How Working One Leg At a Time Builds More Muscle | Men's Health Magazine Australia

How Working One Leg At a Time Builds More Muscle

I’m a HUGE (Bernie Sanders voice) fan of single-leg movements.

 

For one thing, they clear up mobility and strength imbalances between sides. 

Finally, unilateral moves more completely work your lower body and core, engaging your inner and outer hips and thighs and your obliques more than bilateral moves do.

To make a unilateral training strategy even more effective, I really like to stack multiple single-leg moves together without no rest between them. This creates more metabolic stress and extends your time under tension for a more effective leg workout in less time and with less joint-wearing loading throughout your body. 

Try out these two stacks today and I think you’ll agree with me. For best results, either switch between the two stacks from session to session or do both stacks within the same session.

1. The Quad-Glute Stack

Both of the following exercises work your glutes. But they tend to work your quads more than they work your hamstrings, so if your quads are lagging behind your hams, hit this stack up more often.

Perform the following exercises on the same side with no rest between the moves. After you complete the second exercise, rest 30 to 60 seconds. 

Then switch sides and repeat.

That’s 1 round. Do 2 to 3 rounds per side. 

1A. Rear-foot-elevated goblet split squat, 8 to 12 reps  
1B. Shoulders-elevated single-leg hip thrust, as many reps as possible

2. The Glute-Ham Stack 

Both of the following exercises work your glutes. But they tend to work your hamstrings more than they work your quads. So if your hams are lagging behind your quads, hit this stack up more often.

Perform the following exercises on the same side with no rest between the moves. After you complete the second exercise, rest 30 to 60 seconds. 

Then switch sides and repeat.

That’s 1 round. Do 2 to 3 rounds per side. 

1A. Rear-foot-elevated hip hinge, 8 to 12 reps 
1B. Feet-elevated single-leg hip thrust, as many reps as possible 

This article was originally published on MensHealth.com

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