yo what's up it's Eric Wong here from precision movement and today we're gonna
answer a question that I got from one of my subscribers asking about the sissy
squat so started off he asked me is this sissy squat a good exercise and my
response was a good exercise for what like it's a good exercise but depends
what your goals are then he asked me will this sissy squat help with the
pistol squat so it's very important to be able to
define what is good and what is bad not just in general like there's a right
and a wrong but everything is related to some type of goal okay so in this case
the goal is better pistol squats are do more just to do them at all is the
exercise right or wrong for that if it's good is it good or bad for that we can
answer that now because we have some context we have a goal okay so never
think of any exercise in terms of a good exercise and a bad exercise it's all
very goal specific okay so first of all take a look at this and
what I want you to think about when watching me perform the two techniques
is movement and/or activation patterns okay so I use the acronym M / AP for
movement and or activation patterns and that is what you need to understand and
start to look at and see beneath just the movement you look at the activation
and then you can start to figure out what exercises will be more applicable
to progress to something else okay so start off with the pistol squat I'm sure
you all know this but let's do it anyway
and do it control style full range of control full range of motion
okay so that's pistol sissy squat contrast this
okay so there's the two techniques so what do you notice okay so obviously
they're different techniques ones on one leg the other is on the other on both
legs this is bilateral versus unilateral when
you're doing the pistol squat foot is flat okay and you're descending sissy
squat up on the toes heels are off the ground and you're descending what you
don't see when you're on the pistol is that primarily your heels or your weight
is through your heels okay so that's a big difference in terms of your point of
balance okay so that's one major difference there what's happening at the
knees well both techniques you're going into full knee flexion okay so they're
similar in that way so you're gonna work the quads through that full range okay
however the hips differs completely with the pistol you're going into hip flexion
just like a normal squat with the sissy squat the hips never go into flexion okay
so they stay extended this day and relatively neutral the whole time okay
so with that being said the sissy squat it's going to work primarily the quads
when you're going down everything else completely different okay so if say quad
strength was a limiting factor for the pistol then sure this exercise would be
beneficial but if it's something else could be hip flexion range of motion
ability for the iliopsoas to keep stability in the hip as it descends into
that bottom range position ankle dorsiflexion it could be strengthen the
opposite rectus femoris keeping the leg up off the ground a lot of different
things going on most people it's not quad strength that's limiting their
pistol it's one of these other factors so if like I said quad strength was it
sure great exercise if not and it's likely that it's not then it's not going
to be that beneficial for the pistol but what exercise would help the pistol
squat well I've got some other videos here on the channel
so I will link to those at the end of today's video but before we get to that
just wanted to share this kind of thinking and thought process with you as
opposed just to just always showing exercises okay that's how you do
technique or worse the Instagram world where they're just showing stuff and
it's like oh okay that looks cool but what's what's behind
it okay so I just wanted to share the thought process with you a little bit
get your thinking on a different level not just on the visual but on what's
happening internally as well okay so Eric Wong here from precision movement
thanks for watching the video check those exercises to help with your pistol
squat that are coming up at the end of this and make sure you subscribe so you
don't miss any videos from us that we release once or twice a week okay we'll
see you next time peace