Anyone here doing Single leg press?
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Anyone here doing Single leg press?
Hi guys,
I started a gym regimen a few months back, and quickly learned that I have uneven strength between legs (saw a spine specialist, I have some issues there :/ ). So after my regular squat work, i am doing single leg press. I have been liking them so far, but I read around the internet and am getting lots of mixed opinions. Does anyone here do them, or have any thoughts?
I started a gym regimen a few months back, and quickly learned that I have uneven strength between legs (saw a spine specialist, I have some issues there :/ ). So after my regular squat work, i am doing single leg press. I have been liking them so far, but I read around the internet and am getting lots of mixed opinions. Does anyone here do them, or have any thoughts?
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I used to do a ton of one legged squats off boxes as I was working on a "pistol" goat (one leg squat off the ground). My bodyweight at the time was high (250-260 range), so they were very hard.
Best I could do (big goal for me)
All the single leg work really helped my leg and hip stability. If you dont have access to weights, single leg squats and plyo work will build strong legs. I'm pretty new to cycling and really dont know the carry over to the sport other than having stronger, more resilient knees (which cant hurt).
Best I could do (big goal for me)
All the single leg work really helped my leg and hip stability. If you dont have access to weights, single leg squats and plyo work will build strong legs. I'm pretty new to cycling and really dont know the carry over to the sport other than having stronger, more resilient knees (which cant hurt).
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I personally don't do them, but as long as you keep the weight/rep/set the same, then I don't see any issues with doing them. Unless that is, you use different technique with one than the other, then there would be something that could make your legs even more 'uneven'. Unrelated but, I have severely uneven muscle tone in my upper body, chest and abdominals and have found one armed press-ups to have helped even those out.
Back to the one legged squats, sure, do them. Just lift the same weight with your preferred leg to your non-preferred leg. Some cyclists (sprinters) have some preferred legs, and if you watch Victoria Pendleton you will see she prefers one leg to the other, and that's even on the bike. What exactly are you looking to get out of these one legged squats? If it's to get your legs to equal strength, than I would consult someone such as an 'expert' or certified gym coach who could offer a better opinion and even maybe a plan on what you could do with your squat workout. If you do 'normal' squats with both legs, they should equal out as long as you don't put more strain on one leg than the other, you just may not see results as quick.
I apologize if you're doing it just for a variety of workout, but I thought you were implying you wanted equal strength legs Did you mention these to the spinal specialist? I would go with their opinion/experience over what anyone (myself included) says on these forums/the internet.
Back to the one legged squats, sure, do them. Just lift the same weight with your preferred leg to your non-preferred leg. Some cyclists (sprinters) have some preferred legs, and if you watch Victoria Pendleton you will see she prefers one leg to the other, and that's even on the bike. What exactly are you looking to get out of these one legged squats? If it's to get your legs to equal strength, than I would consult someone such as an 'expert' or certified gym coach who could offer a better opinion and even maybe a plan on what you could do with your squat workout. If you do 'normal' squats with both legs, they should equal out as long as you don't put more strain on one leg than the other, you just may not see results as quick.
I apologize if you're doing it just for a variety of workout, but I thought you were implying you wanted equal strength legs Did you mention these to the spinal specialist? I would go with their opinion/experience over what anyone (myself included) says on these forums/the internet.
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Many people do it. Here is Anna Meares leg pressing 225kg/500lbs...with one leg:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/pho...pain-box/38692
https://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/pho...pain-box/38692
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Some guy named Paul Rogers seems to think they're worthwhile:
https://www.ridethetrack.com/pdf/train_paulrogers.pdf
https://www.ridethetrack.com/pdf/train_paulrogers.pdf
Single-leg Press is our bread and butter. Different foot and hip positions for different phases of pedal stroke, standing, seated, etc. I use high speed video to match joint angles and velocities for each rider. We mainly do it ballistically for power - throw the sled as far as you can – at different percentages of max to match up to different muscle contraction velocities for different phases of the acceleration (different cadences). We do a lot of single-leg plyos on boxes, stairs, bunjee sleds, etc during speed phases. Strength and power gains are extremely specific and do not necessarily transfer well. When Ryan Bayley beat Sean Eadie in the Commonwealth Games sprint final in 2002, Sean was tripling 250kg for a parallel back squat and Ryan was tripling 120kg. On single-leg press, they were much closer (20kg) and so was the racing.
