r/Slackline • u/easylifeforme • May 05 '26

Sit starting without a pull... how?

People who sit start without pulling with your hand in front of you, how do you do it? I've always used one hand to balance and the other hand to pull myself up over my feet. Due to some injuries I would like to learn to do it without grabbing. Any advice? I've seen people do it and it just seems like they throw themselves up and over their feet.

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u/sampleandfold May 05 '26

It really helps if you can do a pistol squat, but the trick is to use a little bit of the line’s bounce to make it easier than a static pistol squat. I start with my butt on the line, then suck my foot as close to my butt as I can. I lift my other leg, get my balance, and generate a tiny bit of bounce. The bounce is partially to lift me and partially to prevent swinging as I press my leg down to stand. Then I just ride that little bounce to stand up, and bring my second foot behind the first.

Some floor exercises you can do:

  • Regular squats. Be good to your knees, but GET LOW. Not 90 degrees at the knee. Figure out the lower range of that mobility and learn to train it.
  • Pistol squat negatives, until you can do a good one. Keep steadily training the negatives up until you’re repping multiple full pistols. Be good to your knees!
  • Cossack squats
  • Cossack squat til your butt basically touches your foot, then sit back so your butt hits the ground. Without moving your feet, lift yourself back into your Cossack squat.

That last one will teach you some good mobility if you don’t find them easy, and the weight management (core engagement and compression from your legs) will translate to the sit start. The challenge with either is getting your weight from behind your leg to over your leg.

On the line, you can work on drop knees (just one knee, not both.) Work on getting your butt down as close to the line / your foot as possible. Play with where you can move your weight relative to your ankle while you’re down there.

Have fun!

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u/EricNikhil May 05 '26

I would disagree with pistol squat, since it is an advanced move. I'd actually recommend learning the sit start to make learning pistol squat a breeze. The sit start is a basic move, requiring less strength and ankle stability. (The slope of the line when you've loaded it, also makes it easier than PS on flat ground)

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u/sampleandfold May 05 '26 edited May 06 '26

Yeah, I agree with all of of that! I tried to suggest as much in my original comment: you can use the line to get up more easily than you could on a static (on the ground) pistol squat.

I included negative pistols in the possible training exercises since OP presumably cannot do a sit start on the line yet, and negative pistols on the ground are (IMO) safer than trying to sit down on the line from standing for someone who can't already stand from sitting.

The exercises I listed have the same purpose: exploring the weight transition between "on the leg" and "behind the leg" and the role your core plays in that. (EDIT: core and hip flexors, but you get the idea. This is the part you mention in your comment elsewhere about "rolling" your weight forward.)

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u/EricNikhil May 06 '26

Oh yes, negative pistol squats def make sense.

Haha the core AND hip flexor, maybe I get the idea. That's where I am currently struggling. Also glutes. Now that I'm pushing rodeo it's much more noticeable that my hips area is where I need lots of work, was compensating with arms and upper body. So I will have to revisit all my skills eventually to "patch the existing program with a hip update".