OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

Best Foot
Forward
Designing single-leg training programs means more than targeting specific muscles.
©AP PHOTOS

It requires evaluating the athlete and using a whole-body approach.

BY JEREMY BOONE
& GRAY COOK

S
ingle-leg training has without really thinking about the ISOLATION FRENZY
received a great deal purpose the exercise serves within a A popular approach among those using
of attention in injury training program. Too often this leads single-leg training is to target individu-
prevention, rehabilita- to a goal of building a selected muscle al muscles, and much recent attention
tion, and performance- instead of improving overall athletic
enhancement programs over the last few performance. Jeremy Boone, CSCS, NMT, USAW,
years, and for good reason. Since the ath- However, there’s an alternative to is the owner of Athlete by Design in
letic movement skills of field and court blindly integrating single-leg training Charlotte, N.C. He has worked with
sports are dominated by the gait cycle— into workouts. And it starts with iden- several professional sports teams, includ-
taking off from one foot and landing on tifying the specific needs of the indi- ing the Carolina Panthers, and can be
the other—single-leg training is appro- vidual athlete. If you want to improve reached at: www.athletebydesign.com.
priate for return-to-play programs and lower-body performance, you must first
boosting athletic performance. think globally, then act locally. Rather Gray Cook, MSPT, OCS, CSCS, creator
Unfortunately, the benefits of sin- than counting on a standard set of exer- of the Functional Movement Screen, is
gle-leg training have led some people cises, evaluate the athlete to determine Clinic Director at Orthopedic & Sports
to adopt it as a “one-size-fits-all” ap- what he or she needs. Then, choose the Physical Therapy in Danville, Va. He can be
proach to lower-body development— exercises that can best provide it. reached at: www.functionalmovement.com.

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has been focused on the gluteus medius. not do so, it’s assumed the psoas needs the position for 10 to 20 seconds. While
This muscle plays a key role in pelvic to be strengthened. Another popular this improves joint stability, increas-
stabilization and preventing low back test involves manually testing hip flex- es muscle fiber recruitment, and raises
pain, and it can certainly be a trouble ion while the athlete lays on a table. power, another important component
spot when it’s too tight or not strong While these tests may have their place still needs to be addressed.
enough. As a result, a number of iso- in the evaluation process, it’s impor- On the playing field, athletes land and
lated exercises, such as bridge patterns tant to remember they have little direct change direction in less than one second.
targeting this muscle, are being pre- transfer to athletic movement. First, the This means that the body must effective-
scribed to athletes whether they’re need- body reacts differently when gravity is ly absorb force and be completely stable
ed or not. Without knowing the quality involved. Second, during the gait cycle for a brief moment in order to optimal-
of the movement patterns involving this flexion usually occurs at one hip while ly transfer application of force. Adher-
muscle, results are second rate at best. extension occurs at the other. Thus, a ing to the principle of specificity, drills
In fact, we may find ourselves training high level of core stability is required to that require athletes to execute and hold
the gluteus medius to improve the lunge allow opposing hips to actually comple- movement patterns should have a time
pattern rather than improving the lunge ment each other. restriction of one second or less in com-
pattern to train the gluteus medius. Here’s another aspect to consider: If ing to a complete stop.
Another hot spot in single-leg train- there’s no consensus about the relative Additional body parts may also be
ing is the psoas muscle and its ability to importance of the psoas and gluteus me- used as drivers during single-leg land-
flex the hip joint, decelerate hip exten- dius, neither is likely the sole solution for ing training. For example, if an ath-
sion, and stabilize the lumbar spine. Yet increasing lower-body performance. Fo- lete keeps both hands on his or her hips
again, a common practice is to target cusing on either the psoas or the gluteus during a leap, you can evaluate the abil-
this muscle by providing a blanket pre- medius ignores the relationship in move- ity of the core to help decelerate motion
scription of exercises for every athlete. ment between the two and their relation- in a single leg without further compen-
Often this prescription comes after just ship to the rest of the kinetic chain. sation from the arms.
a quick test or two. In one typical test Single-leg exercises are also common
of the psoas muscle, the athlete sits in a in many popular injury-prevention pro- EVALUATION
chair with feet flat on the floor and tries grams. A common protocol is to stick The primary goal of an athletic perfor-
to hold one knee at belly-button level the landing from a vertical drop or hor- mance evaluation is to identify strengths
for set period of time. If he or she can- izontal displacement exercise and hold and weaknesses in movement patterns.

