Single-Leg Strength Exercise

Andy:
All right. Welcome to the Glute Mania Bookstore Podcast. How you doing?
 
Ryan:
I'm doing all right man. How are you?
 
Andy:
I'm all right too.
 
Ryan:
All right, everybody's all right.
 
Andy:
Today we're going to be talking about single leg work, single leg exercises. We get a lot of questions about these and we have some of them in our programs. We have tutorials and videos that a lot of people have seen and used and they're a part of our process. This is something when I lived in Honolulu for a couple of years between traveling and things, I'd go to a gym there called tactical that I don't think is there anymore, but I would go two or three times a week and they specialized in training primarily with high school and college athletes and a few other athletes that lived around there. There was a well-known pro UFC fighter that worked out there, pretty much the entire U of H football team, a lot of high school athletes and the reason I bring it up is because I was definitely not at the level of most of the people that I was working with there.
 
Andy:
There's a 16-year-old girl that lifted more than I did on everything for example. Some very strong young athletes but the reason I bring it up is because they had a stock warm up that they had people do, you go in and you do your warm up while you're waiting for them to be ready. One of the components was you do 30 pistols on each leg with a box. If you were able to go all the way down and you did some single leg balance work. I think that this is just to illustrate the importance, these are people we think of high level athletes. They probably do a lot of squatting. Yes, they did but these guys they always made sure that their athletes were doing a lot of single leg work for a lot of good reasons that we're going to get into in a minute.
 
Benefits of Single Leg Work
 
Andy:
I think that sometimes people look at pistols and shrimp squats and single leg exercises and they think, well, that's some functional stuff. It's glorified PT, real athletes don't really need to do that. That's complete BS. I think if you probably go to any high level training center in the country or even the world where high level athletes are training you'll see a lot of unilateral exercises and it's not something that is just for party tricks. It doesn't replace bilateral heavy work but it is absolutely an important component of your training. Let's get into talking about why it is so good.
 
Ryan:
That's great. Again, barbell squats, heavy barbell squats I think are great especially if you're looking at building some very strong and big legs. Those really going to help you out and not just--
 
Andy:
Like a big leg.
 
Ryan:
But of course you're looking at the core strength when you're doing all those things. But the thing about single leg work that you already brought up is the fact that you're also going to be looking at improving your balance, your coordination, as well as mobility and mobility is a huge part of this as well. Because obviously, in order to do these particular movements, you have to have the range of motion and sometimes when you're looking at weighted movement, or where you're looking at for example just the squat in itself, you can fake a little bit of the mobility to be honest but when it comes to the leg you're going to find deficiencies depending on which leg you're working on. One leg is always going to be better than the other. By looking at improving that mobility as well as you're going to be improving your ankle strength, core stability, it's going to all carry over for the activities that you're going to be doing.
 
Ryan:
One big thing that I really like about single leg work and this came about especially, it's not that I didn't know about it or anything, but especially after my ankle break, what three years now, it really was something I had to work again on and I was actually being able to keep my body in line when I was performing movements. It wasn't just the leg work it was my core. After having to go through rehabilitation and after not being able to use my leg for so long, there was an imbalance of my body, not just in the leg, but in the core. By doing and focusing on these single leg movements it helped in getting my core stronger to be able to stay facing forward or in any direction that I wanted to be facing whenever I was performing a single leg squat.
 
Ryan:
The thing about this is because you're also looking at the smaller lateral muscles within the legs that are necessary and you need to strengthen those as well. Once you work on that and then put them back into some of the other movements that you're working on, it's going to be stronger overall. This is going to carry over into your running, your climbing and really just walking everyday movement. What are some other things, I already mentioned the imbalances in places that are going to be helping out, you can strengthen those, you can strength flexibility and control. The other thing that I just love about single leg work is that you can do it anywhere, literally anywhere and you don't need weights. You can of course work up to the point where you can use weights but by sophisticating that movement, you're going to be getting stronger with the legs, improving your balance improving mobility. I just think they're great. We're going to talk a little bit about different single leg work. Anything to add to that Andy before I get into it?
 
Andy:
No, I think that's really good. These are all important things and I think as we discuss some of those specific exercises, we'll also be talking about some of the things that they're really good at developing and some of the uses and then later on when we talk about programming and troubleshooting, we'll probably also cover a lot of the things that people have trouble with. Let's get into exercises.
 
