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Bodyweight Decreasing weight with Pistols

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Tommygray89

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Does anyone have any experience with lowering the weight with pistol until you achieve a body weight pistol?

At the moment I can achieve 3 pistols with a 6 kg Kettlebell on either leg.
I was thinking of using the Fighter Pull up program and building to 5,4,3,2,1 and then either lower my weight to 4Kg and repeat the process whilst also working on stretching and ankle mobility. Once I achieve 5,4,3,2,1 with a 4Kg, I would attempt a BW Pistol or lower my weight again to 2 Kg and repeat the process.

Any thoughts or other programs that I could use to achieve the BW Pistol?
 
I mainly used a counterweight to get my Pistol. I actually started with two full gallons of water (that's roughly 7 kgs) held in front of me. I would do 3-5 sets of 5, three times a week. After every session, I'd drink some of the water hahaha. This was super straightforward and it worked really well. No need to mess with sets or reps.

I didn't particularly like the idea of cutting ROM by sitting down on objects because the hardest part was the bottom anyways. With a counterweight, you build strength at the bottom and full ROM since day 1. I also liked how gradually I could go by drinking water.

If there's one thing I can't recommend enough, it's too add in some Hamstring stretching as well as Hip Flexion exercises. A really tough part of the Pistol is keeping the airborne leg high enough so you can lean forward as much as possible. So it's good accessory work. It'll make things go twice as fast.

Just my 2 cents
 
@Tommygray89, I did exactly that. I bought "barbie" dumbbells: pairs of 4, 3, 2, and 1 lb, and worked my way gradually down. I got to the point where I'd do a workout of

5 reps @ bw + 4 lb. dumbbells
4 reps @ bw + 3 lb. dumbbells
3 reps @ bw + 2 lb. dumbbells
2 reps @ bw + 1 lbs. dumbbells
1 rep @ bw only

I think it's still on YouTube somewhere - I'll see if I can find it. It's a solid strategy.

-S-
 
@Tommygray89 some people advocate doing box pistols. i.e. using a progressively lower box to sit down to. I had good success with that method some years back. One of the drawbacks is finding enough boxes/benches of appropriate height variations. I was able to get to BW without using counterbalance by doing this. Another 'trick' is to wear heavy stiff soled boots. Climbing boots or ski boots. Long term however I think you are better off using minimal or no footwear.
 
@305pelusa great minds think alike! I also used the water method; not sure how much the plastic bottle of water I used weighed, but yes, gradually pouring a bit out bit by bit helped me a lot. However, not sure if I'm unique in this, but I found that holding the bottle alone (which obviously weighed almost zero), provided a kind of psychological bump that I had to get over. What I mean is that despite knowing that the bottle provided no real counterweight, for a while I still couldn't do a pistol without holding it in front... A confidence thing perhaps?

Still, it is a very effective method.

Additionally, I second your point about hamstring stretching and hip flexion drills; as per your recommendations a few months back I now start my pistol sessions with a 'warmup' of L-sits with pike stretches in between holds. This makes it so much easier to compress my core and get enough weight in front of a foot.
 
Thank you for your feedback, I think I will use the soja and tuba program when I move down a weight to the 4kg.

Its good to know this approach has worked for people before and I hope I'll be able to achieve my first BW pistol by Christmas.
 
Tommygray89 said:
Thank you for your feedback, I think I will use the soja and tuba program when I move down a weight to the 4kg.

Its good to know this approach has worked for people before and I hope I'll be able to achieve my first BW pistol by Christmas.
Click to expand...

Tommy - have you done an assessment to determine the limiting factor that is keeping you from doing a bw pistol currently? I mean is do you know if it is due to lack of ankle flexion or is it hips or knees etc. This would be important to know and I can lead you to the best/quickest way to achieve your bw pistol. Let me know or post a video and I would be happy to help you further.
 
Hi @Karen Smith, thank you for the offer. Sorry for the delay, I've been away with work. Here are my videos of me attempting BW pistols and counterweight pistols





 
Not Karen obviously, but your issue is very blatant in my eyes. I think your hamstrings are just generally a bit too tight. When those are tight and you try to do a naked Pistol, then it'll be very difficult to keep the airborne leg off the floor. As you approach the bottom, to make up for that, you must lean back ever so slightly, which is ultimately what throws you on your butt. This is something I've thought about for a long time because the Pistol is usually a challenging move to most people.

The solution to not fall back is to be constantly reaching forward, as well as to lean forward as much as possible. And to do that, it requires loosening up the free leg's hamstrings so that you can close the hip angle more than you can right now. A good way to tell the problem is that your airborne leg is bent during your first video.

So weighted pistols help you "cheat" on this lack of flexibility because you can get away with leaning back slightly to make up for it (although not a whole lot... check out how close your free foot is to the ground). They're good for building strength and tension. But it's imperative that you supplement with hamstring stretching in the form of pike stretches, as well as active flexibility work (L-sits, HLRs, pike raises, take your pick).

It also can't hurt to do some calf stretching. It looks like your knee barely passes your toes and you'll definitely want the knee to go past your toes to get enough weight forward.

Anyways, just my 2 cents. Karen will definitely give you something more on-point and practical :) She's good.
 
@Tommygray89 Pistol require flexible hamstrings and calves, mobile ankles, balance and strength. As stated above the counterbalance allows you to cheat a bit in areas that need work. I would recommend the following:
stretch hamstrings and calves
work at increasing your ankle dorsi flexion
add sldl (even if just slow and bodyweight) to improve balance
add feet together knees together squats as a baseline test.

Then when performing pistols - visualize pulling yourself to the floor slow and controlled. If you want to master a bw pistol you can use a box to work different progressions from the bottom up and the top down... this will help you own the full movement and fill any whole that are leaking tension.

Hope that helps.
 
Karen Smith said:
add feet together knees together squats as a baseline test.
Click to expand...

Karen, the baseline test is a great concept that I got from you at the Strength Retreat, but I'm not sure I understand it quite well enough to explain here. Can you elaborate?
 
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