I help people who are tired of their aches and pains get stronger, feel younger, and achieve a level of fitness they didn’t know was still possible
My Favorite Lower Body Exercise
Of all the lower body exercises, this one is my favorite.
And here's why you need to do it:
1. The human body only uses 7 basic patterns during movement, and this one exercise works 3 of them at the same time (hip hinge, single leg, and anti-rotation). That's a lot of different muscles and a lot of bang-for-the-buck in just one exercise.
2. The exercise builds the hip control and strength people typically lose with age but are necessary for walking and running. The Single Leg Hip Hinge also has a lot of carryover to athletics since most sports involve running.
3. The exercise involves balance, but not just static balance like standing still on one leg. This exercise requires dynamic balance (balancing and moving at the same time). For that reason, it's one of the best balance exercises you can do.
4. Once you get the balance and technique down, you're only limited by how much weight you can hold in your hands and still do the exercise PERFECTLY.
5. The exercise is essentially "stability-limited", meaning your balance will start to falter when you get tired and you'll have to stop before you can hurt yourself with sloppy technique.
6. There's a lot of great core work here in maintaining a neutral spine. Any exercise on one leg will create a twisting force in your pelvis and you need to use those anti-rotation oblique muscles in your torso to keep the ribcage and pelvis aligned.
Try adding the Single Leg Hip hinge to your workouts and start building solid strength and control in your hips!
P.S. If you're unable to balance well enough on one leg to do the exercise, try keeping the toes of the back leg in contact with the ground for extra support and stability.