Single Leg Movements
 
Ryan:
Let's look at a couple of these movements. First and foremost, you hear a lot about the pistol squat. This is a staple. If you're in the body weight world and people want to work on their legs, I think pistols are great. I know that a lot of people have trouble with them. Pistols are great to improve posterior chain. It's also going to of course, work on your core strength balance. We already talked about that. Thing about pistols though is that I find a lot of people have trouble in the way that they work due to balance and not having a particular mobility within their ankles as well as hip flexors, what it does is it causes them to fall backwards. We're going to talk a little bit about how I like to modify that and train it so that you can actually be able to work the pistol and get it in a way that's going to be safe and not as frustrating as sometimes I see when people share progressions for that.
 
Ryan:
Moving on we also have the shrimp squat. Now the shrimp squat is one of my favorite movements. Part of the reason for that is because working with a lot of people who are just coming into our world, it's easier to find balance. You don't necessarily get as frustrated and you can also in the beginning continue to work on your mobility in the ankles and go deeper and deeper into the shrimp squat. There's a lot of modifications that you can use where you can continue to strengthen not just the quads because the shrimp squat is a quad dominant movement, but as well work on some variations, they're going to help with the posterior chain, pardon me, and further help you for anything whether it comes to jumping, cutting side to side, or even just trying to get the shrimp squat.
 
Ryan:
These are two of the main movements that we see when we're talking about single leg strength. But I do want to talk a little bit about some of the other options out there that people sometimes don't even think about. The first one would be scales. Front scale and the back scale. This is a straight leg movement where your base leg is completely locked out and your other leg is either bent or straight out in front of you or straight out behind you. This is really good for hip flex or strength, as well as this straight leg strength we're talking about. I don't really want to talk and say, okay, there's bent leg strength and there's straight leg strength, there's just leg strength. Working on both of these and getting good at these are going to just help each other.
 
Ryan:
That's why we always have scales within GMB. I really love these. Again, this is something that I worked on a lot after my ankle break. Simply just standing on one leg and locking out that leg just really taxes your toes and the entire foot, your ankles, as well as the knee. We'll talk a little bit later about some of the movements within that and how that can help, Andy.
 
Andy:
I think it's also just important to mention with these, you talk about locking out the knee and I think this is one of those things where that point just in itself is really underrated and under recognized. A lot of people try scales and they say, this is super easy and they think they're locking out the leg, they think the leg is straight, but it is not completely locked. This is one of those things, we have a tutorial on front scales and back scales on our website, you should absolutely check it out if you're listening to this and practice these things. They're not just a balanced exercise, learning to lock that out and really control that and hold that tension like Ryan said, all the way through your feet, toes, hip flexors, it's not just the prime movers of the legs that are getting worked when you lock out the joint fully, you're actually taxing a lot more of these smaller muscles that don't get worked with some of these more gross motor movement types of exercises.
 
Andy:
Don't neglect that part if you're doing scales, don't leave fully locked exercises out of your training all together. They shouldn't be the main thing you work on, but because most movements you do have your joints bent that's just the way we are, but it's an important thing to be able to have a little bit of practice in.
 
Ryan:
It always makes me chuckle. We're in a seminar and we do scales and I walk around and I'm like, "Hey, lock your leg out." They're like, "It is locked out." I'll take a picture and there like, "It's not locked out." You can do scales, it's another way of bringing better awareness to what's going on in your body. That's also why I love scales. Again, I mentioned the balance and hip mobility. It's wonderful. Another example of a single leg movement, excuse me. More of an advanced movement if you will, it's not that you can't practice this at a lower level but dragon squats basically where single leg which you have your leg behind and you squat down as low as you can. The emphasis on the inner thigh, the glute in the hips here is just crazy.
 
Ryan:
The only thing with this is that please don't rush into doing these, you can really place a lot of load on the interior cruciate on the inside of the knee, and you just want to really be careful in doing these. Again, it's a matter of finding that balance and it's also you're going to need a bit of flexibility to do that, as well as when we're talking about the pistol and the front scales as well always make sure that you are working on your hamstring strength, pardon me, hamstring flexibility as well when you're doing these because that does come into play. By the way, we're not going to be talking about specific exercises for the hamstring in this particular podcast, we're just going to be looking at more of the strength skills if you will, looking at the primary squats that we like using.
 
