Hi, when I do a pistol squat do I sit at the bottom and relax, and then use my strength to lift my body up or to I fully contract my body for the whole motion? I recently started doing pistol squats since I noticed they really make my conventional squats blow up, but I was wondering if I was doing them correctly since I want to be squat double my body weight, I’m 180lbs, so I’m trying to squat 360lbs for 5 reps, that’s my goal right now
How many pistols can you do?
Are you performing these as assistance to build strength or accessory to build muscle?
Up front both variations will benefit you. As long as you do it consistently and progress on it while working on your main lift you’ll see gains.
However as to which variation will “carry over” best to your squat it’d be the more constant tension pistol squat. This is because I more closely mimics your barbell squat which does have a relaxed pause at the bottom