Legs · Tier 4
Pistol Squat
The pistol squat is the legs branch's boss fight — a full-depth single-leg squat with the free leg held straight out front, demanding strength, balance, and ankle mobility in one rep.
Also known as: Single-Leg Squat · One-Leg Squat- Difficulty
- 6/10 · Intermediate
- Tier
- 04
- Equipment
- none
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This is the end of this branch.
The pistol squat sits at tier 4 — the capstone of the legs branch and the payoff for everything below it. You earn it off the Bulgarian split squat and the shrimp squat, both of which build the single-leg strength and balance this rep demands, plus the heel-down deep squat that proves your ankles are ready. Nothing unlocks above it here; this is the destination.
The pistol punishes weak links — if your ankle mobility, your glute, or your balance is the limiter, the rep simply won't happen. Train the gap, not the goal: chase the box pistol, the heel-down squat, and the eccentric you can actually control, and the full rep shows up on its own. Strength and mobility have to arrive together, so build both patiently rather than forcing depth your joints can't yet hold.
Readiness gates
Clear these measurable conditions before forcing the skill.
10 per leg
3 per leg
heel-down deep squat
Technique, step by step
Four checkpoints for one honest repetition or hold.
- 01Setup
Plant the standing foot
Stand on one foot with your weight spread across the whole sole — big toe, little toe, heel all gripping. Lift the other leg straight out in front, knee locked, ankle dorsiflexed so the toes pull toward your shin. Reach both arms forward as a counterweight, brace your abs, and fix your eyes on a point at eye level. Own this balanced single-leg stand before you let your hips move.
- 02Lower
Sit to the floor
Break at the hip and knee together on a slow 3-second count, sending your hips down and back while the free leg stays straight ahead and just off the ground. Let the standing knee travel forward over the toes and keep your heel glued down — this is where ankle mobility earns its keep. Sink until your hamstring covers your calf, chest stays proud, and the free heel hovers an inch off the floor the whole way.
- 03Drive
Stand through the floor
From the bottom, drive your whole foot into the ground and stand the hip and chest up together — don't let the standing knee cave or the hips shoot up first. Squeeze the glute hard and push the knee out over the toes as you rise. Keep both arms reaching forward and the free leg straight to hold your line. Grind it smooth; no bouncing or twisting out of the hole.
- 04Top
Finish tall and reset
Stand all the way to full hip and knee extension, glute squeezed, ribs stacked over the hip — still balanced on the one foot. Take a breath, re-brace, and confirm the standing foot is still gripping the tripod. Hold control here for a beat rather than crashing the free foot down, then flow into the next rep with the same tempo.
Skill practice guide
Public skill guidance — not your protected personalized eight-week plan.
Own a full-depth, controlled pistol squat on each leg, then build toward clean sets of 5 per side.
4-5 sets of 3-5 reps per leg (regress to box pistols or hold a light counterweight if depth or balance breaks down).
2-3×/week with 48h between leg sessions.
Once 3 sets of 5 per leg feel solid, slow the descent to a 4s tempo with a brief pause at the bottom, or add a light weight held at your chest to keep driving single-leg strength.
Common faults
I fall backward at the bottom of my pistol squat+
Your hips are drifting behind your standing foot and your weight isn't staying over mid-foot, so gravity tips you onto your butt. Reach both arms and the free leg further forward as a counterweight and keep your chest up as you sink. Holding a light plate or dumbbell out front, or facing a doorframe to lightly hold, lets you find the balance point until the pattern sticks.
My heel lifts off the floor as I descend in a pistol+
This is almost always ankle mobility — you can't dorsiflex enough to keep the heel down at full depth, so it pops up and you lose balance. Drill heel-down deep squat holds and weighted ankle stretches between sessions. In the meantime, put a thin wedge or small plate under your heel so you can train the full pistol pattern while the joint catches up.
My standing knee caves inward when I stand up+
The glute isn't firing and your foot has gone passive, so the knee collapses toward the midline under single-leg load. Cue 'spread the floor' and actively push the knee out over the toes the entire way up. Slow the rep down and drill it from a box at a height you can control — chasing depth before you can keep the knee tracking just grooves the collapse.
I can't get out of the bottom of a pistol squat+
You lack bottom-end single-leg strength — you can lower under control but the deep position is below your current power. Train box pistols, sitting to a bench and standing back up, then lower the box an inch at a time over weeks. Eccentric-only reps (slow descents to a soft landing, two legs back up) build the bottom strength fast without grinding your knee.
My knee hurts at the bottom of the pistol+
Usually depth and speed are outrunning your tendons, or you're collapsing into the bottom instead of controlling it. Slow every descent to a true 3-second count, stop just above any pinch point, and regress to a higher box while you build tolerance. Tendons adapt slower than muscle — add depth and volume gradually rather than forcing reps through joint pain.
Useful setup
Sit-to-stand box pistols let you train the full pattern at a depth you control, then lower the height as you get stronger.
Elevating the heel buys you depth while your ankle mobility catches up, so you can train the pistol instead of stalling on it.
Held forward it acts as a counterweight to fix the fall-back; held at the chest it adds load once bodyweight pistols feel easy.
Primary muscles
Quads · Glutes · Balance · Ankle mobility