Why Pistol Squats Are so Hard (and How to Do Them Anyway)

Pistol squats are among the world’s most impressive feats of body strength, right next to things like backflips or the perfect handstand. Well, I can’t do the other two, but I can knock out a bunch of pistol squats. Let’s talk about what comes into play and what it will take to get there.

What is a pistol squat?

A pistol squat is a single-leg squat, where the free leg (the one you are not squatting with) is extended in front of you. (I imagine the name comes from the idea that your leg, sticking out in front, looks like the barrel of a gun.) To do a pistol squat:

1. Raise one leg (say, your left) directly in front of you.

2. Keeping that leg in front of you and your torso straight, bend your standing (straight) leg until your hip joint is at or below the level of your knee.

3. With your leg still in front of you, without touching the ground, stand up.

Pistol squats are often performed freehand, but it’s OK (by me, the self-proclaimed queen of pistol squats) to hold the end of the free leg with your hand. Pistol squats are ideally performed with the free leg completely straight, but you can also bend that knee a little if you need to.

Pistol squats are most often done without weights, but you can also do them with a weight, such as a kettlebell, in your hands. (This makes it easier to balance, but requires a little more strength to get up.)

You don’t need to do your pistol squats “ass to the grass” (with your butt almost touching the ground), but you can if you want. It’s more impressive that way.

Some people, seeing this description, will say “oh, like that?” and just eliminate one. For some of us, it’s an easy decision. But for the majority 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 progress to a full pistol squat.

Strengthen your quads

Let’s look at the most obvious thing first. Squatting and getting up on one leg is A the leg must be able to support the weight of your entire body. In other words, this leg works 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. This is a group of four muscles located at the front of your thigh. I’ve got a list of my favorite quad exercises here, from goblet squats to barbell squats, and even one or two that don’t have “squat” in the name. (The leg press is awesome.)

Mathematically, I suppose if you can squat with a barbell on your back equal to your own weight, then your legs are probably strong enough for everyone to do a pistol squat without weights. However, this is a minimum: the stronger your legs are, the easier the pistols will be.

How to achieve this: Develop your leg strength with the quad exercises of your choice. Dumbbell squats are great, but I would especially recommend single-leg quad work. Speaking of which…

Working on single leg strength

Just because you are good at two-legged squats does not guarantee that you have all the strength you need to squat on one leg. Moving your body up and down requires strength primarily from your quadriceps, as we’ve discussed. But when you’re on one leg, you Also need:

• Abductor strength (using the muscles in your butt and the outside of your hips) to keep your leg from collapsing inward.

• Adductor strength (in the inner thigh muscles) to assist the quadriceps and counterbalance the abductors.

• Hip flexor strength (in the muscles that attach to the front of your thigh), to hold your free leg in the “pistol” position.

How to achieve this: You can target each muscle directly, but you’ll really get your money’s worth by doing unilateral (one-sided) leg exercises like:

• Step-ups, increasing the height of the box over time and adding weight if necessary

• Lunges (front and/or back)

• Bulgarian split squats (with the back foot on a bench) or any other type of split squat

• Step-downs, in which you control the downward portion of the movement, then use your free leg to help you move back up.

• Shrimp Squat Progressionsusing your free leg behind you

• The pistol squat to a box, where you sit on a box or bench behind you, then stand up using only one leg (I sometimes call these “single leg stand-ups”). If the box is high enough, these squats are much easier than regular pistol squats.

All of these exercises can be weighted, if desired. Hold dumbbells in your hands for step-ups, or place a kettlebell on your shoulder for box pistols.

While you’re working on the strength of your hip flexors (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 lower into your squat.

Improve your balance

While you’re doing all these exercises on one leg, you may find it difficult to balance on one foot. It’s normal! Fortunately, balancing on one leg is a skill that can be improved very quickly. Practice standing on one foot, imagining your foot as a tripod (big toe, little toe, heel) or do like me and imagine you’re wearing quad roller skates and try to balance your weight between the four wheels on the four corners of your feet.

Single-leg exercises will help you develop this balance, as will standing balance exercises, such as standing on one foot while you brush your teeth. Once you are stable on your feet, try moving around and bending your knee. Notice how you need to move your butt back and your chest forward to stay balanced as your knee bends. This will become very important.

How to achieve this: All these single leg exercises mentioned above will give you plenty of balance practice. You can also practice balancing on one leg when you bend that leg (even if you can’t squat all the way). Want additional advice? Practice maintaining the bottom position of the pistol squat, even if you have to ground yourself with your hands at the moment.

Do mobility work

Pistol squats are most impressive when performed “ass to grass,” going as low as your body will allow. This means your butt is almost touching your shoes and your knees will generally need to go quite far in front of your toes. (And no, you won’t damage your knees by putting your knees on your toes.)

The most common thing that stops people from squatting deeply is ankle mobility. For your butt to descend, your shins must 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 little.

How to achieve this: Here are some tips for ankle mobilitywhich include stretching but also some quick fixes like wearing shoes with a raised heel.

As you lower yourself into a pistol squat, notice if you feel resistance elsewhere. 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: skillful movements take practice. The stronger and more mobile you are, the less practice it takes, but ultimately you have to learn how do a pistol squat. Being able to balance on one foot while standing is not the same as being able to balance when you are fully in a squat position, and you will need to be able to balance while descending in all positions in between.

As you practice your pistols, you may find that pausing at the bottom helps you regain stability before getting back up; or you may find that you prefer to bounce quickly from the bottom to send yourself back up.

How to achieve this: One way to practice before you’ve completed the downward movement is to lower yourself onto one leg, roll onto your back, then try to roll forward again, balance on your foot and stand up. This gives you some momentum, which is useful when you don’t yet have the strength to accelerate upwards.

Ultimately, there is no single answer to nailing your first pistol squat. Some people have the strength but lack the mobility, or vice versa. Some people are disadvantaged in one sense but have an advantage elsewhere; for example, I have mile-long femurs, which means I have to get into a pretty extreme knee-over-toe position, but I also have good enough ankle mobility to get there and be strong in that position. Figure out what you’re lacking and eliminate your weaknesses. And if you’re not sure what your weak point is, just work on everything. You’ll get there soon enough.