Andy:
With all of these examples, it bears mentioning too that we're talking about the single leg exercises. But in most of these cases like you mentioned caution for the dragon squat, in most of these cases you should be practicing and perfecting as much as possible the bilateral versions, the two leg versions of these first for pistol squats you should be comfortable in a bodyweight squat. You should be able to squat all the way down with a full range of motion and balance there for a few seconds and be able to then lift your weight back up. That sounds very simple but you see a lot of people that can't even get into a full squat with no weight and then saying, "Well, I can't do pistols." That's yes, why would you think you'd be able to do this on one leg when you can't do it on two? It just doesn't make any sense.
 
Andy:
The bilateral versions for all of these should be considered, maybe not perfecting but having some comfort with them and some practice under your belt in them should be considered prerequisites for working all of these. Dragon squats too, I know you call the two leg version the peacock squat with the one leg behind and down like a twisted lunge maybe if you're trying to imagine it. This is straight out of traditional Okinawan and Chinese martial arts going back a long time, these are very valuable and they will help you be able to develop the strength and mobility you need to do the single leg version. Anyway, that's a long way to mention this but we're presupposing that you can do the two leg versions here. If you can't, then maybe that's the thing that you need to be working on. Instead of saying, "Why can't I do a pistol?" Well, it might not be the pistol is your problem.
 
Ryan:
Right. That's really a good segue maybe into the next section where we want to talk about doing these particular movements. Just like Andy said, you don't want to push yourself into a particular movement. Now, there's a lot of different ways of coaching, and everyone has their own reason for doing the way that they do it. When I'm coaching and when we're coaching here in GMB, we're first and foremost looking at safety. When you're looking at single leg work, as I mentioned earlier, each leg is going to be different. You really need to take into consideration: can your knees, can your hips, can your ankles, handle this load? Now, there's a couple different meanings here like literally do you have the strength to be able to lower yourself. Then looking at the flexibility, mobility do you have that mobility to get into that particular position and do you have that control ,the balance to make sure that you can do it in a safe manner?
 
Ryan:
First and foremost is assessing the situation. There's a little, I don't want to call it a flow, but progression that I like to look at when we're looking at particular movements. That is you assess what's going on and then you use training wheels, and I'll explain this also in a different way in a second. Use your training wheels then you focus on tempo, the speed, and then you modify that particular movement. This isn't just for single leg work. This can also be like great examples, the handstand so you assess the situation, what's going on with your wrists, your shoulders, and then you use training wheels and training wheels for the handstand would be working on the bail to make sure that you can cartwheel out of a handstand safely so that you don't crash.
 
Ryan:
Then you focus on the speed and making sure you're kicking up slowly into the handstand and then you modify depending on where you are in that particular movement. Same can be said with single leg work where first off, take a look, okay, do you have that proper ankle mobility to be able to work on the shrimp squat to work on the pistol? If not, hey, let's work on that. Doesn't mean that you can't work on the pistol or the shrimp but just don't neglect that mobility side of things. The training wheels would be in the case of the pistol, I like to work from bottom up rather than top down. What I'll have a person do is actually just sit on the floor, use their hands and walk into that pistol position, the bottom pistol position.
 
Ryan:
Now, this is a great actual assessment to see if you have the necessary range of motion in your ankle to be able to do the movement. We also do this with the basic squats where both feet are on the ground and you slowly shift your butt towards your heels using your hands to walk up into the squat. If you're having trouble getting into that bottom position then that means you need to work on your mobility. It would be silly to think that you're going to be able to do a full pistol squat if you don't have that range of motion. By assessing that and understanding that you don't quite have that mobility just yet, then you know that you can work on variations of the pistol or the shrimp and do it in a way that's safe so that you're actually not going into that full range of motion just yet until you actually have that full range of motion.
 
Ryan:
That's using training wheels is what I'm talking about. Again, the next portion then would be I'll quickly go over this and then we'll go into the actual specifics of this, but tempo, don't rush. This is extremely important. If you were to just drop down into a pistol squat and again you don't have the mobility, you don't have the strength, well, there's a good chance you're going to get injured and, or you're going to fall which again can lead to an injury. That's why tempo is so important and making sure that you're going very slowly and taking note of what's going on through the movement. By doing that, the last thing comes into play and that's making modification for that particular leg.
 
Ryan:
For example, while you might be able to do a higher level beginning portion of the shrimp squat let's say by holding on your foot, you might not have the range of the motion at the bottom portion. You might have to let go of your hand and end up possibly doing modified lunge. Then once you get back past that range of motion from the bottom position then you can start holding on to your leg again to complete the shrimp. That's what I mean by modifying each leg just because you start doing a particular variation of a movement doesn't mean you necessarily should stick with that movement if you can't do it safely.
 
