Get Stronger on the Trails and Slopes: How Single-Leg Exercises Can Boost Your Outdoor Skills

Strength training is important to keep your body strong enough to do all of the activities you love. But with all of the terrain variations and technical positioning for activities like running, hiking, skiing and snowboarding, focusing on single-leg training is even more important.

Single leg strengthening improves balance, stability, and control to optimize your performance wherever you train. By improving theses elements of your strength you improve your ability to maneuver uneven terrain and perform dynamic movements.

Why Single-Leg Strength Matters

• Improves Balance and Stability

• Working on single-leg strengthening improves balance. There are three systems that help us maintain balance: the vestibular system, the vision system, and proprioception.

• When working on single-leg strengthening, they body is learning how to keep itself upright when standing on one leg.

• With snowboarding and skiing staying on your edges improves your ability to carve, turn, and navigate more challenging terrain.

• Balance is important for outdoor activities to improve performance and decrease risk of falling.

• Addresses Muscle Imbalances

• Single-leg exercises improve muscle imbalances in the body to reduce risk of injury. When we favor one side, the body compensates to work smarter, not harder and that perpetuates the imbalances if effort is not done to even the work load.

• Activities like running and hiking are a series of steps onto one leg so addressing muscle imbalances can improve performance and decrease your risk of favoring one side.

• For snowboarding muscle balance helps to improve switch riding.

• Turning while skiing requires weight shifting from one leg to the other requires muscle balance to be strong turning both directions.

• Injury Prevention

• Single-leg training helps strengthen muscles that can assist in injury prevention. For example, if you are hiking and you step on a loose rock that starts to roll your ankle, your body will try to prevent your ankle from rolling by using muscles to pull the ankle in the opposite direction.

• Because single-leg training improves balance, it also reduces your risk of falling if you do step on a loose rock or hit an unexpected bump on the slopes.

• By working on single-leg strengthening you are balancing out the workload and decreasing the risk of overuse injuries on the side you bias with training.

Single-Leg Strengthening Benefits by Activity

• Running

• Running is a series of single leg hops in a row.

• Exercises like single-leg deadlifts and single leg calf raises can improve power with your push off while running.

• Hiking

• When hiking, one leg often supports all of your body’s weight (if you aren’t using hiking poles), and must navigate steep uneven trails.

• Exercises like step ups, Bulgarian split squats, and single-leg deadlifts build endurance and power for inclines and declines.

• Snowboarding and skiing

• Single-leg strength enhances control and balance, especially in dynamic movements and turns on the slopes.

• Single-leg squats and lateral step-downs mimic the lower body stability and balance needed for carving on your snowboard, and making smooth turns on your skis.

Tips for Adding Single-Leg Training to Your Routine

• Start Slow and Focus on Form

• Quality over quantity! Make sure you are performing the exercises correctly and slowly to insure you are working the right muscle groups.

• Incorporate Progressive Loading

• Gradually add weights, reps, or complexity as your strength improves.

• Balance and Core Integration

• Integrating core stability with single-leg work maximizes the benefit for outdoor activities like running, hiking, snowboarding, and skiing.

Overall there are many benefits to focusing on single-leg strengthening. It can improve your performance and decrease your risk of injury to keep you strong and healthy doing the activities you love! Try adding a couple single-leg exercises into your strengthening routine and see the impact on your running, hiking, snowboarding or skiing!

How you can work with me

I am a physical therapist in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, based out of Meredith.

I offer one-on-one physical therapy and wellness services. I have a special interest in treating active individuals, jaw pain, and women with pelvic floor dysfunction.

I offer concierge services, as well as in-office visits in Meredith and Laconia.

I take a holistic and movement based approach with my clients. Some of my treatment techniques include mind-body connect training, exercise prescription, habit education and management, and dry needling.

If you are in the Lakes Region and are looking for treatment, schedule a free discovery call through the link below. I look forward to connecting!