How Often Do You Train on a Single Leg?

As humans, we typically have the ability to walk, jog, jump, run, and turn but not on two feet simultaneously but particularly on one leg. You already know that incorporating compound lifts such as a squat and/or deadlift provide us the capabilities to do harder things in our life. So this poses these two questions;

How often do you train on one leg and what more can it offer?

With this week's newsletter, I want to give an explanation on why it is a no-brainer to include single-leg training into your workouts and understanding that this may be the missing piece to your puzzle.

Did you know??

upon the latest research, it had suggested older adults who cannot stand for at least 10 seconds on a balance test are TWICE as likely to die within 10 years? I repeat, 2X as likely! I believe that's preposterous because these studies tell us if you can't stand on one leg for no more than 10 seconds, your life can end in the next 10 years when you're old?? Crazy.

But I believe what this research is truly trying to say is that there may be an underlying cause behind poor single leg stability. Your body works as a whole system and it has mechanisms for it. For example, if you've ever spun in a circle for 20-30 seconds straight and stopped immediately after that, your body is out of balance which is also known to be 'out of equilibrium'. The reason why we feel this way is based on our vestibular system which then originates from our ears. In other words, our body knows exactly what balance is and it's always trying to maintain it in every way possible.

Importantly, if our balance isn't monitored more frequently, next thing you know, you are either injured or training on imbalances that build over time. However, it's not the end of the world and training on a single leg can be implemented given the right approach and needs little to no preparation needed into getting right to it.

Here are some of the benefits that it can provide us:

Helps increase proprioception which is our body's ability to sense its placement and position in a given space
Reduces imbalances within our body's musculature
Strengthens our lower extremity joints and tendons from shear forces
Lowers the chances of injuries for our hips and low back
Prepares us for our ADLs and to perform ADLs more easily (ADL = Activities of Daily Living)

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WHAT TO DO NEXT

Methods & Exercises

We can start single-leg training as simple as

Box step ups or using an elevated step to step on & off for 45s-60s for 2-3 rounds
Marching in place with offset weight (using a dumbbell or kettlebell) for 30s-60s for 2-3 rounds
Incorporating a Single Leg ISO Romanian Deadlift for 30s-45s for 2-3 rounds
Utilizing Leg Extension machines or Leg Curl machines with a single leg versus double-leg with a lighter weight for 8-10 reps x 3 sets
Training any single leg exercise with shoes off

Any of these can be applied on your next workout and you'll see a major difference from it after the first day, trust me.

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Single-leg training is more than beneficial but practically life-changing.