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The following battery of tests can be window.) Limitations revealed by the force production and is measured by a
used to gain an inside look at move- Functional Movement Screen can in- hop. Starting on one leg, the athlete plac-
ment habits and how they positively or terfere with athletic performance and es the toe of the leg being measured at a
negatively affect overall athletic perfor- strength and conditioning programs. start line. In a tall single-leg stance with
mance. The results can then be used to They should be addressed before pro- hands on hips, the athlete raises the knee
help take the guesswork out of design-
ing effective training or rehabilitation The hop and stop test takes only a few minutes
programs for the lower body.
Functional Movement Screen: Ath- to administer and the results quantify single-leg force
letes have long been evaluated through
speed, agility, and quickness tests as
production and absorption while also identifying
well as sport-specific skill tests. All are asymmetry between the right and left legs.
necessary to evaluate and understand
potential areas for improvement. How- gressing to more sport-specific work. of the non-test leg to belly button height.
ever, another fundamental parameter If these limitations are left uncorrect- The athlete then hops for maximal dis-
of athleticism is functional movement. ed, athletes may adapt their movements tance, landing on the same leg. The dis-
This is not performance-based and does to compensate, thus robbing them of tance from the start line to where the
not depend on skill or strength, but movement efficiency, hurting their tech- toe of the landing foot hits the ground
rather on the athlete’s ability to com- nique, and increasing the risk of injury. is measured. Three attempts for each
plete basic movement patterns. Hop & Stop: The hop and stop test, leg are recorded.
Five of the seven tests used in the originally created by Paul Juris, PhD, The second part of the test evaluates
Functional Movement Screen relate is designed to evaluate force produc- force absorption as measured by a leap,
directly to the lower body: overhead tion and force absorption of the lower which entails taking off from one leg
squat, lunge, hurdle step, active straight- extremities. The test takes only a few and landing on the opposite leg. The
leg raise, and rotary stability. (To read minutes to administer and the results starting position is the same as the hop
a full-length Training & Conditioning quantify single-leg force production and and distance is measured from the start
article on the Functional Movement absorption while also identifying asym- line to the toe of the landing foot.
Screen, go to: www.athleticsearch.com metry between the right and left legs. The athlete must perform three suc-
and type “weak links” into the search The first part of the test evaluates cessful leaps, which includes coming

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CASE STUDY
The following is an example of test results from a professional athlete, along
with a suggested interpretation of the results.

Background
The athlete suffered a left hip fracture one year prior to testing. History also
includes repeated right ankle sprains and occasional low back pain. There is
no present pain, and the athlete is cleared to play.

Testing Results
FMS Overhead Squat: 2. Displayed lack of mobility in the right ankle/right
hip/thoracic spine.
FMS Hurdle Step: 1 for right, 2 for left. Displayed inability to balance on
left leg, thus could not complete the movement. External rotation of right leg
during left leg stance along with extreme lateral trunk flexion to the right side
further indicates instability and lack of mobility in the left hip and core.
FMS Lunge: 2 for both right and left leg. Displayed a mobility deficiency in
the right lower leg and a stability issue during left leg stance.
FMS Straight-Leg Raise: 2 for both right and left leg. Adequate hamstring
flexibility but further displayed hip mobility issues.
Hop & Step
Hop Leap
%Left %Right Symmetry %Onto left %Onto right Symmetry
87 81 8 120 106 14

The FMS score showed there is a lack of stability in the left hip and a lack of
mobility in the right ankle. In the Hop & Stop, there was a lack of adequate
force production in the right leg along with a symmetry score greater than
five. The leap score onto the right leg indicates a need for force absorption
work. The leap symmetry score was well above five and is therefore an area
of serious concern. Foot and arch evaluation was normal.

Training Suggestions
Week 1:
■ Implement mobility development strategies for the right ankle/hip/thoracic
spine, stability strategies for the left hip and core, and begin deep squat
progression routine.
■ Teach core stability exercises.
■ Include single-leg squat appropriate exercises for both legs with a higher
weekly volume on the right leg.
Week 2:
■ Add lunge and return series and alternate legs (force absorption), have right
leg step on mini-slant board to further help turn on calf muscle.
■ Add advanced core exercises as right leg mobility increases and left hip
stability increases.
■ Begin single-leg drop and stop progression on the right leg.

Week 3:
■ Include multi-directional lunge and reach at knee level with a higher weekly
volume on the right leg.
■ Advance to hop and stop progression on both legs.

Week 4:
■ Retest.