Andy:
Right. The thing that's important like you mentioned, injuries and tempo. Again, I think this pattern is very common especially when we're talking about pistols where people come into this and they have enough leg strength that they believe this should be easy for them. They start doing the pistol and they get to a place where their mobility or their control starts to lack and they are not able to do it and they start to freak out. They start to go, "I'm losing my balance, what do I do?" They rely on speed to try to reverse course. This is something that happens very commonly and when you are unbalanced and apply speed, that's usually a recipe for putting yourself in an unsafe position. I've heard a lot of people have talked about that they've hurt themselves doing pistols.
 
Andy:
To me that's freaky ass weird because this is not an exercise that is really high risk. It's not something that you should hurt yourself with and then most of these cases it's turned out that they have gotten halfway down, tried to push out of it and ended up putting their body in a weird position which is how they hurt themselves doing pistols. This is another thing where the tempo is super important when you're feeling things out as an assessment. Especially if you get into an area where you are finding where your limit in terms of mobility is. Slowing down is the way that you build up your awareness of these things. If you're going slow enough and you're able to feel that you're approaching your limit, you don't have to lose control of it before you're able to reverse.
 
Andy:
Mostly it's hubris where people believe that, "I'm so strong, I can squat four times my bodyweight. There is no way a pistol is going to be hard for me." You've got all the strength you need in those legs but maybe not something else and that's where you get into trouble. Anyway, that's another thing I wanted to point out. These are not really high risk movements but-
 
Ryan:
They shouldn't be.
 
Andy:
They shouldn't be if you're approaching them correctly.
 
Modifications and Progressions
 
Ryan:
That's again why I mentioned before looking at these training wheels, using particular progressions that are going to allow you to strengthen your legs while you're working on improving the flexibility and mobility with control. That's why I like to do bottom up training not just for the pistol but also the shrimp squat. This shrimp squat is a way that you can do this as well. We're looking at the pistol, I've already mentioned this before, but simply just sitting on the ground and placing one leg straight out in front of you, tucking the other leg with your heel as close to your butt as possible and then using your hands to get into that position and just make sure you can safely get in that position. Then from there, you can start working. I also like to work on rolling back and then back into the pistol squat.
 
Ryan:
Reason for that is also it works as a bail. As you get better with a pistol squat and you start to lower yourself down, if there's ever a time where you feel that you need or you lose your balance, then you can simply roll backwards rather than trying to put yourself in some awkward position and possibly blowing out your knee heaven forbid. Shrimp likewise, the shrimp squat the roll is fine but to be honest with the shrimp really starting from the bottom in a very deep lunge and just leaning forward. This is looking at improving ankle mobility.
 
Andy:
That's a great ankle exercise.
 
Ryan:
Exactly. I use this so much to get my leg strength back before doing any other really squat to be honest, this is mainly what I worked on. Because when I was doing a standard bodyweight squat with both of my feet, I could fake it on one side. This actually forced me to spend a good chunk of time working on the proper position, loading that position in a way that was safe for me and then gradually working through those progressions. You are going to have one leg that is weaker than the other or you're going to have mobility issues. The thing about that is it might be that way forever. Sorry, just going to say that. You can work on it, and you can always get better but the thing is you're never really going to be 100% balanced on both sides. That's just a fact of life and for everything that we do.
 
Ryan:
Just understand that if you do have a grave deficiency in terms of there's a huge imbalance, then that is something you do need to step aside, figure out one, what's going on with that imbalance and then work on trying to shore that up. Having a huge gap is not a good thing. But a slight gap, everyone's going to have that.
 
Andy:
Don't let it stop you. We hear a lot of people are like, "I'm worried about these imbalances." You've made it this far in your life it's probably not helping you, but it doesn't have to stop you. It's just a thing to be aware of and to work on.
 
Ryan:
Yes. Let me give you an example. I mentioned before when I broke my ankle and coming back to do the shrimp squats, my ankle is not 100% and it's never going to be.
 
Andy:
Well, it's 90 bones instead of 10 now.
 
Ryan:
Exactly. It was completely shattered. Actually, my right leg is a little shorter now than my left leg. The mobility in my ankle is just not there. It might get better over the years, I hope it will, but I understand it's not. So, this is how I actually trained my shrimp squats. When I'm standing on my left leg, I can hold on to my right foot and I can do a deep shrimp squat. Basically what I can do is I can stand on a stool or a bench and I can drop my knee slowly below the bench with my left foot and the heel still on the bench without raising my heel up at all and I can stand right back up. Can't do that on my right foot because that was the ankle that I broke. The other thing with that too is that I still have trouble when I'm in the deepest part of my shrimps squat on my right foot where I fall backwards.
 
