By no means are my legs the best ,but the progress I made training with High Volume and using a number of different Single Leg exercises was massive. Not only this, but I soon realised I was using muscles that I hadn’t used before whilst performing my usual variations of Double Leg exercises such as Squats and Dead lifts .
I was getting some serious DOMS (Delayed onset of Muscle Soreness) in areas of my legs that I had never experienced before. I had performed Single leg work in my training before of course, but never with this amount of volume and intensity.
I didn’t have a choice though as I had 12 weeks to train for Fitness Star in Toronto and had to make some drastic progress with my legs.
Why it’s not all about overload and muscle recruitment ????
Whilst performing your usual compound leg exercises such as Dead-lifts, Back squats , Front Squats etc your body will look to use as many muscles it has available to ensure you complete the movement / rep.
Every muscle available will soon be recruited to ensure that you get through the movement .
Everyone knows that Back Squats and Dead lifts are full-body exercises and are great for so many things such as fat loss, power and strength , but are they really the best at developing muscles in your legs ?
Quality over Quantity
By lowering the weight you can actual increase the overload on your Quads / Hamstrings. For example for your quads you can perform a Rear elevated split squat (RESS) with Dumb-bells. By lowering the weight , using dumbbells and performing the exercise with one leg you are increasing the load on your Quads rather than your spine and Hips.
This will in fact create a greater overload on your quads (The muscle you want to grow and develop ) and will also allow you to focus on your quads rather that your hips and back, encouraging muscle development in that specific area.
Another advantage I find with Single Leg work especially when a leg is elevated or off the ground is the recruitment of you abductors and abductors.
These two muscle groups are forced into recruitment to act as stabilizers when performing Single Leg exercises this is something that isn’t to present with lower compound exercises not only this but single leg work is great for glute development another problem area people find hard to target.
Sprinting
I have covered traditional Single Leg exercises performed in the gym but what about outside on the track ?
This is where sprinting comes into play , because of the explosive nature of sprinting and the fact it has a high recruitment of type 2 muscle fibres it can do wonders in increasing your speed,power and also the release of large amounts of growth hormone which is often forgotten about and only thought of with traditional lifts such as squats and Dead lifts.
To many people neglect sprinting for leg muscle development and simply use it for fat loss. Performed properly sprinting can be a great way of building your legs and is also another single leg exercise.
Each time you stride a single leg is required to push of the ground making it a SL exercise. Not only this but it’s a great way for developing your posterior chain muscle’s such as your hamstrings and glutes as well as you calf muscles.
All these benefits from a 15 -20 minute track session is defiantly worth adding into your weekly routine whether you are using sprints for fat loss or muscle development in your legs .
Summary
By no means am I saying you should not perform compound leg exercises and solely perform Single leg exercises.
After all Squats and Dead-lifts are great for increasing your strength and power and are probably my favourite lower body exercises and are just cool, but from my experience I know believe that if a person wants to develop their legs quickly ,then SL exercises should be performed as the bulk your lower body work
Jay Farrant Personal Trainer Dublin
The ABS Gym Personal Training Studio