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to a stop in less than a second upon variance of five percent or less. this manner and the arch does not col-
ground contact, within five attempts. If Foot and Arch: Since the way the lapse, then they have moderate prob-
more than five attempts are needed, the foot makes contact with the ground can lems with pronation, which can limit
athlete should take a three-minute rest reduce force by up to 20 percent, we their athletic effectiveness. This can be
before trying again.
To pass the hop test, the athlete must
hop 89 percent or more of his or her
Evaluating lower-body movement patterns while the
height. A score of less than 89 percent athlete is barefoot allows the coach or athletic trainer
indicates that the athlete needs to work
on force production for that leg. A nor- to visually understand how the foot feeds the rest
mative value for the leap score is 109
percent of height, and scores lower than
of the leg during ground contact and propulsion.
this indicate a need to develop force ab-
sorption for the landing leg. also have to look closely at the foot and corrected through targeted work or an
Symmetry scores are determined in arch. Shoes are used to improve trac- off-the-shelf orthotic.
each category by comparing the results tion and protect feet from stress, but If they cannot complete a deep squat
for the right and left legs. Asymmetry can also hide pronation problems that or hold their knee on the outside of their
reflects possible skill and motor control hinder lower-body performance. foot through a deep squat, they proba-
differences between the legs and is sep- Fortunately, overpronation, which bly need to see a physical therapist for a
arate from mobility or stability differ- indicates a lack of full dorsiflexion, more thorough evaluation and, perhaps,
ences. can be easily seen in a deep squat when customized orthotics. However, orthot-
Ideally, there would be no asymme- an athlete is viewed barefoot from the ics alone rarely improve the squat be-
try, but sport skills with higher levels front and side. At the bottom of a deep cause they do not address hip mobility
of technical difficulty on one side than squat, you will see the foot spin out- and core stability. Developing a proper
the other often make asymmetry inevi- ward, the knee drop inside the foot, squat pattern should be a primary focus
table. Recent studies show that asym- and the arch flatten completely. so that the orthotics can work.
metry greater than 10 percent increases Cue athletes to hold their knees out- Evaluating lower-body movement
the risk of injury two and a half times. side their feet and watch them squat patterns while the athlete is barefoot
We take it a step further and aim for a again. If they can perform the squat in allows you to visually understand how

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the foot feeds the rest of the leg during neuromuscular system in preparation
ground contact and propulsion. As long
as there are no abnormal foot issues,
for higher levels of training intensity.
Adjustments can be made to amplitude,
TRAINING
performing lower-body exercises while
barefoot will aid in producing proper
speed, load, time, body part restriction,
and planes of movement.
MENU
ground contact and heighten proprio- A good rule to follow when incorpo- The following is a list of commonly
ceptive awareness of the lower extremi- rating evaluation feedback is to always deficient areas and exercises that
ties and trunk. address the negative before adding a can be used to correct them.
A barefoot warmup progression positive. If stiffness is present, the body
might include the following: has to deal with a limited range of mo- Force Absorption
• 2-3 minutes of jogging tion. The brain starts to write new • Drop Squat/Lunge
• Dynamic calf stretch motor programs to accommodate the • Fall & Stop Lunge
• Balance work many restrictions that have developed • Hop & Stop
• Three-position calf stretch over time. When significant limitations
(toe in, toe neutral, and toe out) are found, design a workout program Force Production
• Single-leg jump rope (with and based around gaining mobility before • Single-Leg Squat
without pausing) implementing stabilizing strategies.
• Walking Lunge
• Multi-directional skip For example, let’s say an athlete has
• Step Up
• Light agility work the following results:
• Meets force production criteria on
Core Stability
DESIGNING A PROGRAM both legs (hop and stop test).
Once evaluation is complete you can • Cannot decelerate well on the • Chop & Lift Patterns
design a program that will address the right leg compared to the left (hop • RNT Single-Leg Step Up
athlete’s needs. You can choose ex- and stop test).
ercises to increase force production, • Scores a two in the FMS over-
force absorption, or core stability. (See head squat test and displays a lim- Before going into single-leg landing
“Training Menu,” at right.) These ex- ited amount of dorsiflexion due to a exercises to improve deceleration, we
ercises will also help develop joint sta- sprained right ankle two years ago, need to address the mobility issues in
bility, balance, and coordination of the but is presently healthy. the right ankle. Even if the athlete im-
proves eccentric strength in the right
leg, high-intensity cutting maneuvers
to the left could still present a problem.
Lack of optimal dorsiflexion may also
result in potential injury in the lower-
extremity kinetic chain.
The “think globally, act locally” phi-
losophy extends all the way to the core.
The energy-storing ability of any plyo-
metric action is dependent on the mus-
cle having one stable attachment point
and one mobile attachment point. In
the lower body, the stable attachment
point is the pelvis and lumbar segment,
which work together to stabilize the
core. Since the mobility of one segment
is always dependent on the stability of
another segment, many athletes can im-
prove their plyometric reactions, con-
sistency, and endurance by becoming
more stable through the core and pro-
viding a more consistent and efficient
attachment point.
The targeting of specific muscles
certainly has a place in lower-body de-
velopment, but any gains can be ham-
pered by deficiencies elsewhere that
go unaddressed. Once any deficiencies
revealed by the global view have been
corrected, more concentrated and lo-
calized lower-body work can realize its
full potential and produce the greatest
gains possible. ■

42 T&C OCTOBER 2006 ATHLETICBID.COM