I have decided to start a new series on the blog that will feature some exercises that you might want to consider adding to your program. Most of us, I think, tend to get into a routine and don’t vary our exercises very often, so the point of this series is to give you some new and different exercises to try out.
I always try and program new and different exercises in client’s programs, admittedly maybe even too often sometimes. When adding new exercises you should keep them in your program long enough to get proficient at them, and then ultimately progress them in some way, be it adding weight, adding reps, or another variable.
The first exercise I want to feature is called single leg lowering, check it out below.
This is a great exercise to turn on the core before getting into the nuts and bolts of your training. For those of us that tend towards an anterior pelvic tilt the focus should be on flattening the low back out and engaging the anterior core to prevent that poor low back positioning.
I like to use this as a warm up exercise to start to bring about that kinesthetic awareness of good core positioning so that when we go to lift heavy weights our spine doesn’t flip us the bird. One commonly overlooked function of the core is to resist movements and this exercise does that as we are forced to resist going into lumbar extension as we move that leg closer to the floor.
I’ve used this one in my own programming plenty in the past, but rediscovered it last year at a conference, and really like it. An easy regression on this exercise, if it proves challenging or painful, is to bend the knee at 90 degrees and then simply lower the leg until the bottom of your foot hits the floor.
I think you’ll find there is a bevy of benefits to be had by adding this to your program, and can not only be utilized as a part of your warm-up but also as a core exercise for later in your workout. If used as a warm-up I’d recommend 1 or 2 sets of 6-8, or if you’re looking to add it as a core exercise bump the sets to 3 and the reps to 8-10.
Happy Lifting!