What is one pistol Squat or unilateral squat? 

The unilateral squat or pistol Squat It is a strength training exercise that focuses on working one leg at the same time, which helps improve balance, stability and strength in the legs and in the lower part of the body 

What muscles are working on pistol Squat? 

The unilateral squat is an exercise that mainly works the musculature of the legs and buttocks, as well as requires the work of stabilizer muscles and the nucleus. These are some the main muscles that are worked during the unilateral squat: 

• Quadriceps. 
• Buttocks
• Ischiotibial. 
• Stabilizer muscles of the hip, knee and ankle. 
• Core. 

Benefits of pistol Squat 

Here are some of the main benefits of the unilateral squat or pistol squat: 

• Improves balance and stability: Unilateral squat requires the body to maintain balance in one leg, which helps improve stability and body control. 
• Strengthens legs and buttocks: Work the muscles of the legs, buttocks and stabilizer muscles, which helps strengthen these areas and improve muscle function. 
• Improve flexibility: The unilateral squat requires a complete range of movement in the hip joint, which can help improve the flexibility and range of hip movement. 
• Reduces the risk of injury: The Squat ratist helps strengthen stabilizer muscles, which can help reduce the risk of knee injuries, hips and ankles. 
• Increase muscle activation: It requires greater muscle activation due to the need to stabilize the body in one leg, which can help improve the effectiveness of the exercise. 
• Improve sports performance: It is a functional exercise that helps improve strength and balance in one leg, which It can translate into an improvement in sports performance. 

In summary, the unilateral squat is an effective exercise to improve the force, balance and stability of the body, which makes it an excellent option for anyone who seeks to improve their health and physical performance. 

How to do one pistol Squat?  

1. Start standing with your feet together and hands on your hips.   
2. Take a step forward with one leg and place your foot on the ground at a comfortable distance. 
3. Keep your back leg straight and feet fingers pointing to the front. 
4. Flex the knee of the front leg and lower the body slowly towards the ground, keeping its back straight and the erect torso. 
5. Low until the front leg knee is bent at an angle of 90 degrees. 
6. Then, push the body up with the front leg, returning to the initial position.
7. Repeat the movement 6 to 8 times with the front leg and then change legs.

Progesions to make a pistol Squat

Pistol Squats are a challenging exercise that requires strength, balance and flexibility. Here I present three progressions that you can follow to help you do this exercise: 

1. Assisted squatillas
2. Assisted pistols.
3. Complete pistols.

Wods Pistol Squat

• "Tabata pistols" 
• 8 rounds of 20 second work, 10 seconds of rest of: 
• Right pistols for 20 seconds 
• 10 -second rest 
• Pistols on the left for 20 seconds 
• 10 -second rest 

• "Pyramid pistol" 
• 1 right pistol, 1 pistol on the left 
• 2 right pistols, 2 pistols on the left 
• 3 right pistols, 3 pistols on the left 
• The number of repetitions in increases of 1 continues to increase until you cannot complete the repetitions in a minute. 

These wods and others Challenging and will help you improve your strength, balance and flexibility in the Squats pistol or also called unilateral squat. Always remember to heat properly before doing any exercise and make sure you have an adequate technique to avoid injuries.