Orlando Personal Trainer Reveals the Best Leg Exercise Ever!

Jan. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- As a fitness trainer, I get a ton of questions about “What exercises are best for ______” fill in the blank. The biggest area of concern for most people is the lower body, especially the butt and thighs. Today I’m going to share my personal favorite lower body exercise and all of its great variations. It’s called the Bulgarian Split Squat. (Its technical name is the Rear-Foot Elevated Lunge) If any of my clients are reading this, I know they’re cringing right now! This exercise is so effective that you’ll pretty much make your body thunder-thigh proof once you master it.

My favorite leg exercises are any sort of lunge variation because I prefer single leg exercises over their double leg counterparts for many reasons. For people with back issues, single leg exercises allow them to safely perform lower body exercises without putting their lower lumbar spine in jeopardy of hyper flexion or excessive rounding that can cause back spasms in the short run and herniated discs in the long run. Furthermore, there’s often such a strength and/or flexibility imbalance between one leg and the other for most people that it’s critical to address one leg at a time to shore up the weak links right from the start.

My favorite lunge variation is called the rear foot elevated lunge.  So basically we’re going to elevate the back foot on a chair, bench, box, or any other sturdy foot support, usually about 12-18 inches high.  You’ll put your front leg well in front of you in order to make sure that your front knee and ankle are lined up. In general, I tell people to exaggerate how far you put your front leg forward so that the front knee is almost slightly behind the ankle as this really helps reduce sheer forces on the knees. Begin the exercise by loading your weight on the front heel and dropping your hips as low as you can in a pain-free range of motion while staying really tall up top with a proud chest and shoulders down and back. Finish the rep by explosively driving through your front heel to return to the top of the movement. You can start with body weight only and lower yourself until your front thigh is parallel to the floor or lower and then progress by adding speed of movement or by adding dumbbells. You can even incorporate some very cool combination movements with this lower body exercise like adding a curl to press at the top of the movement or even by raising dumbbells overhead to really challenge your core and single-leg balance and stability (advanced).

I have yet to find an exercise that hits the legs as hard as this baby does.  In particular, it really helps strengthen your vastus medialis muscle, (that inner quad muscle that looks like a teardrop), that’s heavily responsible for tracking your patella and keeping your knee caps in line. This is important if you have a history of overtraining or patella-femoral issues because this exercise is a phenomenal tool for keeping your knees as healthy as possible.

Another thing this exercise is good for is that it provides a very good stretch for the hip flexor of your back leg, an area that is often very tight, especially for guys. Any exercise that allows you to simultaneously stretch and strengthen your body is a real keeper.  Don’t waste another moment of your time in the gym with that useless adductor machine (a.k.a. the sex machine). Get off your but and get serious with the world’s best lower body exercise today!

Max Hoyt (IFPA & IYCA certified PT) is a local Orlando fitness boot camp instructor and real world fat loss expert. To book him to speak for free at your local Orlando company, club, or organization please contact him/her by email at maxtraining365@hotmail.com For a free two-week trial to his Orlando boot camp to experience the best personal training in Orlando . Please visit http://www.orlandofitcamp.com

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