Could your leg training use a little kick in the ass?
Well I'm going to show you today how the Kickstand variation of the Squat could be exactly what
you need.
What's up guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM
Yes, Jeff Cavaliere, I know you might not recognize me fully clothed here.
But I'm a little under the weather.
It's not going to stop me though from giving you guys the workout that I want to get you,
each and every week
So that being said, today we're going to address, as I said in the open, the Kickstand Squat
and what it's good for.
Anybody that's been following me for any length of time will know how important I believe
single leg training is when it comes to getting results.
Not just results in terms of leg size and leg strength.
But functional leg size and functional leg strength.
Right, we always talk about athletics and a good portion of the time you are competing
or doing anything athletic, you're going to be on one leg.
And I always find that it's extremely important to work that type of training into your workouts,
you know, no matter what you're doing.
That being said, some guys are extremely humbled by what happens to the weight that they can
lift when they do single leg exercises.
So, whether you're doing a Bulgarian Split Squat.
I've shown you in some of the other videos before, other techniques.
You do have to drop the weight.
Well a variation that we've done in the ATHLEAN XERO program that included no weight at all,
no equipment at all.
Is sort of an assisted version of a Squat.
But if you want to get back into the gym and lift a lot of weight and still get the benefits
of single leg training, you do a kickstand variation of the squat.
So what it looks like is basically, I've stacked up a couple plates here.
I got 2 35's, it's about 2 or 3, 3 to 4 inches off the ground.
I'll show you why that is in a second.
You put one foot up on top.
The other leg is going to basically act as a kickstand.
Ok, so it's here to help but it's not here to really push.
So you start up on your toe, ok.
And you're just going to come straight down as you normally would.
I've got all my weight distributed right here on the left leg.
How do you test that?
You should be able to pick this foot up off the ground.
If you can't pick the foot up off the ground, that's because you've got too much weight
on it.
Ok, now I can't pick it up, ok.
So what we do is, we get ourselves back over here, weight centered around that left leg
in this case.
Kickstand down here.
The reason for the plates, is so that when I go down, I don't have to involve too much
knee bend here.
If I was doing it straight on the floor, those extra few inches on that back leg would come
into play.
But not up here on the two plates.
So we go straight down, little kickstand going on on the right side.
But all the work being done by the left.
Straight down, I can maintain good mechanics.
Ok, again I'm not driving, they talk about knee going over the toe, that's only when
you're really weighting up that leg.
If you don't have a weighted leg over there and all the weight is over here it becomes
way less of a concern.
Ok, the patella tendon is at far less risk, mechanically at that point, if you're not
driving a lot of weight down into it.
So, even there though, I'm not that far over the toe.
Ok, so again straight down, kickstand, come up out of it.
It's a great way to work on that all important single leg strength without having to cut
your weights down dramatically, like exercises like the Bulgarian Split Squat.
So you can still feel big and mean when you're doing your leg training.
But you can still get the benefits that you need to, to look like an athlete and function
like one.
Alright guys, if you haven't already and you want to start looking like an athlete, now's
the time.
Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start looking good well ahead of the New Year.
Head to ATHLEANX.COM right now and grab your 90 day training program.
In the meantime, I'm going to go and try to get better.
More workouts will come though next week as always.
Regular schedule, I don't care if they have to roll me out of bed.
Alright guys, leave your comments down below and a thumbs up and I'll see you back here
in a few days.