Ryan:
What I'll have to do is either really extend my left arm further or lightly hold on to something in order to do that. That's perfectly fine. I'm happy with that. The reason why is because I know that I'm still working on range of motion, I'm still being able to do the movement but I'm not compromising this and just trying to just get into that position because I think that should be able to do it on my right side because I'm doing on my left side. No, that's fine.
 
Andy:
What you should be able to do matters like jack shit.
 
Ryan:
Right, exactly. It's what you can do. That's what's the most important thing. That's really what I'm getting at. I gave it a little example of this earlier, but you can make modifications to the particular movement during the movement in order to continue working on getting stronger, improving that flexibility and mobility and the control. Here's an example of what I do a lot on my right leg when I'm doing my shrimp squat. I'll start off and I'll hold on to my foot in back. Really hold it and make sure that the position is good and go as deep as I can in this position. When I start to feel my heel come up off the ground, then I'll let go with my hand continue with the movement a little bit lower because I know if I let go I'm going to be able to keep my heel down and go deeper into that position.
 
Ryan:
Then once I get to the point where I start to feel my heel's going to come up again, that's when I use my hand to grab ahold of in my case, the squat rack, and make sure that I don't fall backwards. That allows me to go even deeper, but I'm going very slow. Then I just reverse the process as I go back up. If I were to go really quickly, just drop down into that squat, I would miss out on being able to do that. I would lose that connection in terms of what is going on in my body. I'm actually not going to be helping myself. That's why I always suggest going as slow as possible when doing this. There are some different variations you can do for example looking at lowering yourself very slow and then explode out of the bottom position.
 
Ryan:
That's when we're looking at power, some other different examples but what I'm saying is if you do have an issue then you always have the option of making these slight adjustments as long as you're going slow and you're aware of what you need in that particular point of that position. Don't rush through things is basically what I'm trying to say. End range, always try and find your end range. Another example is in my pistol squat because of my ankle surgery, I actually have an issue with my knee sometimes. I actually don't go to the very bottom of my pistol squat on my right knee.
 
Ryan:
The reason why is because it hurts it. Instead of doing it, I go just before the IN range, I know that and then I come out of it and do it in a safe manner. I'm always aware of what's going on, I look at what I need And in order to further strengthen my knee I actually use a different movement for that rather than just thinking that I'm just going to stick with a pistol squat and just bear with it and try and use that in order to fix everything. Use a proper tool for whatever task you need to work on but also understand that you should have the ability to stop and hang out in any position. If you can do that with control that's how you keep from injuring yourself. That's also how you get stronger and improve your mobility as well as your control.
 
Andy:
Right. You mentioned explosive movements. I think this is a good thing to bring up too because we get questions on this pretty frequently from people that have built up a good amount of strength and they can do shrimps and they can do pistols pretty well. They can knock out 10 pistols on their weak side maybe. Great, that is wonderful. People then ask us, well, what comes next? Should I be doing explosive movements on the single leg? Should I be doing explosive pistols. Ryan's laughing but we get this question a lot. I see this question on the Reddit, on the internet, people asked us on our YouTube tutorials. The answer is really that you're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole here.
 
Andy:
Pistols are a very complex exercise. Shrimp squats are also a very complex exercise. Dragon squats more complex. You don't want to add speed and power to very complex movements. There are way better ways to build explosiveness in your legs than trying to add speed to a complicated movement. If you're looking for explosive movements always just like with the squats, begin with bilateral movements. Begin with two leg jumps, broad jumps, very low risk, very high potential for reward. After quite a while practicing that thing you can move on to things like depth jumps in that sort of deal. If you do a lot of single leg movements and you need to build strength exclusively for that, that's where you've got explosive step ups.
 
Andy:
You've got skipping. You have lateral jumps and bounds and all things but don't try to force this ideal of, "Well, I want to be explosive so I should just do pistols faster." This is improper exercise selection for your goal is what that amounts to and there're just way better thing you could be doing so. PSA right there. That's the key with a lot of this stuff is just because pistols are the main gateway drug for bodyweight leg strength doesn't mean that they're the thing everything else has to be based on. We have an article on our site of nine different advanced bodyweight leg exercises. Nine different things, I bet there's at least three of them you have not thought of before.
 
