Hello all,
I just wanted to say a few words regarding my own personal view of the use of box pistols.
Likely, any Naked Warriors out there will be familiar with the box pistol as a means of progressing to the regular pistol squat. While it was my primary tool of choice in building up to the pistol, I have recently come to the realisation that, at least for myself (I'd like to emphasise that this may not be the best thing for everyone, depending on strength levels, coordination, etc.), the pistol is a highly valuable drill in and of itself, and is well worth coming back to regularly, or perhaps even being the focus of one's pistol training, even when un-boxed pistols are 'mastered' (if that's truly possible...).
My personal reasons for this realisation have been that despite having the leg strength and balance to do pistol squats, I still have my 'bad days' when the coordination just doesn't quite seem to be there, and I get frustrated because I end up falling on my backside at the very bottom. I get frustrated due to the fact that I've done a consecutive 50 reps per leg before, plus sets of 5 reps with 24kg, so a stud like myself shouldn't be tumbling over with that kind of experience! However, I bit the bullet, threw my ego out the door, and cracked out my old friend in the form of a curb level Tupperware box, which allows me to do pistols to just above rock bottom. The method I use, as opposed to Pavel's recommendation of sitting back on the box before pressing back up, is to just touch the box with my backside, still tense, and go back up. The invaluable lesson that this practice has taught me is, well, TENSION! What I had grown accustomed to was allowing myself to somewhat 'fall' into the rock bottom position (likely the reason for my inconsistent ability to balance all the way down), as opposed to remaining fully tense and steady all the way to the bottom. Lightly touching a box however, has meant that I have to move nice and steady, remaining tense, so that I don't just fall into the box, thus defeating the purpose of the drill.
Alas, the box pistol shall remain a dear friend of mine and I shan't be neglecting it again any time soon (or hopefully ever)!
Hopefully others might share my experience!
Thanks,
Harry
I just wanted to say a few words regarding my own personal view of the use of box pistols.
Likely, any Naked Warriors out there will be familiar with the box pistol as a means of progressing to the regular pistol squat. While it was my primary tool of choice in building up to the pistol, I have recently come to the realisation that, at least for myself (I'd like to emphasise that this may not be the best thing for everyone, depending on strength levels, coordination, etc.), the pistol is a highly valuable drill in and of itself, and is well worth coming back to regularly, or perhaps even being the focus of one's pistol training, even when un-boxed pistols are 'mastered' (if that's truly possible...).
My personal reasons for this realisation have been that despite having the leg strength and balance to do pistol squats, I still have my 'bad days' when the coordination just doesn't quite seem to be there, and I get frustrated because I end up falling on my backside at the very bottom. I get frustrated due to the fact that I've done a consecutive 50 reps per leg before, plus sets of 5 reps with 24kg, so a stud like myself shouldn't be tumbling over with that kind of experience! However, I bit the bullet, threw my ego out the door, and cracked out my old friend in the form of a curb level Tupperware box, which allows me to do pistols to just above rock bottom. The method I use, as opposed to Pavel's recommendation of sitting back on the box before pressing back up, is to just touch the box with my backside, still tense, and go back up. The invaluable lesson that this practice has taught me is, well, TENSION! What I had grown accustomed to was allowing myself to somewhat 'fall' into the rock bottom position (likely the reason for my inconsistent ability to balance all the way down), as opposed to remaining fully tense and steady all the way to the bottom. Lightly touching a box however, has meant that I have to move nice and steady, remaining tense, so that I don't just fall into the box, thus defeating the purpose of the drill.
Alas, the box pistol shall remain a dear friend of mine and I shan't be neglecting it again any time soon (or hopefully ever)!
Hopefully others might share my experience!
Thanks,
Harry
Last edited: