If you read the leading fitness and training magazines I’m sure you have seen many exercises given different names to make them appear more appealing. More often, however, you have probably seen many exercise is executed in a manner that is different from what you learned or what you believe is to be most effective. It often makes you wonder whether the author of the article has ever done the exercise.
For example, in a leading women’s fitness magazine, the one-legged squat was described as follows: from an erect standing position with hands on the hips, shift your weight to one leg, contract the abs, and drop the tailbone to maintain an upright balanced position. Bend the knee and sit back into a one-legged squat. In the accompanying photo the model lowered her body into a ¼ squat. This exercise was intended to strengthen the buttock and hip muscles.
From the description given and from the picture shown to show correct positioning , the hip muscles are hardly involved in a dynamic manner the gluteus maximus comes into play as the depth of the squat increases. In other words the greater the hip flexion the greater is the involvement of the gluteus maximus when rising upward. Thus the exercise as described and shown may be good for development of the quadriceps muscle but not the hip muscles.
In addition, regardless of whether you bring the free leg in front or behind the body the trunk does not remain erect. The trunk should incline forward somewhat in order to maintain balance. People who do maintain an erect trunk position rise up on the ball of the foot with the knee out in front. This can be dangerous to the knee. In order to keep the foot flat on the ground – as you should – and to maintain balance, you must incline the trunk forward.
Also very important when doing the one-legged or double leg squat you should not concentrate on contracting the abdominals. Most effective for safety and for proper execution is to maintain strong contraction of the lower back muscles and not the abdominals. Strong contraction of the abdominals will create a tendency to flex the spine which you do not want to happen. Contraction of the lower back muscles give you a strong rigid spine which is needed to maintain proper positioning, especially when holding weights on the shoulders or in the hands.