Pistol squats
4 sets of 3-6 reps per leg, 90 s rest. Use assistance until you can do full reps.
- Slot
- Strength
- Focus
- General strength
- Time
- 10 min
- Intensity
- Moderate intensity
- Injury risk
- Moderate injury risk
- Equipment
- Floor space, Chair support
How to do it
A pistol squat is a squat on one leg, with the other leg held straight out in front. Hold a door frame or pole, or squat down to a box, and lower slowly on one leg with the knee tracking over your toes, then stand back up. Do 3-6 reps per leg, 4 sets, with 90 seconds rest. Reduce the assistance over the weeks until you can do full, controlled pistols.
Run it now
The same timer as the app: a five-second get-ready, then every round and rest counted down with a beep. Keep this page open while you train.
Pistol squats
0:00 / 9:55
Ready
9:55
4 rounds
4 sets of 3-6 reps per leg, 90 s rest. Use assistance until you can do full reps.
High risk: read the protocol, stop if anything feels wrong.
- 4
- rounds
- 1:30
- rest
- 9:55
- total
Done.
Want this inside a plan? Take the quiz.
Seven questions about your climbing, then a plan built from your answers. Free.
Want this in a plan? Seven questions and you get a plan built around your climbing.
Take the quizWho it's for
High steps, rock-overs and standing up out of deep positions on one leg. Climbers tend to have strong legs in short ranges and nothing at the bottom, which is exactly where a high step lives.
Common mistakes
- Knee falling inward. It tracks over the toes. If it caves, use more assistance and fix the pattern before adding reps.
- Dropping into the bottom. Lower slowly. The controlled descent is where the strength is built.
- Rounding the back to get the free leg up. Hold it as high as you can with a long spine; range in the free leg comes later.
- Dropping the assistance too fast. A wobbly full pistol builds less than a clean assisted one.
How to progress
Squat to a box and lower the box, or hold a door frame with fewer fingers each week. Once you can do six clean reps a side unassisted, hold a light weight in front of you, which acts as a counterweight and lets you sit deeper.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
Base Lots of easy climbing, good movement and aerobic fitness.
Deload Train less, let your fingers recover, keep moving.