Complimmentary Exercises?

[Ghost]

Hey Guys,

Let's say you are trying to improve an exercise, such as squats.

Are there other exercises you could do to supplement your squat performance?

Right now I'm trying to improve my pistol squats, for example.

So I've been trying to think of some exercises that would have some good carry over to help with the pistols.

So can someone help me make some connections for what exercises work well together?

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, can I get any advice on squatting ATG?

[notanartmajor]

How advanced are you? If you're relatively new to this, your best bet for improving your squat it just moar squatz. As for pistol squats, you might try Bulgarian Split Squats. It's similar but the unused leg is behind you on a bench rather than stuck out in front. Other lunge variations might help as well.

[Kirkor]

*complementary

(sorry, couldn't resist ... it is nerdfitness.com afterall )

[Kishi]

When I was learning to squat ATG, I just went with bodyweight squats and went down as far as I could. You do that kind of motion regularly, and eventually the flexibility just kind of builds up. You can start out wide with it, and then narrow your squatting stance too, so that you get that range of motion in all kinds of different squat variants.

MWOD's blog also includes a sitting squat as its first entry. That involves squatting ATG and sitting there for time. That might be useful for you too.

[Ghost]

*complementary

(sorry, couldn't resist ... it is nerdfitness.com afterall )

I saw my error immediately afterwards and I couldn't believe it.

Oh well, no changing it now.

I'm smart, I swear.

[Animalben]

Well the only one that pops in my head are weighted step ups, but I think as others have stated would be squat squat and a bit more squat!

[Waldo]

With pistols it REALLY depends on your weaknesses.

Balance, mobility, strength, and the ability to hold up your other leg are all weaknesses that people have, each one is addressed differently.

Balance - Work yoga balance postures and/or just single leg balance as much as you can. Counterbalancing with a small weight(s) will make a pistol easier. With about 10 lbs in your hands is about as easy as they get, less and more weight is harder.

Mobility - Look up squat mobility on mobilityWOD. Get in a deep squat and sit there for a long time (10 min+)

Strength - Use a chair to do box pistol squats. Doing this every time you stand up or sit down in a chair will rapidly strengthen your pistol.

Other Leg - Work your pike flexibility and strengthen your flexors. Leg lifts and L-sits are about the best that you can do to strengthen it.

And form - The difficulty of a pistol is highly dependent on your torso angle. Keeping your torso upright will make a pistol harder than leaning forward. When upright you can't use your posterior chain much and can't really drive your hips. The muscle activation is more like a front squat, very quad dominant. If you lean forward and touch your torso to your knee in the bottom, you can drive out of the bottom with your hips. The muscle activation is much more like a back squat, using the leg muscles more evenly. That also makes them easier to do.

I highly suggest using a forward lean with your torso at first since your control of the descent isn't yet that good; touching your torso to your knee first at the bottom is much better for your knee than touching your butt to your heels first if your descent isn't slow and well controlled. Once you master the negative portion it really doesn't matter, but it is also handy to remember when you get tired, going down too rapidly tends to happen as you tire.

[Animalben]

@waldo would front squats be more benefical to developing a good pistol then due to the more upright nature of the torso during the squat and the higher dominance of the quad?

[Waldo]

@waldo would front squats be more benefical to developing a good pistol then due to the more upright nature of the torso during the squat and the higher dominance of the quad?

2 limbed work is not particularly good for developing single limb strength; it could actually be a hinderance. To develop single limb strength you should be working single limb as much as possible.

Another place where this big time applies is the one arm pushup; doing them on an incline is a much more effective progression than anything else because you get to working single limbed as quickly as possible.

[Ghost]

I highly suggest using a forward lean with your torso at first since your control of the descent isn't yet that good; touching your torso to your knee first at the bottom is much better for your knee than touching your butt to your heels first if your descent isn't slow and well controlled.

Amazing advice, just leaning forward and touching my knee to chest is really helping my balance and getting 'out of the hole'.

Still using a light counterweight though.

I think I just need to work ankle mobility and some stability.