What Is the Single-Leg Stance and How to Do It

Hi everyone, hope you are all going well. Here at Granite Fitness, for December, we are trying out a new thing – a series. This is where we get a bunch of articles from one of our partners and publish them over the course of a month. Obviously we can’t guarantee that you will like every article, but hey, let’s give it a shot, because some of them will resonate with you. FYI that also means the introductions will be the same in the series.

This series is by our partners at Born Tough and Elite Sports – manufacturers of sportswear. They sent me a rasher guard a few years ago and I can vouch that it is excellent!

Enjoy today’s article!

“What Is the Single Leg Stance and How to Do It? Our legs are a very critical and vital part of your body. In fact, that’s one of the most used parts of our body as well. Starting with walking or even standing at the same spot you use your legs even if you sit on a chair. The way you use your legs also helps you to change your mental wellbeing. Most people do not believe that our legs have anything to do with our mental health but if we look at it closely, we can see that running helps us clear our minds. With the help of wall leg standing, we can help the blood reach our brain and shoulders which eventually helps with improvement in brain cells and also help with the overall brain performance.

Apart from this, leg muscles are very important because our bad postures and our sense of style affect our legs as well. This is the reason instructors focus on leg day exercises. Most people keep moving their feet or have restless leg syndrome that helps them to focus and it eventually causes pain in joints. Apart from this, some people keep their legs crossed, others keep their wallets under their back pockets. All these small things impact our posture in the long run. These issues can be resolved with simple exercises. With the help of this article, we will talk about a very simple Single Leg Stance that can improve your balance and low body strength as well.

What Is Single Leg Stance and why should you learn it?

A single-leg stance is a very simple posture where you balance your body weight on one leg. In most cases, we try to balance our bodies on both legs. However, if we look at the way we walk, we will see that it is an art of balancing our body at one leg for a few seconds till we take the next step. One of the most important reasons we need to stand on one leg is because it helps in improving the balance of the body and gives stability as well. You will see that your walk becomes better and your body is not hurting especially if your soles hurt too much. With the help of improved balance, you will be able to perform better in all kinds of running sports. You will also be able to decrease the chance of injury because it helps strengthen your legs and increase flexibility.

How to do Single Leg Stance?

For the single-leg stance, you need to keep in mind that you will be balancing your whole body on just one leg. This means that one leg will be touching the ground while the other leg will be in the air. Before doing that your physical therapists usually stand with conducting a simple balance test so they can compare your progress by the end of this exercise. For the balance test, you will be able to know if you need any help, usually, people need sport at the start.

· For the single-leg balance test start by simply joining heels of both feet together. Now get something for the support. You can get a chair or grab a shelf or a counter. Now try to lift one foot in the air while the other is on the ground.

· Keep your legs apart so you do not feel unsteady. This will also help you to balance your body.

· Now set the stopwatch and stay still for as long as you can. Now record this time and set it as the base level.

· The standard is that you should stand for at least one minute.

· If you are able to stand for at least a minute, try something less steady under your feet. You can put on a cushion or try to stand on something soft.

· Record the time for that as well and make it your second base.

This test will only help you to set a basic level. Eventually, you will be able to use this and your aim will be to double the time. In case your base level says something below 1 minute, try to reach 1 minute. Then practice with something soft under your feet. You can use a cushion or a pillow as well. Your basic time should be recorded in a way that you should not touch the chair or wall for support. For the training here are some steps that you can follow:

· Stand still with your both legs apart, now slowly bring both heels together.

· Take a chair and place it right in front of you, grab the back of a chair with both hands.

· Lift one leg slowly while the other stays on the ground.

· Your aim is to stay on one leg for at least 5 seconds without any support.

· Now bring back your leg in the original position and repeat it again. Your aim is to increase the time span to a maximum of one minute.

· Now bring back the leg in the original position and keep both legs apart.

· Now so the same with the opposite leg as well and repeat the process from start. “

Thanks once again to our contributing partner today. Don’t forget to check out their website.

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