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Bodyweight Pistol squat on toes/ball of foot?

lais817

lais817

Level 7 Valued Member
Apart from not meeting the Strongfirst movement standards, is there any good reason to/NOT to do pistol squats rising onto the ball of your working foot as you reach the bottom of the movement? I can't find much info online so there could be a very obvious reason that I haven't considered, but it seems to eliminate ankle mobility a fair bit as a "block".

Maybe @Karen Smith or @Brett Jones have some info?

FWIW, I can't do a pistol without having my heel elevated, or rising onto the balls of my feet, so I have a vested interest in this.
 
Al Kavadlo, in his book, recommends heels on the ground for injury prevention. He does not explain the reasons.
 
There is a difference between elevating the heel and being up on the balls of the feet with no lift.

Historically a deep knee bend is a squat where the heels come up (or stay up) and the squat is performed on two legs.

A single leg deep knee bend would need to be progressed into slowly and with caution—there is a lot of load and shear on the knee IMO.

A pistol where the heel comes up would not meet SFB standards.

I would address the ankle mobility and progress without the compensation.
 
My biggest concern would be that doing pistols on the ball of the foot would turn it more into a balancing act/test of ankle stability.

Given that there are tons of ways to progress to the pistol without the heel coming up, I’d just go that route.
 
I’ve recently dedicated my training to calisthenics. Coming from training exclusively with KBs i think we get the idea that we should be able to freely move into these “unloaded” movements with ease. I have taken this for granted and am finding that as i dedicate myself to regressions and accessory work these things that have gotten much easier. I have gotten the oapu and a solid pistol squat (on the right) without having to dedicate to calisthenics, but the more regressions and accessory i do the stronger these become.
 
the progression in Naked Warrior worked perfectly for me. Start at the bottom of the pistol, and over time slowly work yourself to being able to push up to standing from there. That would probably also emphasize the ankle mobility defect you mentioned and put solving that first just to get into an assisted rock bottom static hold.

Philosophically, I wonder if a pistol with heels up would be like a one leg hack squat?
 
I think being on your toes doing pistols and lacking ankle (or hip) mobility is an ankle and/or knee problem waiting to happen. Ymmv.

As others mentioned, spend time at the bottom of the movement - honestly, I think 90% of the benefit of pistols is there at that extreme end of range of motion anyway. I don't think it's terrible to wear olympic weightlifting shoes or stand on a wedge while developing the exercise.
 
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