Pistol Squat Progression: 3 Day Plan
Single-leg strength, ankle mobility and balance across three 10-minute sessions, working toward a full pistol squat. Bodyweight only.
Routines
Day 1 — Mobility & Assisted Strength
Prime ankles and hips, then groove assisted single-leg patterns.
Day 2 — Balance & Posterior Chain
Build knee control, hamstring strength, and lateral hip stability.
Day 3 — Pistol Progressions
Progress toward pistols with controlled depth and strong core.
About this plan
A pistol squat needs three things most people are missing: ankle range, single-leg strength and the balance to hold both together. Each day here works one of them.
Day one is ankles and calves — ankle circles, staircase calf raises, one-leg floor calf raises, band reverse calf raises and rear lunges. Day two builds unilateral strength through transverse step-ups, single-leg foot touches, push-offs, sissy squats and self-assisted inverse leg curls. Day three attempts the movement itself: one-leg squats, supported pistols, sit squats, prisoner squats, single-leg deadlifts and L-sits.
Ankle dorsiflexion is the piece that surprises people. In a pistol the shin has to travel a long way forward over the foot while the heel stays down, and if it cannot, you fall backwards no matter how strong your legs are. Test it by kneeling with one foot flat and driving the knee past your toes — if the heel lifts early, day one is doing more for you than day three.
The band reverse calf raise on day one targets the tibialis anterior, the muscle on the front of the shin. It gets almost no direct work in most training and it is what actively pulls the shin forward at the bottom of a pistol.
Use a support without embarrassment. Holding a doorframe, sitting to a chair, or holding a light counterweight in front of you all remove balance from the equation so you can train the strength. The supported pistol on day three exists for exactly this.
Progress by lowering the box you sit to. It is the cleanest version of the progression: same movement, same balance demand, one inch at a time.
Train this plan in the app
LoadMuscle carries all 3 routines with a demo for every exercise, and logs your sets as you go, so next session you can see what to beat. Free on iPhone and Android.
Want something built around your own schedule and equipment instead? Try the free workout planner.
