It seems that alot of renowned S&C coaches (Joe Defranco, Kelly bagget, etc) Use single leg lifts alot ie bul. split squats… but these things absolutely rip my legs apart. They make me soo much more sore than regular powerlifts like deads and squats. I was just wonderingare they actually beneficial to speed, and ultimately sports performance? or would it better to stick to double leg lifts to avoid the massive DOMS.,
Sprinting & jumping is all the single leg work you really need. As you say they leave you too sore, your body needs to able to handle the load for optimal adaptation. With single leg work, this is not the case.
Joe Defranco LOL, ok now Im sold. Whats his background in sports again? Has anyone tried single leg squats, the amount of force they put in the knee is unbelievable. I dont have any study or stats on the darn things, just do them and see for yourself.
The guy.
Well, I’ve tried single leg squats, exercises, etc…
As for their usefullness, I believe they have a place in training, but as stated above, they do beat the hell out of your legs more than the standard 2 leg variations.
We use split squats (I refuse to call them “Bulgarian Split Squats” out of principle - NO Bulgarian weightlifter of consequence has EVER relied upon them), step ups, lunges, and the like as variations of the lifts. We’ll run through a different on every 2-4 weeks, depending upon the block & sport.
As for the true single leg squat, I too believe it is best used for circus performers! For our college athletes, getting them to do this properly would be a huge waste of time, in my opinion. Risk>Reward
I agree on that one!
Single leg calf raises is an exception to the rule. In cases of achilles problem.
That’s rehab/recovery type work. Single leg exercises are fine in other such cases as well- just not routinely for normal training.
One would be hard pressed to find a world class program that used single-leg exc exclusively for 100/200 guys.
The ones I have seen that use them incorporate may do for example, squats one day, split squat/lunge another day, maybe just jump squats another day. From what I have found that is what Pfaff does and I wouldn’t be surprised if S. Francis does that as well.
They seem to also go with with more single leg exc than squats in the comp phase, presumably to keep a strength stimulus but less overall cns stress. I doubt many think single leg exc are “more specific” to sprinting.
Makes sense to me. From what I have found squats are still the cornerstone of most world-class programs. Especially early in the season.