Pistol squat
A full squat on one leg with the other held out in front. The hardest bodyweight leg exercise, and as much balance as strength.
The movement
Standing on one leg
01 Standing on one leg
Balance on one leg with the other held straight out in front and the arms reaching forward.
02 All the way down
Lower until the back of the thigh meets the calf, heel down and free leg clear of the floor.
How to do it
Setup
- Stand on one leg with the other leg held straight out in front, heel off the floor.
- Hold your arms out in front of you to help you balance.
Execution
- Squat down on the standing leg, keeping the free leg straight and clear of the floor.
- Go down until the back of your thigh meets your calf, leaning your torso forward as needed.
- Stand back up through your whole standing foot without letting the free leg touch down.
BreathingInhale on the way down, exhale on the way up.
Form cues
- Reach your arms forward as a counterweight while your hips travel back.
- Grip the floor with your standing foot to stop the knee caving in.
Common mistakes
- The standing knee collapsing inward as your hips drop, which is the usual reason a rep stalls.
- Dropping into the bottom instead of lowering, which skips the hardest and most useful part.
- Letting your heel lift, which tips you forward onto your toes.
Worth knowing
- The bottom position puts your whole bodyweight through one knee at a deep angle. Build the range gradually with squats to a box rather than forcing the full version early.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The pistol squat is where bodyweight leg training stops being easy to dismiss. One leg lifting your whole body through a full range is a heavy squat by any measure, and needing no equipment is why it stays interesting long after bodyweight squats have stopped doing anything.
It is not purely a strength exercise, which is why plenty of strong people cannot do one. You also need enough ankle range to keep your heel down at the bottom, enough strength at the front of the hip to hold the free leg up, and enough balance to hold the line while both of those are happening. Any one of the three can be your missing piece, and training the wrong one wastes months.
The honest way in is to shorten the range rather than grind away at the floor version. Squat to a box and lower the box over several weeks. That builds the same pattern at a manageable load and shows you which of strength, ankle range or balance is actually holding you back. Holding a light weight in front of you helps too, because the counterweight makes the position easier.
Once you have it, treat it as low-rep strength work rather than a trick. Sets of three to five per leg with a controlled descent build far more than occasional maximum attempts.