All posts tagged: singleleg

Can’t do a lunge? Try this exercise to boost your single-leg stability and strength

Can’t do a lunge? Try this exercise to boost your single-leg stability and strength

Published by Jenni Sidey

Lunges are a great exercise to improve lower-body strength, stability and balance. Since they’re a unilateral move—meaning that they’re done one side at a time—they can address muscle imbalances and strength discrepancies while promoting better overall coordination and endurance. Lunges can also work the core, which has to work to keep the body stable and balanced over a single leg. Unfortunately, lunges can be difficult to do if you’ve got knee issues, joint pain, or restricted mobility. I work with plenty of personal training clients that fall into those categories, so I’ll often swap lunges for step-ups instead. Latest Videos From You may like Step-ups can be modified for most fitness or ability levels, progressed as you get stronger, and don’t require any equipment besides a step. If you’ve been looking for a lunge alternative, give them a try. Why are step-ups a good alternative to lunges? Like lunges, step-ups target each leg independently from the other. It’s common to have a “good” or “stronger” side, but this can often lead to faulty movement patterns, …

These are the three single-leg exercises I’ve been doing to rebuild core strength after an injury

These are the three single-leg exercises I’ve been doing to rebuild core strength after an injury

Published by Jenni Sidey

Core strength isn’t just for athletes, it’s the foundation for nearly all movement, from sitting comfortably to carrying groceries up the stairs. Traditional core exercises such as planks and crunches are important for building core strength, but they shouldn’t be the extent of your core training. When I started recovering from a disc injury two years ago, my rehab coach emphasized the importance of single-leg exercises, not just for regaining lost strength in the leg that suffered sciatica, but for building deep core strength to support my spine. You may like Movements such as the single-leg Romanian deadlift and step-up use your abdominal muscles and work on the deeper engagement between your pelvis, lower spine and core—activating all the tiny stabilizing muscles and ligaments that general workouts often miss. These moves will also challenge your balance and coordination—skills that it pays to maintain as you age—and make a great lower-body routine for runners, because running requires unilateral (single-leg) strength for performance and injury-prevention. Here are three unilateral moves that will help you build core strength. …