Strengthen Your Lower Body Using The One Legged Squat
Jun 28th, 2011 | By Todd Bowman | Category: Legs, Training How To
The one legged squat, commonly known as the pistol squat, is one of the advanced techniques in bodyweight training. Could you imagine lifting your whole body with just one leg?
That’s the idea with this great little exercise. Here are some of the benefits of this exercise. It’ helps to strengthen your smaller joints, ligaments, tendons and stabilizer muscles. It also improves posture in your spinal column and hips as well as helps improve your balance, timing, coordination, kinesthetic awareness, flexibility, proprioception and dexterity.
You wouldn’t think one simple anaerobic and aerobic exercise could do all that did you? It’s also great for your stamina, lungs, heart, circulation and blood flow. It also builds muscle which as a result burns fat. It does this because it stimulates your quadriceps muscles which are some of the largest in your body. When large muscle groups get stressed in this way, they produce the most amount of a hormone called HGH and testosterone. This helps with metabolism (controlled by your thyroid gland) etc.
Suffice it to say, your body loves, needs and craves this exercise.
Let’s get down to the exercise itself so we can dive deeper into how to do it and why it works.
Standing with one leg may not prove to be a problem. However, lifting your whole body with just either leg can certainly be an accomplishment for some.
Click Here For Free Information About How To Gain Muscle & Lose Weight Using Unique Bodyweight Exercises
In this video, Craig Ballantyne shares how to do a one legged squat. Don’t worry. Even if you’re not an expert, this can be done in time. The idea here is to listen to your body’s limitations and do what you can do. Your body will tell you what’s possible.
Obviously try to push yourself as hard as you can go but don’t injure yourself either.
Place a bench behind you. Raise your hands to maintain balance. Lift one leg in front of you and slowly lower yourself to spin on the bench. Then slowly lift yourself up.
Unlike the beginners version of this exercise, with the full version of the one legged squat, you’ll need to do the same without the aid of a bench. Go down as far as you can and go back up. Do as many repetitions as you can. The key is maintaining your balance while you go up and down.
This exercise is certainly a difficult exercise that some may not be able to do it on the first try. With some patience and dedication, you can start with the beginner method and work your way up until you can make a full one legged squat. It does require balance and will help improve your balance the longer you stick with it.
The one legged squat is certainly an advanced move which can be used to build muscles as well as burn calories.
I highly suggest you add this into your current workout routine. I usually add it in on my off days at home. At home I’ll do simple body weight routines taken from the Turbulence Training course.
Take a moment and watch the video below to see how Craig describes how to do this type of squat and then click on the link below that to find out more about this unique program.
What kind of results can you gain from this?
Only you can find out!
Click Here To Learn More About How Turbulence Training By Craig Ballantyne Can Transform Your Body
"If you've enjoyed this article please sign up for my 6 part muscle building mini course where I share some of my most powerful muscle building secrets. You'll love it. Plus you get free workout software. To get access to all this simply enter your name and eamil below and I'll send it right out to you!"
| |||||||
PEOPLE WHO READ THIS ALSO READ:
Are you a skinny guy? Can't put on weight? 
