Harry Potter Middle Earth Squats

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 10/27/2011 10:59am

Originally Posted by Alex

squats and pistols, like anything else, if performed correctly are NOT bad for your knees.

Emphasis mine.

Something apparent from the videos posted so far is that the people who are good at these (OP video and Stever Cotter) still wobble and have some balance issues...minor ones sure, but most people would not control their weight/balance so well....so it wouldn't take much for someone to try these and miscalculate and bust some knee tissue right?

Is their a safer, entry level way to do these where you can work on your balance/weight distribution while at the same time not fucking up your knees? It just seems easy to make a minor mistake that puts way too much stress on the knee joint....I tried a few of these and my knees are relatively strong and healthy, but as a big&tall guy I still feel that if I was off just a bit here or there, a spill/injury could result.

What do you think? Can you do these with parallel bars, for instance?

**Permalost** · Posted On: 10/27/2011 11:54am

Is their a safer, entry level way to do these where you can work on your balance/weight distribution while at the same time not fucking up your knees? It just seems easy to make a minor mistake that puts way too much stress on the knee joint....I tried a few of these and my knees are relatively strong and healthy, but as a big&tall guy I still feel that if I was off just a bit here or there, a spill/injury could result.

Yeah, see below, but most people won't even be able to get low enough on one leg to do too much damage. It's like doing the full splits- sure, if some couch jockey tried it they'd tear their groin, fortunately their body won't let them get that low in the first place. Or how an untrained person would get crushed by trying to bench 400lbs, fortunately they couldn't lift it enough to crush themselves. I've yet to see an out of shape person get all the way down in a pistol squat (let alone going back up too).

What do you think? Can you do these with parallel bars, for instance?

Yeah, you can grip something to assist yourself using your arms. That's the only way I was able to train myself to do it (and I could only do it on my skateboarding standing leg).

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 10/27/2011 3:05pm

Originally Posted by W. Rabbit

Emphasis mine.

Something apparent from the videos posted so far is that the people who are good at these (OP video and Stever Cotter) still wobble and have some balance issues...minor ones sure, but most people would not control their weight/balance so well....so it wouldn't take much for someone to try these and miscalculate and bust some knee tissue right?

Is their a safer, entry level way to do these where you can work on your balance/weight distribution while at the same time not fucking up your knees? It just seems easy to make a minor mistake that puts way too much stress on the knee joint....I tried a few of these and my knees are relatively strong and healthy, but as a big&tall guy I still feel that if I was off just a bit here or there, a spill/injury could result.

What do you think? Can you do these with parallel bars, for instance?

The extreme vids of the guys jumping and doing pistol squats are an extreme example of fitness. NO one should even be attempting them unless they can perform several regular pistols with weight added.

As for working into the pistol. Here's the progression I came up with a little help from a gymnast friend. You can start with one hand gripping on a bench and helping to pull you up while descending into a full pistol position with your butt nearly touching the ground. Once you can do a 5x5 of that, move to putting one hand on the wall and leaning into the wall for support, you won't be able to pull yourself up so it's slightly harder on the working leg. When you can comfortably do a 5x5 leaning on the the wall move on. Next, I used a rope tied around something solid (my water heater stand). Stand with the rope tied up in front of you to help train you how to keep your weight forward with your arms outstretched in front of you almost parallel with your non working leg and hold onto the rope and use it to help steady yourself and pull up. When you can comfortably complete a 5x5 move to the next step. Move off of the wall and elevate your working foot a little via weight plates or something stable, this enables your non working leg (held straight in front of you) to drop a little lower which makes the exercise easier. Start with negatives if you can't get all the way back up on your own. This was the progression I used it worked great for me and only took a few months to get to full pistol squat.

Pavel has some different steps that also are good. If you can't start doing a pistol and holding onto something with one arm you can to a 1 legged lunge. You grab one leg while standing up and hold your foot and lower leg tight against your butt, then do a controlled lunge going nearly straight down onto the knee of the leg bent behind you that you're holding. Also, for another tool to get started with pistols Pavel advocates going all the wal down until your butt touches the ground then rocking onto your back a little to create momentum to come back up. It's all done in one motion you do a slow controlled "fall" into the pistol position then rock back and spring forward and back up in one motion.

Surprisingly, I tried out a few of these the other day and could still do a 3x5, I didn't try to push it to a 5x5. It was a surprise for me because I haven't done any leg work for over six weeks (reaching the 8 week mark now) due to a broken patella and surgery. I did the 3x5 with my non-injured left leg, it will be quite a long time before my injured leg will be strong enough to do a pistol but i'm confident that one I get my strength back I will be doing them again. For the doubters I'll post a vid when I can get someone to record me.

**mrh80** · Posted On: 10/27/2011 6:31pm

If done properly pistol squats are good for the knees and demonstrates that you have good strength as well as hip and ankle mobility. The trick is not relaxing at the bottom and really using your glutes to power up.

To work up to it, get good at squatting rock bottom with feet together, then at the bottom slowly extend a leg and get up. Another trick to build strength at the bottom is to use a pole, band, rope for support to lower into the bottom position and practice tensing the muscles hard. If you are worried about extending the knee over the toes, you can use a counter weight which enables you to sit back more.

Obviously if it gives you issues don't do it.

**Zephzilla** · Posted On: 10/27/2011 8:32pm

I've been doing these with a pole for assistance and it's definitely hitting a bunch of little muscle I'm not used to working. These should really help me with my Russian Jigs.