Legs · Kettlebell
Kettlebell Pistol Squat
How to do the kettlebell pistol squat, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Kettlebell
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Squat
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Hold a kettlebell at your chest as a counterbalance and stand on one leg with the other extended in front of you. Lower into a full single-leg squat, keeping the free leg off the floor, then drive through your heel to stand back up.
- 1Feel your standing-leg quad and glute control the descent
- 2Hold the bell at your chest to counterbalance and stay upright
- 3Drive through your heel and keep your knee tracking over your toes
Common mistakes
- Don't let your knee cave inward or your heel lift
- Avoid collapsing forward at the bottom; stay tall
- Don't drop into the hole; control the whole range
Muscles worked
The kettlebell pistol squat mainly works the quads and glutes, with the lower abs, hamstrings, calves, forearms, lower back, upper abs, obliques, adductors, hip flexors, and tibialis anterior assisting.
- QuadsPrimary
- GlutesPrimary
- Lower AbsSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- ForearmsSupport
- Lower BackSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- ObliquesSupport
- AdductorsSupport
- Hip FlexorsSupport
- Tibialis AnteriorSupport
- Front DeltsMinor
Kovo programs the kettlebell pistol squat for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More quads exercises
- How to do the resistance band squat
- How to do the resistance band squat to press
- How to do the resistance band thruster
- How to do the resistance band squat walk
- How to do the barbell squat
- How to do the barbell bulgarian split squat
Last reviewed June 2026.