Balance Trainer TRX Pistol Squats
A complex unilateral lower-body exercise that combines a assisted single-leg squat with instability training using a balance trainer and suspension straps to target the quads, glutes, and stabilizers.
This high-skill movement requires significant neural drive for balance; the AI analyzes your HRV and sleep data to determine if your nervous system is recovered enough for this stability challenge. Additionally, by tracking your RPE and rep performance, the app learns if you are relying too heavily on the straps for assistance and can adjust your volume or suggest regressions to ensure you are building true single-leg strength.
Form Cues
- Plant your working foot directly in the center of the balance trainer dome
- Keep your non-working leg extended straight out in front of you
- Sit your hips back and down while keeping your chest lifted
- Use the suspension handles lightly for balance assistance only
- Drive through the mid-foot and heel to return to standing
- Don't let your standing knee collapse inward
- Don't pull firmly on the straps to hoist your body weight up
- Don't round your lower back at the bottom of the squat
- Don't let your heel lift off the balance trainer surface
- Don't rush the descent; control the instability
Common Mistakes
- Over-relying on arm strength
- Knee caving inward (valgus collapse)
- Standing off-center on the dome
- Rounding the spine forward
- Bouncing out of the bottom
Muscles Worked
This exercise intensely targets the quadriceps and glutes through a full range of motion while forcing the ankle stabilizers and core to work overtime due to the unstable surface. The hamstrings assist in controlling the descent, and the suspension trainer allows for a deeper squat than mobility might otherwise permit.
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Secondary
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