{"id":80,"date":"2019-01-10T01:55:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T18:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/?p=80"},"modified":"2020-04-14T17:32:48","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T10:32:48","slug":"one-legged-squat-vs-bodyweight-barbell-squat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"One-Legged Squat vs. Bodyweight Barbell Squat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a simple mathematical problem: if you’re doing a one-legged squat (a.k.a pistol squat), versus a barbell squat with your own bodyweight loaded on the barbell, which one puts heavier pressure on your leg?<\/p>\n

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Pistol Squat vs Barbell Squat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brief answer is, your leg is up against the same amount of resistance in both. However, the pistol squat is way more challenging on a skeletomuscular level.<\/p>\n

Let’s break down the numbers first. Let’s say you weigh 70 kg. According to this source<\/a>, each leg makes up roughly 17% of your bodyweight, so around 12 kg per leg or 24 kg both.<\/p>\n

In a regular squat (no weights), your legs are pressing your upper body up. So two legs are pressing 70 – 24 = 46 kg, or each leg presses 23 kg.<\/p>\n

If you load 70 kg on a barbell, each leg will go against another 70 \/ 2 = 35 kg. That makes a total of 23 + 35 = 58 kg per leg.<\/p>\n

In a pistol squat, you’re using one leg to press your entire upper body plus the other hovering leg. That’s the upper body (46 kg) + one leg (12 kg) = 58 kg of pressure on the sole working leg.<\/p>\n

So in theory, a bodyweight barbell squat and a pistol squat both put 58 kg on each leg.<\/p>\n

However, it’s worth pointing out that pistols are way more difficult due to 2 factors:<\/p>\n

1\/ The range of motion is larger. A proper pistol allows you to squat\u00a0all the way down<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0<\/strong>so that your knees are higher than your nipples, almost touching your collarbone. That’s pretty deep.<\/p>\n

Check out the depth here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a barbell squat, by contrast, most people only go slightly over 90 degrees, or their knees are a bit higher than their bellybutton.<\/p>\n

This exceeded range of motion adds another level of difficulty to the pistol squat. It’s the same reason why some guys can bang out 30 half-rep pull-ups but struggle to do 10 with strict form.<\/p>\n

2\/ More stabiliser muscles are involved.<\/p>\n

Squatting is a very natural movement, so a squat feels extremely comfortable. Your legs are simply extending up and down in a straight plane of motion, your feet firmly and stably planted on the ground.<\/p>\n

An one-legged squat though is an extremely odd movement. You have to constantly maintain balance so as not to fall sideways or backwards, which means a bunch of hips, knees, ankle, and core stabiliser muscles have to do extra work in conjunction.<\/p>\n

The same principle applies as to why any exercises on a smith machine feel far more comfortable than their free weights counterparts.<\/p>\n

All in all, don’t underestimate the pistol squat. I firmly believe it is one of the best exercises for overall body development. It utilises so many muscles that are severely weakened and neglected in our sedentary lives.<\/p>\n

If you’ve conquered the pistol squat and are looking for more challenges, do it weighted. I occasionally do weighted pistols while holding a 20 kg kettlebell, and it really is the worst, most dreadful exercise I’ve ever done. I can barely do 10 reps before grimacing in pain and panting like an obese dog after a run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a simple mathematical problem: if you’re doing a one-legged squat (a.k.a pistol squat), versus a barbell squat with your own bodyweight loaded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,159],"tags":[12,20,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/85"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leminhha.vn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}