Posted on April 6, 2026 at 06:00 AM
Dean Ross has been a runner for a long time, but she recently started training for something else intense: a swim/run across Sweden’s 26 islands, which involves a 40-mile run, a 10.5-mile swim, and 47 different land-to-water transitions.
“You swim with your shoes on, and the race takes about 14 hours,” Ross, 56, who lives outside San Diego, says proudly.
To prepare, she of course ran and swam a lot. But she was also facing another seemingly daunting challenge: doing pistol squats.
These single leg exercises make you look like a gymnast on a balance beam, where you extend one leg in front of you while essentially squatting on the floor and then standing back up. It’s not easy, and experts say that just like running a marathon (or swimming/running 50+ miles), you shouldn’t jump into just one experience.
But a gradual approach to pistol squat training can bring tremendous benefits to runners – strengthening the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and core muscles with improvement. Balance and mobility.
When Ross’s coach suggested she work on it in preparation for her race, she wasn’t convinced at first.
“I’m a terrible squatter,” she says. Her coach asked her to use an app to do squat-level exercises, and she slowly progressed.
“Even though I can’t do a full squat yet, my balance is much better and the strength in my glutes in the last two months is incredible,” she says, highlighting the steep learning curve around a concept that seems simple enough.
Ross says she didn’t use to do a lot of lower body work because she was worried about feeling pain while running, but now she does it. Strength exercises mid-week to keep them away from her rounds. Once she started progressing, she immediately noticed a difference in her running.
“I feel so much stronger,” she says. “I run on a lot of rocky trails, and now I can put my feet up instead of smashing rocks and flying.” “In November, during a swim/run race in Austin, I fell four times on the trails, bad falls. I haven’t fallen since I started working on this. Even when I hit a rock, I can recover much faster. I’m more aware of the strength in my glutes.”
What is a pistol squat?
First, the definition: A pistol squat is a full-depth, single-leg squat, where you stand on one leg and use every stabilizer in your body to squat, says Tom Clifford, coach and owner of the North Carolina-based endurance training and events company. Without limits.
When performing a pistol squat, one foot remains flat on the floor, and the other leg is held straight forward, dropping as low as possible without collapsing or losing balance.
Then try to get back on the same leg.
“Most people have no difficulty getting down, they struggle to stop their body weight and get back up without their legs collapsing inward,” Clifford says.
For a runner who’s never seen one before, it’s like sitting in a deep squat while the other leg floats straight ahead, then comes back up without falling.
Why are they so hard?
Clifford says many experienced runners think they can hit 10 pistol squats and then find they can’t even do one. This is for several reasons.
“If your ankles and Achilles tendon are stiff, you will have difficulty getting into position and maintaining your balance,” he says. “You need strong quads and strong glutes, which many runners lack.”
Balance is another factor.
“runners” Stabilizing muscles “You often feel fatigued from the distance covered, but you also need coordination with the fatigue. As your center of mass shifts down and back up, you need to control it,” Clifford says.
He adds that a failed attempt at squats can indicate weaknesses in running.
For example, if your knee collapses inward during a squat, this indicates weakness in your hips, especially the external rotators and abductors.
“This is very common among long-distance runners,” Clifford says. “When the hips are weak, the knee rolls inward and can lead to IT band problems or other pain. People often blame the IT band and roll it (using a foam roller), but the real problem is weak hips.”
If your pelvis falls, that’s another sign – loss of balance indicates weakness Lateral hip stabilizers and Weak core strengthHe says.
Why should athletes do pistol squats?
Like Ross, many athletes are initially skeptical about trying this challenging strength training exercise, but coaches and fitness experts say the benefits add up.
“Running is a series of single-leg hops, where you launch off of one leg and land on the other, 180 times per minute,” says Brian Maiorano, coach and owner of Running. Triathlon lifestyle training. “It requires strength and balance, and any muscle and flexibility imbalances can manifest in early fatigue or chronic injury.”
Running requires strength in both large muscle groups — glutes, core, quads, hamstrings, and calves — and smaller muscles such as Hip muscles. The pistol squat addresses all of those areas.
Specifically, it strengthens the pistol squat One leg “Every time, it prepares both legs to be equally strong for long-distance running,” Clifford adds.
“If you think about running, it’s a series of controlled landings with the legs. You’re always standing on one leg at a time,” he says. “People don’t realize that you absorb about two or three times your body weight when you run, and it sometimes depends on how much you swing up and down. That’s why injury is common, because there’s a lot of force absorption.”
When you run, your hip has to stabilize, your knee has to go straight, your ankle has to stay fairly stiff, and then you have to produce force back to the ground. When you strike your foot, you absorb energy and then push back up.
“The pistol squat exaggerates this movement,” Clifford says. “You come down, stop yourself, and get back up. You’re not going to do a deep squat when you’re running, but if you can handle a pistol squat, you’re strengthening your legs tremendously.”
Essentially, everything that is needed in a pistol squat – hip stability, ankle mobility, knee control, and trunk alignment – is required in distance running.
Don’t jump straight in
Like you wouldn’t go out and Ironman race With no rule, you shouldn’t try squats right away. Alternatively, you can do up to one exercise through a series of exercises. Maiorano says this progress has major benefits.
“Although a 10-gun squat goal is an impressive goal, the journey to get there can dramatically improve an athlete’s running speed, endurance, and durability, even if the ultimate goal is never reached,” he says.
Although there are plenty of squat progression plans online, Maiorano says most of them seem geared toward gym rats who are used to squatting. Strength training.
He recommends Thinex appwhich takes you through a series of exercises to build your strength before attempting the pistol squat.
For example, you start with a series of deep squats, then move on to Bulgarian squats (with one leg resting on a block or step), then archer squats, then assist squats where you support some of your weight by holding on to the chair.
“A good progression plan will also include targeting stretching, hip flexors, lower back, and hamstrings,” Maiorano says. “It will build ankle and hip mobility by getting you ‘butt-to-turf’ in a comfortable, comfortable position before you try to get there with one leg.”
Clifford recommends using a mirror to make sure you have the right look. An ideal squat position should have your head in a neutral pistol position, your rib cage stacked over your pelvis, your spine neutral, your heel flat on the floor, your knee tracking over your second or third toe, no heel lift, and your opposite leg extended forward. There should not be any fluctuation, crash or panic on the way to the top.
“Total control throughout,” he says.
Not for everyone
Some people will never be able to do a full squat, especially those who are active Runner’s knee Or pain even during modified versions.
Also, Clifford advises against starting squats in the middle of marathon training, and instead doing them in the off-season.
“Be careful with meniscus injuries, Achilles pain“Or lower back and SI joint problems,” he says.
If you can never get to a full squat position, that’s OK, Mairuano stresses. You will still get a lot of benefits from doing exercises.
“Runners who have gone through a progression to the pistol squat report noticeable gains in running,” he says. A common response is: “I feel stiffer when I go down, and I feel like I’m getting a stronger push, especially on the uphill.”
He says runners feel more stable, in control and able to balance better every time they land.
