Single Leg Squat Form Check

[MCem222]

Hey guys

I recently got back into doing pistol squats. I stopped squatting for a little while when my left knee started cracking regularly at the bottom of the squat position, accompanied with mild pain. The problem has gotten better (no pain, sometimes cracking), so its about time for me to take up squatting again.

Heres the video

After this set I felt slight tightness in my lower back. A few days before I did a set of 20 and felt slight pain in my lower back. I noticed that I'm rounding it at the bottom so I can lean forward and maintain balance- could that have something to do with it? How arched or rounded would the back ideally be in a squat?

Also, is it better to work sets with one leg or alternating? I used to do sets, but found myself favoring the left leg heavily. I feel much more stable and in control with my left leg, and also can do more consecutive reps.

Feel free to comment on anything else you see

Thanks,

MCem

[Nicholas Sortino]

SYAQKCAMUR0

Weight is on the heels, full depth. Aside from a little balance issues (i have these too, and flexibility!) they look good to me.

[MCem222]

cool, glad it looks good!

I also forgot to ask, how does one warm up for pistols? I usually do mobility work and light resistance for my upper body, but I don't know what to do to warm up my knees

[Tarun Suri]

Make a video from the front view too so we can check for any valgus issues, which would make sense since you used to have knee pain.

Also, I would emphasize ankle mobility/warmup prior to the SLS rather than prepping the knees.

[MCem222]

Here it is, I ended up not taking my pants off so I hope you can see my knees :wink:

[Tarun Suri]

Yup, it's as I thought. Your feet collaps inwards every time you descend. You try to fix that when you're in your static position at the bottom of the SLS, but the problem reemerges when you go for the concentric portion of the movement. This eversion of your feet causes your knees to cave in (valgus) which puts strain on the medial ligaments that support your knee cap. This stretch is likely what is causing the pain you had in your knees. If the pain isn't present anymore, doing more of these will surely make them come back. Even more so with your 20 rep schemes.

Since you clearly have the strength to do a SLS, treat it as a skill and learn to do it properly. You'll find that any single legged movement, done correctly, is amazingly therapeutic for gait/muscular imbalances.

[Joshua Naterman]

Absolutely true, I see what you're talking about. You definitely want to be able to keep the hips, knees, and ankle on the same vertical plane.

Wall squats are the perfect tool for re-training the muscle activation in the upper leg to fix the issue we are seeing in your video. Of course, if you have Pain Free you can follow the entire knee protocol, there IS more to it. I will see about making some kind of quick video to address this, it will be a good topic to cover. It may be some time before I can do this so I would suggest that in the meantime you try to get your hands on a copy of Pain Free by Pete Egoscue, read it cover to cover, and then follow the knee protocol. If you get the book and start reading you will see why I suggest reading cover to cover before going to a specific chapter and following the plan there.

[Blairbob]

My warmup for SLS is holding the bottom of the SLS, heel/toe raises, deck squats, side to side lunges butt to heel. One of the first movements in my warmup is lunging, some bodyweight squats, and squat jumps.

In the concentric portion of the SLS, strive to not let the foot drop and keep it as high as possible.

[MCem222]

I'm slightly confused

Random Havok- you say my foot "collapses inward" when I descend, but then becomes everted on the way up. I can't really see my foot moving, but I see the torque on my knee. So, does the foot moving out cause stress on the inner knee, or the opposite? Also, what should I consciously think about during pistols to fix this?

Slizzard, i've been doing wall sits on and off for a few months. I started doing them after I saw my dad get knee problems- when he walks, his feet are pointed very outwards, and I didn't want to end up like that. Anyway, I try to do them like you describe in the thread I'll link below, basically arms to the side, back and head touching the wall, 90 degree angle in the hips and knees, feet pointed straight.

I'll look at Pain Free tomorrow (I do have it, not with me today though), and start doing the knee routine.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3112

[sean.albo]

I've had the same problem with the knee collapsing inward during the pistol, but only recently realized it. While following KStar's mobilitywod, I realized the importance of pushing my knees out while holding the bottom of a squat. While reviewing my pistol form, I noticed the same thing, and started trying to push the knee out through pistols, but this made the movement more difficult for me, which led me to believe I might not be as proficient in this movement as I thought. So I started holding the bottom of a pistol, and worked on forcing my knee out. I do maybe 1 minute on each side daily (embedded within a much longer hip routine). This has helped me significantly, and I think it might work in your case. Also, the daily wods from mobilitywod.blogspot.com place heavy emphasis on developing amazing squat (which I figure is some prerequisite for amazing pistol).

[Blairbob]

I could see a correllation of a good air squat and pistol. One of my gymnasts had/has horrible squat form and as well it really hampered with SLS. All sorts of muscle imbalances.

He scored decently during sprint and vertical jump tests despite this but I can remember a time when even a deck squat could be difficult for him to accomplish (this could also be due to effort level).

