Dragon Squat – UPDATED 2022 – A Complete Guide

Squats are one of the most basic exercises you can do and are most often used to ease newbies into fitness into working out regularly in 2022. As you move onto more intermediate techniques, however, you might feel like you’re missing out on some of the great benefits of squats by not doing them as often anymore.

What if we could level up our squats by making them more advanced, working different muscles, and making them a challenge again? Let us introduce you to the dragon squat, which tries to do exactly that.

Want to squat like a champion? This is a complete guide to the dragon squat answering questions such as how to do it, the benefits, how to prepare yourself, and more!

 

Dragon Squat – A Complete Guide

As you likely already know, a regular squat is as simple as it gets. You start from a standing position, put your arms out in front of you, then bend your knees until you’re in a sort of sitting-standing position. How does the dragon squat change this?

As the name might imply, it’s an intense and fiery version of a regular squat that honestly doesn’t look much like one at all. It involves folding your legs over themselves and getting closer to the floor than in a normal squat.

Officially, you don’t need any equipment for a squat but when you’re learning this move, a lot of people recommend that you have something to hold onto to help balance yourself. There are also some versions of the dragon squat that have you suspending yourself in mid-air using a gym horse or something similar.

Below is a complete guide to the dragon squat:

1. Begin by balancing on one leg, with your arms slightly elevated at your sides to balance.
2. Squat, and bring the leg that’s in the air behind the leg that’s bent onto the ground.
3. Straighten this leg and make sure it doesn’t touch the floor.
4. Hold the squat for 3-5 seconds.
5. Return to a neutral standing position and repeat.

Dragon Squat Progression

With a squat like a dragon squat, you can’t go from 0 to 100 straight away. It’s the ultimate form of a squat and requires optimal balance, strength, flexibility, core control, and more. But everyone starts from somewhere, and by following the right squat progression techniques you can build up to a dragon squat in just a few weeks of practice.

Where to start with the squat will depend on what level you feel like you’re currently at. You can assess this by trying the dragon squat – it doesn’t matter if you fail, because what you’re looking for is your weak points.

Do you fall over while squatting down? This means your balance is lacking, and you’ll need to do exercises such as assisted deep pistol squats.

Can’t get your raised leg under your leg that’s on the floor? You need more flexibility. Strict pistol squats and shrimp squats are great for building this.

Can’t hold the squat for more than 1 second? Build more strength in your legs and your core. This comes from lots of exercises, but a good progression for building strength is the closed leg deep squat.

 

Dragon Squat Benefits

If a dragon squat is that much more difficult than a regular squat and requires much more preparation and progression to get right, then it must be better for you than squats, right?

Dragon squat benefits will be concentrated on strength, flexibility, and balance. The strength you’ll build will be in your legs, but these types of squats are also amazing for core strength.

There’s been some debate about whether or not dragon squats are bad for your knees. The argument behind this is that the squats involve balancing a lot of your upper body weight onto your knees, and also having to stand upright from the dragon squat requires you to put pressure on your knees.

However, when done in moderation it can be beneficial for your knees and the rest of your legs. Because this version of the squat involves so many parts of your body working together such as your shins, your core, and your hips, your knees won’t take as much of the weight as it may seem like they do.

To unlock the benefits of the dragon squat, you need to follow the progression. Doing the required exercises to build up to this type of squat will build strength in your knees and other muscles, preventing you from serious injury.

Dragon Pistol & Dragonfly Squat – What You Should Know?

Just like the dragon squat, there are many other more extreme variations of the squat. Some of these are the dragon pistol & dragonfly squats. What are these squats, and what should you know about them?

The dragon pistol is a combination of a pistol squat and a dragon squat. You might be familiar with the pistol squat, as this is one of the more known variations of a regular squat.

This is an intermediate-level squat that is much like the dragon squat but is done at more of an angle. It’s a good late-stage progression for the full version of the squat.

A dragonfly squat on the other hand is an elevated dragon squat. Instead of lowering yourself to the ground, you do the squat while sitting on a form of the box such as a gym horse. This focuses on balancing yourself on this object while performing the squat at more of a vertical angle.

This can either be a progression for the dragon squat or an advanced technique of it, depending on your strengths and weaknesses.

 

Dragon Squat – Closing Thoughts

To summarize then, the dragon squat is an exciting upgrade and challenge to the squat. It has all of the familiar benefits of a regular squat but adds more intensity and gives you even more of a workout.

Want to take the rest of your exercises to the next level? Check out our guides, diet plans, explanations, tips, and more, and keep checking back for more in 2022 and beyond!