CalisthenicsIn review

Assisted Pistol Squat

A one-leg squat to full depth, with one hand on a wall for balance and help.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Squat
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Intermediate
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Unilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Stand on one leg side-on to the wall and rest one hand on it.
Lift the other leg forward, with the heel just off the floor.

Do the rep

Sit the hips back and down on the standing leg, and keep the whole foot flat.
Lower until the hip crease is below the knee. Use the hand only as much as you need.
Push through the whole foot and stand up tall on the same leg.

What counts as a rep

A rep counts when the hip crease drops below the knee of the standing leg and you return to a full stand without the free foot touching the floor.

One rep starts standing on one leg with the other leg forward, lowers until the hip crease is below the knee, and ends at a full stand on the same leg; count each side.

Breathing

Breathe in as you lower; exhale as you stand.

Cues

Keep the heel down.
Knee follows the toes.
Use less help from the hand when the reps get easy.

Common mistakes

Pulling up with the arm
What you seeThe hand does most of the work and the body leans toward the support.
FixUse the hand for balance and drive up with the leg.
The leg must do the work for the rep to train it.
Heel lifting
What you seeThe heel of the standing foot leaves the floor at the bottom.
FixLower only as far as the heel stays down, and go deeper over weeks.
A flat foot gives a stable base for the squat.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain in the knee or hip.
Stop if your hand slips or you lose balance.
End the set when you cannot stand up without the free foot touching the floor.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Quadriceps · moderate confidence
Glutes · moderate confidence

Assisting

Hamstrings · moderate confidence
Adductors · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight + Wall

Optional: Suspension trainer

Stand side-on to a clear, solid wall and rest one hand on it. Use a floor where the feet do not slip. For more help, hold both handles of a suspension trainer at chest height.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Camera candidate

How this page was checked

Draft. A coach reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 4, written from the blueprint CSV row and the Wave 2 rules page of 2026-10-12. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment follow the rules page; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_bulgarian_split_squat, the closest Wave 1 record.
The CSV says bilateral. One leg does the work, so the record counts each side (rule 1).
Rule 2 gives one-leg squat rows single_leg and secondary_lower, as the Wave 1 lunges.
Skill tier intermediate: rule 3 names the pistol squat as advanced, and an assisted variant is one tier lower. The CSV says beginner. Failure cost moderate: the user must control the stop on one leg (rule 3).
The help comes from one hand on a wall. `wall` is a picker id that every user has, so the record requires it and home stays yes. A suspension trainer is optional and gives more help.
The optional box-step from the CSV is dropped; it does not fit the movement.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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