I want to take the next few weeks and share with you a bit of the reasoning behind the progressions we are planning on using this summer through the GPP work with the team. Hopefully this will allow us to have better conversations and dig into things a bit deeper so we can all come to a better conclusion then the ones I have come to for our programming.

There’s been a fake debate for years over if you should do exercises on one leg or two. The argument for double leg hinging and squatting is that you can produce more force and move greater loads on two legs then one. Duh. The single leg training advocates would counter with the obvious observation that sport is primarily played on one leg, so we should train as much in single leg stances as possible. Again, duh. Being the simpleton that I’ve always been, your friend Old Greybeard has always asked, why wouldn’t we want to do both? Well, the Forest Gump of strength and conditioning has always tried to do just that, and there’s obviously pros and cons to each, we do our best to exploit the good and do all we can to limit the bad. The first progression I’ll discuss in this series is our Single Leg Hinge Progression.

The progression simply goes like this:

1) Kickstand RDL-Basically on 2 feet, but not really, stagger your stance and pick up your back heel so your weight is primarily on the front foot. From here Push your hips back and hinge into the RDL, primarily moving from the side of the forward leg, while doing all you can to keep your pelvis level.
2) RFERDL (Rear Foot Elevated RDL)-This is not quite as awful as it’s squatting cousin, but not fun. It’s a great step after the kickstand because you have your leg elevated, you are able to push back AND have your leg supported to help with balance.
3) Landmine SL RDL-Standing on the “outside leg” push your foot of your inside leg straight backwards hinging at the hip keeping your pelvis square and a straight line from your shoulder to your heel. The landmine acts as a brace, helping to balance a bit while allowing for more-free motion at the hip.
4) DB SL RDL- training wheels are completely off now, fill the gap of the leg that reaches back with the hand holding the dumbbell. Slowly and with control push your back leg back while keeping a straight line from your shoulder to your heel. My most common cue for this is to reach with your back foot not with your hand with the dumbbell. More often than not athletes will try to go further than they can by sacrificing their posture and rounding over to reach lower, the aforementioned cue seems to be helpful in that situation, that and telling them to “just go as far as you can, not as far as you can’t.”

The progression, in its simplest form, is going from most to least stable stance. Allowing the athletes to learn the pattern slowly in steps that challenge their strength, balance, and proprioception a bit more each step along the way, without requiring them to pick up exponentially heavier implements to load the system.