A Great Way To Maintain Leg Muscle Balance
When starting in fitness, we tend to neglect technique especially, if we are without an instructor. To be clear, pointing out technique cues is not necessarily about what is the right or wrong way, but to ensure we get the most out of the exercise we’re performing. Of course, there are different variations to execute various exercises. The reason is, those elite athletes have a harder time making gains due to their exercise age. After your first couple of years of fitness, training improvements slow down drastically. That is when you have to get creative to continue to move the needle.
Split squats are a good way to ensure you keep muscle balance in your legs. Meaning both legs have similar strength. Sometimes when we squat, especially when the weight is too heavy, we would do whatever to get that weight off us. That could lead to using one leg more than the other, usually your dominant leg. To help offset this, we can utilize the split-squat, and there are a few ways to perform this movement.
The one we will look at is the rear leg elevated split squat. This move is similar to a lunge but with the back leg fixed on a weight bench or box.
The height of the raised leg matters; this leg doesn’t need to be higher than your knee level when standing.
Position, stand as far as you can while being able to have your toes on the back leg rest comfortably on the bench without flexing at the knee.
Maintaining an upright torso, control your weight as you lower your raised leg knee to the ground, as you would in a walking lunge.
While maintaining an upright torso, press through the heel of your working leg to lift your weight back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
Then repeat for as many reps for your given set.
Here are some common mistakes with this exercise. To reiterate the ones already mentioned.
The rear leg is being raised too high.
Standing too far or too close, to the bench or box.
Others are
Having your front foot directly in front of the rear foot like you are walking a tightrope. You should maintain a normal shoulder-wide apart stance.
Stressing over if you should lay your feet flat or tuck your toes. The most important factor here is comfort.
Lastly, lean forward to lower your weight, remember chest up and out through the entire rep.
Live life free and stay fit!
J’Nathan Bullock CSCS