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Hi guys,
I started a gym regimen a few months back, and quickly learned that I have uneven strength between legs (saw a spine specialist, I have some issues there :/ ). So after my regular squat work, i am doing single leg press. I have been liking them so far, but I read around the internet and am getting lots of mixed opinions. Does anyone here do them, or have any thoughts?
I started a gym regimen a few months back, and quickly learned that I have uneven strength between legs (saw a spine specialist, I have some issues there :/ ). So after my regular squat work, i am doing single leg press. I have been liking them so far, but I read around the internet and am getting lots of mixed opinions. Does anyone here do them, or have any thoughts?
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Does anyone else have issues with their Sartorius being aggravated by single-leg exercises?
I am fine doing normal squats, leg press or whatever, but as soon as I start pushing resonable weight single leg I have real issues with it.
JMR
I am fine doing normal squats, leg press or whatever, but as soon as I start pushing resonable weight single leg I have real issues with it.
JMR
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Thanks for the replies guys!
I have a question. Is there a weight range that is considered good for a track cyclist, in terms of weight, for this type thing? Like a bodyweight x XYZ? I just want to know a reasonable goal for this off season to work toward.
I have a question. Is there a weight range that is considered good for a track cyclist, in terms of weight, for this type thing? Like a bodyweight x XYZ? I just want to know a reasonable goal for this off season to work toward.
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Chris Hoy isn't the strongest track cyclist out there but at 6'1" and 200 pounds he can squat 500 and leg press 1,500. Assuming everyone is not built equally, you will need to determine yourself what a reasonable goal is.
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There *is* a direct correlation of lean muscle mass in the thighs to top speed in one study that I read of world class track sprinters. But bear in mind that these guys had already come up through the system as racers to reach that level.
There are plenty of gym rats with huge legs that would be awfully slow.
There are so many more important factors.
Use the gym numbers to monitor personal progress NOT to compare yourself to other racers.
There are guys who can't squat their way out of a wet paper bag that would drag me all over the track
There are plenty of gym rats with huge legs that would be awfully slow.
There are so many more important factors.
Use the gym numbers to monitor personal progress NOT to compare yourself to other racers.
There are guys who can't squat their way out of a wet paper bag that would drag me all over the track
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One thing I've started doing is single leg dead lifts. I am finding these really hard to do, even with a 60 lb weight, not because it's too heavy but because my working leg and core are struggling so hard to balance AND lift at the same time. If single leg press has a fault, it's that it doesn't work the core as much as other exercises (though if used in conjunction with other core strength exercises then this will be a moot point).
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One thing I've started doing is single leg dead lifts. I am finding these really hard to do, even with a 60 lb weight, not because it's too heavy but because my working leg and core are struggling so hard to balance AND lift at the same time. If single leg press has a fault, it's that it doesn't work the core as much as other exercises (though if used in conjunction with other core strength exercises then this will be a moot point).
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One thing I've started doing is single leg dead lifts. I am finding these really hard to do, even with a 60 lb weight, not because it's too heavy but because my working leg and core are struggling so hard to balance AND lift at the same time. If single leg press has a fault, it's that it doesn't work the core as much as other exercises (though if used in conjunction with other core strength exercises then this will be a moot point).
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https://img2.timeinc.net/health/image...d-lift-400.jpg
https://awesomephysique.net/wp-conten...dead-lift1.jpg
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Here are a couple of images. The bloke is doing what I do, but the girl is a nicer image to look at.
https://img2.timeinc.net/health/image...d-lift-400.jpg
https://awesomephysique.net/wp-conten...dead-lift1.jpg
https://img2.timeinc.net/health/image...d-lift-400.jpg
https://awesomephysique.net/wp-conten...dead-lift1.jpg
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One thing I've started doing is single leg dead lifts. I am finding these really hard to do, even with a 60 lb weight, not because it's too heavy but because my working leg and core are struggling so hard to balance AND lift at the same time. If single leg press has a fault, it's that it doesn't work the core as much as other exercises (though if used in conjunction with other core strength exercises then this will be a moot point).
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