You love your legs, they’re shapely and strong. Yet you could be one of the many women out there that aren’t taking advantage of all the calorie-burning and strength possibilities of your butt and leg muscles. The power of the lower body can present a couple of issues though. One problem is that you can have back and hip trouble when one of your legs dominates the other leg. The second problem is, instead of utilizing their hamstrings, many women allow their quadriceps to perform all the work; this is an imbalance in muscle that raises the danger of knee injuries in addition to lowering total strength.
Taking this fitness test will show you any existing inconsistencies. So let’s get to it and power through this fitness test to find out how fit you actually are.
The 3-Rep Single-Leg Squat Test
Beginning with rep one, read the directions and complete the exercise with the correct form; always remember to test the other leg! If you’re triumphant in performing the rep, you can move on to the next one. The test is over when, or if, you’re unable to do a rep using the proper form.
Single-Leg – Rep One: Bench Sit-down – With a bench approximately one foot behind you, raise both of your arms in front of you to shoulder-height and raise your right leg out in front of you to about a 45˚ angle, keeping your knee straight; you should then be standing solely on your left leg. Bending your left knee, lower yourself until you’re in a sitting position on the bench; rest for a few seconds but keep the right leg off of the floor and out in front of you. Now, using only your left leg, push yourself back up to the standing position you began with.
Single-Leg – Rep Two: Squat with Bench – Start performing the squat you did in rep one—but this time don’t sit on the bench, just lightly touch it. Once you’ve brushed the bench with your behind, immediately power yourself back up to the starting position. If you touch the bench on your way up or lose your form, the test is finished.
Single-Leg – Rep Three: Squat – For this test, you must stand on top of the bench lengthwise—like you would stand on a balancing beam. Raise your arms in front of you to shoulder-height and raise your right leg off the bench and out in front of you; you should then be balancing on your left leg. Now, lower yourself into the squat as far as you’re able, but not so far that you can’t return back to the starting position. Remember to keep proper form!
The Results
So just how strong is your lower body? If you’re…
- Unable to perform rep one using the correct form, you’re below average.
- Able to achieve rep one and rep two with good form but not able to complete rep three, you’re average.
- Able to do all of the reps and maintain the right form, then you’re above average.
Well? Do you need more work on your lower body or are you a superwoman?
Maybe You Need to Level the Score
Did each of your legs get a different score? Not to worry, that’s not unusual. There’s a way to fix that. Twice per week—or even three times if you want to—include the single-leg squat into your workouts. Pick whichever rep you couldn’t complete with your weaker leg; if that was rep one, then do rep one. Perform that exercise beginning with your weaker leg; complete as many of these as possible and then, with your stronger leg, do the same number of exercises. Take a break for 60 seconds. Complete another set of this exercise starting, again, with the weaker leg and achieve as many as you can. Once you’ve done these two sets twice each week for three weeks, try retaking this entire fitness test and see if you’ve improved.
There’s just one test left! Are you up for it? Sure you are—you’re feeling strong and doing so well! The final fitness test will be here next week.
Teri
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