Single leg work can play an excellent role in helping athletes build general leg strength. It can also expose weaknesses or lack of awareness in athletes for both leg and midline strength. The position we see in a good front squat with shoulders rising with the hips out of the bottom of the squat is the same thing we should be looking for in lunging and other single leg work.
If athletes need to develop strength or take to narrow of a step it’s common to see the hips rising before the shoulders. This causes the bar to move forward and athletes do more of a “good morning” out of the squat.You can avoid this by thinking “shoulders back” as you rise.
The same position applies for walking lunges, reverse lunges, or movements like the split squat. We will continue changing things up to develop more well rounded leg and midline strength during these quarantine times. Next time we lunge be mindful when doing them, “shoulders back.”
Written by: Cory Buerck