This article is for a beginner/intermediate trainee who’s looking for simple tips on how to build up to a dragon squat using exercise regressions and mobility drills.
To clear up something right out of the gates, Dragon Squats are frequently referred to as “Dragon Pistol Squats”.
Same difference. Exercise names have some purpose, but can be confusing and annoying at the same time.
Lastly, I’m not a calisthenics athlete. I’m a dad of two, husband, career driven, normal guy from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I don’t spend hours in the gym everyday. The work is focused and meaningful.
Before anyone tries to share unwanted tips with me in the comment section, be prepared for me to request you share your dragon squat technique.
Too many peanut gallery commenters in this world. 😉
Google: “How to Achieve a Bodyweight Dragon Squat”
I came up empty handed searching for a reasonable article demonstrating good lead up exercises to a full dragon squat, which is why I’m writing one.
One article offered up decent exercise regressions, but only offered black and white photos.
Just photos? Come on! Give people video demonstrations for crying out loud.
What happens between the beginning, middle and end of a single repetition of an exercise is best portrayed in video format, ideally from several different angles.
Other info I found was trapped inside of a $29.99 e-book (again with black and white shitty photos), or a monthly subscription to a trainer’s “revolutionary” at-home fitness program.
I also have a hunch the pure difficulty of dragon squats has bottlenecked the number of trainers who can successfully complete the maneuver.
The crowd of people demonstrating movements that require a profound amount of mobility, strength, and practice is rather small.
12 months ago I had no business writing an article about how to achieve a bodyweight Dragon Squat, because I didn’t own one.
Today?
I’m there baby.
Dragon squats are AGGRESSIVE with regards to strange body position, joint angles and mobility pre-requisites.
It’s an unnatural, unexplored and unfamiliar exercise, which is why people struggle with it.
There a few basic ways a person can apply pressure to a squat pattern:
- Increase weight or volume with bilateral squat variations
- Transition to single leg squats (pistol, skater, rear foot elevated, etc)
- Add complexity single leg squat
While I do see value in adding weight to the barbell with bilateral squats, I also value exploring single squat variations that pose a greater challenge with mobility, coordination, stability, balance, body position.
You don’t have to be a one-trick pony in the gym.
Pro Tip: Add Active Mobility Training to Your Workouts
I don’t know if it’s right or wrong to start an article by telling you how much mobility training can change how your body feels and moves, but F it, I’m diving in.
Consistent mobility training will change your life.
The most significant daily fitness strategy I’ve integrated in the last 10 years was committing myself to active mobility training.
It improved how I move and how my body feels throughout the day.
I wake up each morning free of aches, stiffness and any dull pains. My body feels like it’s ready to move, strong, stable and capable of control ranges of motion.
And to be transparent, it was NOT always like this. I’ve always had an appetite for training hard, but it was predictable to feel pretty cranked in the days afterward.
No longer.
As Andreo Spina is famous for saying… just get shit working nice.
Active mobility training doesn’t mean you have to stop training exercises and patterns.
Mobility work and movement pattern training can coexist in a training regimen.
Dragon Squat require mobility, stability and strength throughout an unfamiliar range of motion.
MyDailyMobility is my mobility program of choice.
Regression #1: Train other single leg squat variations
Develop strength, coordination and efficiency with other single leg squat variations:
- Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats
- Pistol Squats
- Skater Squats
- Shrimp Squats
- Curtsy Squats (and airborne variations)
Each of these exercises are worthy exercises in their own right. Yes, they are a bit more linear, but still valuable.
(While this article is focused on giving you a roadmap to achieving a dragon squat, it’s also crucial to take a 360 approach to squatting and training in general.
In other words, DO IT ALL. PRACTICE all of the squats. Explore, try and build all the variations. Add weight, slow down the eccentric, integrate them into a flow sequence, etc.)
The squat variations listed above are GREAT starting points to begin pursuing the dragon squat.
A lot of people will inevitability ask, “how many reps and sets for each?”
The answer is the same most of the time: 2-3 days per week of 3-5 sets of 5-6 reps per exercise.
Commit yourself to that and see where things go.
Basic guidance on how to decrease the demands of the exercise (regression):
- Decrease the load and use assistance
- Move to full bodyweight with light assistance
- Consider practicing SLOW eccentric reps if needed
- Full bodyweight, low reps, quality work
- Build volume with reps and sets
The amount of assistance each person needs will vary, we’re all unique.
