Why Pistol Squats Are so Hard (and How to Do Them Anyway)
Pistol squats are among the bodyweight strength world’s most impressive feats, right next to things like backflips or a perfect handstand. Well, I can’t do those other two, but I can knock out a bunch of pistol squats. Let’s talk about what goes into one, and what it will take to get you there.
What is a pistol squat?
A pistol squat is a one-legged squat, where the free leg (the one you are not squatting with) is held straight out in front of you. (I imagine the name comes from the idea that your leg, sticking out in front, resembles the barrel of a pistol.) To do a pistol squat:
Raise one leg (say, your left) straight out in front of you.
Keeping that leg out in front of you, and your torso upright, bend your standing (right) leg until your hip joint is at or below the level of your knee.
With the leg still out in front of you, not touching the ground, stand back up.
Pistol squats are often done free-handed, but it’s OK (by me, the self-appointed queen of pistol squats) to hold the toe of the free leg with your hand. Pistol squats are ideally done with the free leg completely straight, but it’s also OK to bend that knee a bit if you need to.
Pistol squats are most commonly done without weight, but you can also do them with a weight, such as a kettlebell, in your hands. (This makes the balance easier, but requires a bit more strength to stand up.)
You don’t need to do your pistol squats “ass to grass” (with your butt nearly touching the ground), but you can if you want. It’s more impressive that way.
Some people, seeing this description, will go “oh, like this?” and just bust one out. For a select few of us, this is an easy move. But for most of the population, it’s really hard! It takes strength, balance, and mobility to do a pistol squat well. So let’s break down the component, and talk about how to work your way up to a full pistol squat.
Strengthen your quads
Let’s cover the most obvious thing first. To squat down and up on one leg, that one leg needs to be able to support the weight of your whole body. In other words, that leg is working twice as hard as if you were doing a normal squat with both feet on the ground.
Many leg muscles are involved in squats, but the star of pistol squats is a muscle group called the quadriceps. That's a group of four muscles on the front of your thigh. I have a list here of my favorite quad exercises, from goblet squats to barbell squats, and even one or two that don't have "squat" in the name. (The leg press machine is great.)
Mathematically, I figure that if you can squat with a barbell on your back that is equal to your own body weight, then your legs are probably strong enough to each do a pistol squat unweighted. That's a minimum, though—the stronger your legs are, the easier pistols will be.
How to work up to it: Build your leg strength with the quad exercises of your choice. Barbell squats are great, but I’d especially recommend single-leg quad work. Speaking of which...
Work on single-leg strength
Just being good at two-legged squats does not guarantee you have all the strength you need to squat on one leg. Moving your body up and down requires strength mainly from your quads, as we discussed. But when you’re on one leg, you also need:
Abductor strength (using the muscles of your butt and the outside of your hips) to keep your leg from collapsing inward.
Adductor strength (in your inner thigh muscles) to assist the quads and to counterbalance the abductors.
Hip flexor strength (in the muscles that attach to the front of your thigh), to hold your free leg up in the “pistol” position.
How to work up to it: You can target each muscle directly, but you’ll get a really good bang for your buck by doing unilateral (one-sided) leg exercises like:
Step-ups, increasing the height of the box over time, and adding weight as needed
Lunges (forward and/or reverse)
Bulgarian split squats (with your back foot on a bench) or any other type of split squat
Step-downs, in which you control the lowering-down portion of the movement and then use your free leg to help push you back up to the top
Shrimp squat progressions, using your free leg behind you
Pistol squats to a box, where you sit down on a box or bench behind you and then stand back up using only one leg (I sometimes call these “one-leg stand-ups”). If the box is fairly tall, these are a lot easier than regular pistol squats.
All of these exercises can be weighted, if you like. Hold dumbbells in your hands for step-ups, or rack a kettlebell on your shoulder for the box pistols.
While you work on your hip flexor strength (seated and hanging leg raises are great, by the way), you can take them out of the equation for the moment by holding your toes with your hand as you descend into your squat.
Improve your balance
As you’re doing all of these one-legged exercises, you may find it difficult just to stay balanced on one foot. That’s normal! Single leg balance is, fortunately, a skill you can improve very quickly. Practice standing on one foot, imagining your foot as a tripod (big toe, little toe, heel) or do as I do and imagine you’re wearing quad roller skates and try to balance your weight between the four wheels at the four corners of your feet.
One-legged exercises will help you build this balance, but so will standing balance exercises, like standing on one foot while you brush your teeth. Once you’re stable standing up, try moving around and bending your knee. Notice how you have to move your butt back and chest forward to stay balanced as your knee bends. This will become very important.
How to work up to it: All of those single-leg exercises mentioned above will give you lots of balance practice. You can also practice balancing on one leg as you bend that leg (even if you can’t get all the way down into a squat). Want one more tip? Practice holding the bottom position of the pistol squat, even if you have to get down on the ground with your hands for now.
Do some mobility work
Pistol squats are most impressive when they’re done “ass-to-grass,” going as far down as your body will allow. This means your butt is nearly touching your shoes, and typically your knees will need to go pretty far forward of your toes. (And no, you won’t ruin your knees by putting your knees over your toes.)
The most common thing preventing people from getting into a deep squat is ankle mobility. For your butt to get low, your shins have to tilt forward. To keep your foot flat on the ground while your shins tilt forward, the Achilles tendon at the back of your ankle needs to be able to stretch a good bit.
How to work up to it: Here are some tips for ankle mobility, which include stretches but also a few quick fixes like wearing shoes with an elevated heel.
As you descend into a pistol squat position, take note of whether you feel resistance anywhere else. Depending on your body proportions, you may need to stretch or build strength in other areas.
Practice is crucial
Finally, we come to the truth that skilled movements take practice. The stronger and more mobile you are, the less practice it may take, but ultimately you need to learn how to do a pistol squat. Being able to balance on one foot while standing up isn’t the same thing as being able to balance when you’re fully in the squat position, and you’ll have to be able to balance as you descend through all the positions in between.
As you practice your pistols, you may find that pausing at the bottom helps you to regain stability before standing back up; or you may find that you prefer to get a quick bounce out of the bottom to send you back up.
How to work up to it: One way to practice before you’ve gotten the full move down is to lower yourself down on one leg, roll onto your back, and then try to roll forward again, balance on your foot and stand up. This gives you some momentum, which helps when you don’t quite have the strength to accelerate yourself upward yet.
Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how to get your first pistol squat. Some people have the strength but are missing the mobility, or vice versa. Some people are at a disadvantage in one way but have an advantage somewhere else; for example, I have mile-long thighbones, which means I have to get into a pretty extreme knees-over-toes position, but I also have good enough ankle mobility to get there and to be strong in that position. Figure out what you’re missing, and eliminate your weak points. And if you aren’t sure what your weak point is, just work on everything. You’ll get there soon enough.