Pistol Squats
Just look at that Dorsiflexion!
Pistol squats and ankle mobility, what’s connection?
You simply can not perform a pistol squat without dorsiflexion and exceptional ankle mobility. It’s important to note that this isn’t an exercise to improve your dorsiflexion, but more a marker of how rapidly your improvements are coming. It’s also a great alternative to the Knees over toes dorsiflexion test, for gauging your current level of dorsiflexion and comparing this to each alternate ankle.
How do I master the pistol squat?
You may see that this exercise if performed without a dumbbell or barbell, but don’t be fooled. The pistol squat is one of the most difficult manouvres to master. It combines strength, stability and flexibility.
Chances are if you have glass ankles, you aren’t going to be able to perform this exercise immediately.
- Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and toes pointing forward.
- Extend your right leg straight out, several inches off the floor with your foot flexed (dorsiflexion) and toes pulled up towards your shin.
- Extend both arms out in front of you to shoulder level. Maintain a neutral position of the neck, looking straight ahead and brace core.
- Bend the left knee and begin to sit backwards, lowering yourself down to a few inches short of the ground. Your right leg and arms should stay extended throughout the entire movement.
- Push through the heels of the left foot to slowly stand back up. Ensure your neck and head remain in a neutral position.
- That’s one rep. You can either alternate legs for each rep, or perform all reps on one leg before switching to the next.
Reps and Sets!
Reps
Sets
We recommend working up to 3 sets of 10 reps. It’s highly like that at first you won’t be able to perform a single rep. You can improve by performing the below variations.
Variations
Negatives: Perform the first phase (lowering to the ground). Once you’re a few inches from the floor, pull in the extended leg so that you are now positioned in the bottom phase of a regular squat. Stand up as you would when squatting and repeat the process.
Heel touches: For this variation, instead of leaving one leg extended off the floor, keep your heel in contact with the ground and perform the exercise. This is a great variation if you’re really struggling with your mobility.
Other articles
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The tibialis anterior is a crucial muscle which is activate during ankle dorsiflexion. Let’s take a look at how you can exercise the tibialis anterior to improve your ankle mobility.
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Which muscles are used for ankle dorsiflexion?
Let’s identify the specific muscles required for ankle dorsiflexion. With this knowledge we can better understand how to train in order to improve ankle dorsiflexion.