Single Leg Deadlift
Understanding the concept of hinging from your hips and not bending your spine is so important for sparing your spine and for effective strengthening of the hip. This exercise takes lots of balance and hip strength. Start with just your body weight and practice next to a wall or pole to help steady yourself if needed. This is a more advanced exercise.
Instructions
- Start in a split stance, one leg forward and one leg back.
- Keeping your chest lifted, start to shift your weight forward into the front heel while keeping your back leg straight. Actually think about the back leg tipping you into your front heel.
- Keep your spine straight, and work toward balancing on the front leg. You should feel a "tug" in the glutes of the leg you are balancing on.
- Think about lifting your chest to return the back leg to the floor. Your spine should remain neutral through out the exercise.
- If you decide to try this with a weight, it is important to remember to engage the latissimus muscle on the arm you are using to hold the weight. An easy way to do this is to think about holding an orange in your arm pit.