[Joshua Naterman]

If there isn't a serious issue with the rectus femoris activation I would pay attention to these other suggestions, as they are basically telling you to strengthen your external hip rotators and abductors. Ido's squat clinic is a good place to start for mobility work and stretching, and for strength just holding that bottom pistol position may help as long as you are exerting some upwards pressure the whole time. You may find that you need to do more specific work for those abductors and external rotators and stretch the internal rotators and perhaps adductors as well. You'll know that's the case if you are simply unable to figure out how to perform that SLS bottom hold like sean.albo said. That's a good suggestion. I used that to help build the strength to press out of the bottom position and to deal with my right hip buckling in a little a long time ago, and it worked for me.

The few mobility wods I have seen are pretty good, I like that site so far.

[MCem222]

Hey guys, heres an update on my progress

I took a video of me squatting. I don't think my pistols have improved greatly, I do four at the end of the video. I try to focus on not caving my knee inward, but I'm really not sure how to do it. Heres the video

At the beginning of the video, I just show myself in the bottom of a squat (sorry for the bad camera angle, if necessary I'll shoot another video). I've been playing around with staying in squat position, occasionally Mobility WOD (which I follow on and off, thanks to the advice from this thread) has you just hold the squat for 10 minutes. Does my position look good?

Then I shift my torso so my armpits are resting on my knees- I read somewhere that having your armpits resting on your knees is an indication of a full squat. This position seems to strain my lower back when I hold it, so unless I hear again otherwise I'm going to avoid leaning so far forward.

Also, I was experimenting with the idea of "spreading the floor apart" as I squat- basically pretending to spread the floor by rotating out my feet (without actually moving), and also I've been focusing on using my glutes and thrusting my hips as I rise. Is this the right idea when squatting? Its a lot easier for me to focus on these cues with two legs than one leg

Anyway, are the four pistols at the end decent looking? What else can I do to improve them?

[MCem222]

Another update- I was experimenting with pistol form

I wondered what would happen if I tried to keep my knee from passing the line of my foot, as in not letting my shins tilt forward. The result was I was able to do some super slow pistols. They felt good, so I thought I would video them. I do 2 from the side, 2 from the from, then I do a few pistols how I regularly do them to compare

Any thoughts on this new form? I noticed theres a big difference in the way my hips and back move...not sure what it means though

[Tarun Suri]

Definitely better than before, but I still see some valgus issues. Especially as you continue on in reps. My suggestion would be to train them as singles or doubles focusing it as a skill or use Blairbob's suggestion about holding a 5 minute bottom position. I would recommend to do both and alternate on different training days. Keep in mind that you're aiming for perfect form or else you'll just strengthen poor motor control. Remember, ankles, knees and hips should line up when done properly.

[MCem222]

Thanks for the advice, RandomHavoc. Can you elaborate on what exactly you mean when you say ankles, knees & hips should be lined up perfectly?

Because a pistol is unilateral, the leg which is pushing has to be around the center of mass. Since the ankle is closer to the middle of the body, and theres a straight line from the ankle to the side of the hip, Id think the knee would have to be somewhere in the middle. This means things aren't really "aligned" in the sense of each part is right on top of the other, unless by aligned you mean everything is in a straight line. Also, how far should the shin go forward? I've heard that the shin should stay as close to vertical as possible, which would mean the knee wouldnt be pushed past the foot

Anyway, a description in your words or a video of good form might help. I'll keep working on it and post another video when my form is better

[Tarun Suri]

What's the premise behind all the FSPs and FBEs we do? It's about de-leveraging. Obviously, if you position your ankle directly beneath you, you'll be more balanced. However, since that position isn't meant to be there with one leg, you'll be wrecking your knees because of the shear forces incurred during valgus (or in this case, the opposite of valgus). Therefore, continue your pursuit of strength by further de-leveraging the position and not place shear forces on your knees.

For a video, take a look at this: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/Cros ... ToPoop.mov

Forward around halfway through the video and look at the transition from squat to pistol. Additionally, look at the BtGB book for pictures, you won't find ankle centered under and between the hips at any time. Neither will you see valgus issues (knees caving in).

[MCem222]

Hey guys

I've been doing small amounts of pistols several times a week, so I recorded another form video

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Hows my form? Are there still valgus issues with my knee? Is my form good enough to start upping the volume of pistols?

Note- my first set was the set of 10, but I stuck it at the end of the video since the camera angle cuts off my knees

[MCem222]

Anyone? I'll make another video if need be, I just wanna make sure the valgus issues are gone. Since I work out in a small dorm room, my exercise choices are really limited, so I want to keep my form spot on so I can get more pistol volume

[Cole Dano]

You are doing fine, with practice on the tempo reps the hip wobble can be improved, but your knees look solid. Something i need work on.