I’ll be blunt: the pistol squat is not one of my favorite exercises. I’ve even gone so far as to say they’re overrated. But in hindsight, I realized those feelings were mostly because I suck at them, and as is often the case, the exercise you suck at is probably the one you need the most.
Few exercises provide such an exquisite blend of strength, coordination and mobility as the pistol squat. I also love it for our baseball players at CSP because it takes weights out of their hands, giving their wrists, elbows and shoulders a break. And as advanced as it seems, you can actually regress pistols quite a bit to make them appropriately challenging for almost anyone.
This week’s Technique Tuesday covers a few progressions for the pistol squat. Check it out: