doesn't take much time to lower and raise and complete 1 pistol. 1+1+1...etc By this time they have become somewhat efficient at the movement having trained the current motor units in the neuromuscular system.

It's involved but it works and it's better than sucking at them for long periods of time and giving up.

[David Picó García]

No matter how hard I try on a one legged squat my knee comes over my toes thus putting pressure on my ankle and knee

When doing pistols put all the pressure of your weight ON THE HEEL of the foot (although the foot is flat on floor), if you feel the preassure going to the front of the foot you are probably leaning forward too much. And think as you would like to sit down but the chair is a foot away from your hips-butt.

[Nic Scheelings]

A further tip for pistols

When intially learning the movement I found it helpful to hold a small weight in front, it aids with balance especially when you really try to pull down and sit back into the squat.

[Alan O'Donnell]

It also helps to hold onto your outstretched foot with your hand (grab your toes like you're stretching your hamstring), especially if your not very flexible, since it forces your balance forward a bit.