I did 70 dragon pistol squats every day for a week — here's the results for my glutes and quads

The Dragon Squat is the ultimate performance test of stability, flexibility, and mobility. Unless you’re some kind of magician, you might not be able to nail a lower body exercise the first, second, or tenth time, but the fun is in learning, and I had a lot of fun.

Before I detail my experience doing Dragon Squats 70 times a day for a week, you may be wondering what a leg exercise is. The bodyweight squat variation, also known as the Dragon Pistol Squat, is one of the most difficult calisthenics exercises without dumbbells or kettlebells. Simply perform a one-legged squat by standing on one leg and crossing the other leg behind you and extending it in front of you.

I recommend incorporating pistol squats already, but we’ll talk about that below. I’ll explain what happened during my recent 7-day fitness challenge for him and why you need proper preparation for this.

How to do the Dragon Pistol Squat

This article explains in detail how to do the pistol squat, so it’s worth reading if you want to learn the basics. Now, let’s go one step further.

Here’s how:

Start standing by stretching your arms out in front of you and tightening your stomach.
Shift your weight to your left leg, bend your left knee and begin a squat
At the same time, cross your right leg behind your left leg and extend your legs toward the front of the room, swinging them slightly.be careful not to touch the ground
Keeping your left heel firmly down, bend your right knee through your left leg and return to a standing position.
switch side

I did 70 Dragon Squats every day for a week – What happened?

Here are the results when I tried repeating it 70 times a day:

My legs, buttocks and lower back felt like they were being tortured without weights

The dragon squat is a unilateral compound exercise, meaning you’ll be focusing on one side at a time. Unilateral exercises can help reduce muscle imbalances, strengthen muscle strength, and improve mobility and balance. Single-leg exercises also recruit the small stabilizer muscles needed to perform the movement.

In theory, you should be able to acquire the same ability by performing the Dragon Pistol Squat on the left and right sides separately.

The single-leg squat variation also helps develop explosive strength because you perform the squat on one leg. This movement targets your hip flexors, core muscles, glutes (gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus), quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors, and calves. In my case, my outer glutes were especially on fire.

Added mobility drills

Working out without warming up is like eating dinner without cooking. I started with 10 reps of bodyweight squats, box step-ups, and modified pistol squats (single leg squats, pistol squats on a box, bowed lunges, etc.) and gradually increased the number of starts.

It was helpful. If you’re planning on trying this move, I highly recommend doing your own move routine. Here we have put together some simple hip mobility exercises and lower body stretches.

I fell down many times

The Dragon Squat severely tested my balance. who Who invented this exercise?i just just I developed a certain level of competency with pistol squats (which were hard enough so I did them every day for a week), but this one took me to a new place. I used walls, yoga blocks, and the floor for support, but I still fell.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Added a fix

Mobility and flexibility frees up the ability to do the Dragon Squat, especially around the hips, knees, and ankles, so we made the modifications. I had to re-evaluate my goals here. Of course, commit to 70 reps (35 per side), but incorporate other exercises and use them as practice rather than exact reps.

I used the exercises above to improve balance and stability. Bowed lunges and one-legged squats are good examples. I balance on one leg and keep applying the load. A bow lunge is probably the closest thing to a dragon squat, as you keep the balls of your feet on the floor but still pull your legs back. But if you’re new to pistol squats and want to replicate the movement pattern, this is a great starting point.

Another bodyweight leg exercise worth trying is the shrimp squat. This follows a similar movement pattern, but while balancing on one leg, slam your non-dominant knee into the floor behind you (see below). It was much more comfortable and allowed me to use variations, and it really stimulated my lower legs.

i had a good time

Although this challenge wasn’t all that successful (as of this writing, I still can’t do dragon squats consistently), what’s life without small challenges? The fun is in development and learning, and I learned a lot about myself. I’m not as agile as advertised, patient (stubborn) and don’t like being beaten.

However, it will take you over a week to complete this bodyweight leg exercise. You need to keep practicing to see progress. Plus, doing half-decent pistol squat reps is a prerequisite for dragon squats, so it takes a little longer. I am in awe of the gymnasts who perform this task as effortlessly as if they were brushing their teeth.

I almost succeeded once

After a week of training and 490 (attempted) reps, I completed the Dragon Pistol Squat halfway. And there was no one to witness it! Note to self: Always film your fitness challenges.

I did 70 Dragon Squats every day for a week – this is my verdict

This assignment adds up to a treasure trove of exercises that require me to work harder. However, if you’re thinking of trying it yourself, be careful. Lower body exercises are not suitable for hip, knee, or ankle injuries, but can help strengthen the joints and muscles around them if you have access to them.

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