Help with One Legged Squats

[5Animals1Path]

Any advice on how to be able to do these?

I've been doing assisted ones using two chairs, and leg presses, but I still can't seem to quite get it.

[yu shan]

Be persistent, this kind of training takes a while. I use to do this leg training while I was in Wah Lum, they put a lot of emphasis on leg strength. I think they called it tam tui. Anyway, some of us got so good at it that we could do this "squat" on a v-8 juice can. There is also the tam tui out to the side, now this one is a real b*tch. Some of my guys do kettle bell training and they have this squat in their workout. There are many ways of doing these in the beginning. I have a partnered way that is nifty. Keep at it dont give up.

[lianweizhi]

One-legged squats are more of a testament to your flexibility and balance than anything else. I would say strength does not have very much to do with it, although of course if your legs simply aren't strong enough, it would be a factor. What I mean is, even if your legs are very strong (I know people who could squat significantly more than I can), you may not be able to do it just because your flexibility and balance limit it.

Both of these are somewhat related to your body type/shape. Ankle and quad flexibility is fairly important. You need to keep your foot firmly planted, and flat, on the ground all the way down and up. In order to do this, your ankle must allow you to squat completely on the ground without lifting your heels off of the ground. For many people, this is not natural, but it can be developed to an extent. You can practice this with regular squatting (I call this the Asian squat - you see people all over Asia simply relaxing in this position). This flat plant is in large part responsible for your balance as well, as it allows you to distribute your weight on a larger base, emulating two legs.

Balance is the other key (assuming your legs are strong enough). When I do one-legged squats, I try to keep my other leg perpendicular to my body (I believe they call this version the "pistol"). When I first started doing them, I also stretched my hands out in front of me. Having all of your limbs outstretched this way counterweights the imbalance caused by your butt being heavier than your lack of a butt on the front side of your body (so not having a huge butt will also help, incidentally). This will help keep you from falling backwards.

Doing the assisted squats is a good start, but try it with one chair, supporting the opposite side. The assisted squats mainly only helps develop the muscles needed to do the exercise - it doesn't really help your balance, so you don't want to rely on that. You should do them repeatedly in sets of 10 or so, so your leg knows what to expect, and all of the stabilizer muscles will be used to the motion. This way, you eliminate some of the wobbliness that you are probably getting now.

Anyway, I hope this helps - it's not an easy exercise to do, and some people really are never able to do this because of the limitations set by their bodies.

[David Jamieson]

lose the chairs, they will slow your progress by providing you with false balance and interuppted strength.

you do need strength in your quads to do this.

for balance do this:

put both feet together
start your squat and keep your heels flat.
squat all the way down and keep your heels flat.
shoot the leg out and hold on one leg, keep your heel flat.
bring the leg back in and get up.
repeate with the other side.

Part II
After a few days of doing it this way start to shoot the leg from when you are halfway down into the squat.
maintain balance all teh way down and keep teh heel flat on the supporting leg.
make your first attempt at pushing yourself upright on only the supporting leg and keep the other leg empty.
(this is where it is all about combining strength witrh balance)

If you fail, try again and keep doing the double leg squats without aid and shooting out at the bottom. You will get tired while doing this and your quads will ache like you have not known before, but that is part of kungfu yes?

Part III

Shoot the leg out and hold it out.
Squat down and back up on the supporting leg, keep the heel flat.
Repeat on teh other side.

It will indeed take time to increase the strength of the quadricep which is teh primary muscle you use for the push and squat, the balance will come as you adjust your weight on teh supporting leg.

You can expect to be doning this within a couple of weeks if you are diligent and persistent.
In kungfu, expect nothing to come easy and when it does come, it will be easier to do it again. Getting to the point where it is easy is hard work.

But lose the chairs, they really aren't helping you, they are holding you back.

[anerlich]

I used the stair approach described in the article below to get to one legged squats:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler2.htm

Try it - it works.

[5Animals1Path]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm gonna try this stuff out, and post results when I get'm.

[kwaichang]

Get a step like they use in step aerobics it starts with 4inches then 6,8,10,12 and 14 inch increments also go to Walmart or somewhere and buy a mini tramp they set about 8 inches off the floor. Now : do a test at level 1 : 4 inches do as many sguats as you can letting your heel toech the floor lightly each time. Use a rope or something flexible for balance not help. If you do 50 reps with quality of movement decrease the reps to one third and do them 3X per day. when you can perform 100 W/O stopping and you have done this for 1 month then it is time to go to the next level. 6 then 8 etc. When you have reached the 8 inch level cut your reps in half and do half off the side of the mini tramp. This will build balance as well it is very difficult. When you have reached 100 reps on the 10 inch level then close your eyes on the mini tramp with your hands around a pole W/O touching it. This is very hard. at the 8-14 inch levels try Ice post each w/o also get Soft Tissue work to the IT band to help maintain proper Patellar movement. Hope this helps keep you from over training and prevents injury. KC PS do not increase too fast 1-3 reps per 1-2 weeks each set.