Pistol Squats

That reminds me of when I was little and used to do shoot the duck at the skating rinks!!!

I can. I can even do a couple on a balance plate/balance disc (I have both).

I attribute it to years of physical therapy. Two ankle surgeries (3 injuries) so a combined 2.5-3 years physical therapy where they made me do pistol squats on a balance plate. Now I have my own balance plate and do them at home.

I'm definitely trying this when I go to the gym tonight. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I might have to give this a go...although I suspect that I won't be able to get that far as I need to increase mobility through my calves/achilles to prevent my heel from raising off the floor. But, thanks to my squats I am getting better there.

I work out at home with bodyweight and dumbbells, pistol squats are my squats. They are my primary get big and strong leg exercise.

I do them several ways:

- Loaded w/dumbbells on shoulders, leg switch front-back (PR of +70 lb x3 reps @ 200 lb BW)

When loaded there is a form variation where you can shift your front leg back coming out of the hole (once you get the clearance), it makes them easier. However this isn't the case when unloaded, load adds balance and gives you more center of gravity options. Above was done that style. It is more posterior chain dominant, more like a back squat.

Edit - Here is a video of me doing this form with 50 lbs (2x 25): http://youtu.be/lWdJGZgMZ4g

- Loaded w/dumbbells on shoulders (PR of +50 lb x3 reps @207 lb BW), leg held in front throughout

This form is more quad dominant, more like a front squat

- Rest-pause Myo-reps one side at a time (PR of somewhere near 60 total reps each side)

This is an autoregulated volume workout where I do a single side bodyweight set to near failure, take 5 breaths, do another, take 5 breaths, do another, etc... til I start to drop reps, then I switch to 10 breaths and keep going until I start to drop reps and pretty much reach total failure. Then repeat on the other side. It'll leave ya walkin funny and is great for hypertrophy.

- Straight sets of bodyweight, one side at a time (PR of 13 reps straight on weaker leg)

I usually prefer the rest-pause approach simply to save time, but occasionally work straight sets. Bodyweight are always done leg in front throughout, and I try to hold it as high as possible.

- Switching sides with each rep (PR of 24 (12 each side), been a long time since I did this, could probably go into the 20's on each side with ease nowadays)

Easier than trying to straight set one side at a time. Side switching gives a little rest between each rep that allows you to run up the volume big time.

- Pistol squat jumps onto an object (PR of 5 per side onto a 24" box (long time ago))

Land soft. Jump to the side. This isn't as hard as it sounds, most people can one leg hop a few inches without issue. Add in the space to lift your leg, and it isnt really that much more difficult than a standard pistol. If you can bang out pistols pretty easily, surely you can do these.

- Jump Switch Pistol (PR of 3 per side. Here is a video of me doing them: http://youtu.be/cMUP4t--qec)

These are really fickin hard. The jump is the easy part, controlling the landing is the hard part. These are really akin to 1 legged depth jumps. The trick is to not jump that high, or it just makes the landing that much more difficult. Just a few reps of these really trash the legs.

- Little pink dumbbell pistol (PR of one rep on my stronger leg. LOL on my weaker leg).

A name I made up for a super hard variation. Grab a little pink dumbell and hold it behind your lower back with BOTH arms, maintaining your grip on the dumbbell held vertically with both hands throughout. The way you have to shift your weight and tighten muscles, and the lever with the knee, makes this virtually impossible. But it is possible. I don't care how much you squat, chances are you can't do a little pink dumbbell pistol.

Little pink dumbbell pistol is the only one I have a stronger leg PR for. All other PR's are weaker leg, stronger just copies to have symmetical growth. Pretty confident my stronger leg could blow those other above PR's out of the water.

Quoted so I can reference this later for variations

Edit: The jump onto object, I'm a little confused. Like a single leg jump onto a plyobox or something else?

Yep.

Sturdy chair works good for them. Especailly since you can grab the back if need be to get your balance once you land.

Tip for beginners trying to get these - LEAN FORWARD. The more upright you are, the harder they are. Upright forms are great as you get stronger, but at first, lean your torso as far forward as you can throughout the rep. If you are leaning far enough, your chest should hit your quad before your hamstrings hit your calves.