Why Pistols Rock

Something a lot of people fail to realize, which is staring everyone in the face, is that the overload principle (stress your body and it will respond in the appropriate manner) is incredibly simple. There is no thought required. If you want to get good at pullups, do more pullups. If you want your legs to be like tree trunks, do figure skating.
I'm kidding and I'm not kidding.
Everyone notices certain things about athletes in their respective sports. Male gymnasts are jacked. Marathoners are typically thin and wiry. And figure skaters have huge legs. They must lift a lot of weights.
Not.
They don't need to. Gymnasts don't need to. It's because of the work they put in just practicing their sport that their body responds to. Do you want strong legs like a figure skater without lifting weights? Without frilly outfits? The answer to all your ailing questions lies in one exercise: the pistol. Here is an image of the bottom position of the pistol:

Yes, very nice-uh. Take a look at this pic of a very basic figure skating move called the sit spin:

Are you seeing where I'm going? The basic Sit Spin is performed with the free leg sticking straight out in front of the skater (like the pistol). The skater bends the skating knee and basically sits down as far as she can without falling. The lower a skater goes, the better the spin will be marked. Just like the pistol.

Now imagine doing the pistol over and over and over...while sliding around on an unstable surface like...ice. Add jumps into that and you'll start to see why their legs are intimidating. Do you need to include all that in your training? Not really. The only thing you really need are pistols. Do lots of them.