A chair, couch, door, suspension trainer or wood dowel works EXTREMELY well for assistance.
I‘ve uploaded a number of single leg squat ideas on my YouTube channel.
Regression #2: Use lighter loads and eccentrics
Give your body a chance to understand the pattern and range of motion using by practicing reps with less than bodyweight and slow/controlled eccentric.
SLOW the descent, fight gravity to the bitter end (the bottom of the squat).
Eccentrics are well known create soreness, but they also very helpful for building strength.
Hold onto a chair, wood dowel, plyo box or a suspension trainer for support and assistance.
These common household items and cheap gym tools can make a HUGE difference when getting acclimated to the demands of these exercises.
For a lot of single leg squat variations, high-cost equipment is unnecessary.
Use what you have, where you are, right now.
Also, allow me to remind gently that you can’t train eccentrics forever and expect a full range of motion repetition to suddenly appear.
The rules of progressive loading and SAID Principle (specific adapations to imposed demands) are always at play.
If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got. Simple as that.
At some point, you’ll have to progress beyond the eccentric focused dragon squat training, and start in on driving hard out of the bottom of the squat, back to standing.
Regression #3: Hammer hip flexor/adductor mobility
One of the biggest hang-ups with the dragon squat is lack of strength and mobility in the hip flexors/quads/adductors to successfully hover the nonworking leg above the ground.
You’d think strength with the working leg would be the main issue, and it’s certainly a barrier to overcome, but the vast majority of people who attempt a dragon squat will see their non-working leg drag across the floor like it doesn’t have a working muscle in it.
Why is this a problem?
The angles and body positions of the dragon squat are very aggressive, compounded with weak hip flexors and adductors.
If you’re reading this and having trouble understanding, stand up and try an assisted dragon squat, and hold the hovering leg 4-5 inches above the floor at the bottom.
Here are a few drills to help build strength for the hovering leg:
It’s humbling.
- Seated Hip Flexor Hovers
- Straddle Hovers Over a Kettlebell (or yoga block)
- Hip CARs
- Straddle Circles
- Add weight to each of these exercises
Regression #4: Elevated Dragon Squats and Curtsy Airborne Squat
Standing on a box or chair allows the non-working leg to go lower than the surface you’re standing on.
I’m telling you, the keeping the hovering leg off the floor is one of the most difficult components of the dragon squat.
Training in an elevated position really helps with this.
In conjunction with elevated dragon squat work, practice the Curtsy airborne squat. This simple modification gives you a small dose of the demands of a real dragon squat without struggling with the hovering leg.
The working leg/hip gets gradual exposure to the what it will have to overcome on each rep.
Curtsy airborne lunges were BIG for me during my journey towards a full dragon squat.
Regression #5: Rest
Say what?
Yes, give your legs a break from the loading and stress.
3-5 days.
I took a break from any gym work for roughly 3 days during whitetail deer bow hunting season. Literally sat motionless in a tree stand for 6-7 hours per day and when I returned, I dropped right down into a wobbly, yet full dragon squat.
Prior to achieving those reps, I was close but always missing (losing balance, lacking strength at various points, etc).
I stepped away, did other things, came back and got it. 🤔
The Real Deal: Dragon Squat
Expect to feel weak, wobbly, uncoordinated on the first full attempts.
This is normal, stick with it.
Most people never share their shitty reps on social media, only the finished product.
The lead up to a full dragon squat is NOT SEXY.
But stick with it.
Keep attacking the regressions intelligiently, moving to the next challenge in the ladder when it’s time.
How many sets and reps for each exercise!?
It depends!
(What a shitty answer)
It really does depend.
When I started pursuing dragon squats, I was aiming for 2-3 decent reps with the regressions.
Some days my left leg would only give me 1.5 good reps and my right would give me 2.
After a few weeks of practicing for 2-3 days per week, I’d add 1-2 reps to each work set when I felt good.
My body was acclimated and adapted to the stress and demands, so adding a rep here and there was necessary for ongoing gains.
Once I hit 6 good reps on each side, I jumped to the next exercise progression.
Eventually I arrived a the full dragon squat.
There’s no secret sauce. You have to commit yourself to the work and the time.
Did you get value from this blog post???
If so, please spread the word and give it share with others.
I appreciate you all, cheers.
Kyle
M(eaux)tion Fitness 