Andy:
These are templates. They're not really an exhaustive list. Check out that video and that tutorial if you're looking for the next thing to do. Just because we're focusing on pistols and shrimps in these examples, that's because those are the most familiar but it doesn't mean that's what we recommend staying with forever. We're using these as examples because most people have done them but use these pointers and tips as ways to apply to all the other different variations you can do too.
 
Programming
 
Ryan: 
Cool. Let's talk quickly about programming. The thing about this is that I like to look at doing lower numbers in terms of repetitions. Low reps but at a very high level of difficulty. I want to make sure that you understand that when I say a high level of difficulty doesn't mean I'm saying high difficulty in terms of the most advanced movement. I'm talking about in terms of you what's really difficult for you? That's the most important thing is what's going to be difficult for you is going to be difficult or is going to be different from me and Andy. 
 
Ryan: 
Focus on doing these low numbers but do them as slowly as possible. By doing that again, it's going to bring back the fact that you're not only going to be strengthening your legs, you're also going to be working on your mobility and especially your control. That is huge. By slowing things down, your balance is going to be off. That's a good thing. Because you're always going to be fighting. The fact that you're fighting for balance means that you're strengthening everything from your toes, all the way to your core. 
 
Andy: 
Right, if it's not hard, it's not training. 
 
Ryan: 
Exactly. That's the thing. These are so easy. Well, let's find something that's more difficult for you. I do like to train single leg movements without shoes on. A reason for that is because I can grip the ground with my toes. I think that's very important because again when we talk about leg strength, we're not just talking about the quads, we're not just talking about the glutes, we're talking about every single muscle in your lower body. That's what we're after. Everything is going to be working together in order to get stronger. Again, lower numbers, but at a high level of difficulty for yourself, making sure that you're focusing on form. The way you do that, again, is by going very slow. Making adjustments to the particular pistol or shrimp squat and do that in a way that's going to be beneficial to you. 
 
Ryan: 
That's the most important thing. Now, if you're looking in later, and that's looking at maybe the practice portion of it, but it's also going to be considered a workout. Just because you're practicing a movement doesn't mean that it's going to be easy peasy. By working at the highest level you can, that could actually be your workout for the day. But if you feel that you need more leg work, that's when you can drop the movement down, look some bilateral squats, bodyweight squats, broad jumps, other things that can be used for your push portion of your workout if you will, that you can do as a finisher or something like that. When you're looking at single leg work, first and foremost, look at it as first, practicing that particular movement and getting really good at doing that particular movement. 
 
Ryan: 
Now, how many times a week should you be doing this? Well, that really depends on what you're doing. In my case right now, when I'm doing these particular high level movements if you will, the pistols in the shrimps and where I'm standing on a bench and letting my leg go below the bench and doing these type of heavy leg movements if you will, I only do those once a week. But the other thing to take into consideration is the fact that I'm also doing locomotion, there's other leg movements that I'm doing. It's not that I'm not training my legs it's that I'm training the particular skill of being able to do pistols and shrimps better and strengthen my legs once a week and when I do that I hit it really hard. 
 
Ryan: 
Other options of course, if you're doing a full body workout then you can, let's say you're doing integral strength, then you might be doing them three times a week. But again, it's all going to be dependent upon what you need and looking at your other activities in your life. I tend to encourage everyone to do less and focus more on your activities. I don't want you to do more GMB, I want you to use GMB in a way that's going to allow you to be able to perform your activities and enjoy your activities better. To me, less is more. 
 
Andy: 
We are probably the only company on the planet that wants you to do less of our stuff and more of having free individual or team activities outside the gym. We're also probably the only fitness company that doesn't want you to have a subscription and doesn't want you to continue buying our products forever. 
 
Ryan: 
That's right. 
 
Andy: 
We want you to use our stuff and then go do real shit. 
 
Ryan: 
Not have to use it, that'd be awesome. Another thing though, that I really do like to use and I do this to be honest, with pretty much all of my movements when I'm training my movements, that's drop sets. What I'll do is I'll do the hardest movement that I can and then I will immediately do the previous variation or the regression of that movement and continue doing that in order to get in volume. That is something if you haven't done with bodyweight exercises can be great. The other thing too and we don't talk a whole lot about this, but if you're looking at also hypertrophy, not just hypertrophy but also strength depending on what you're doing. For example, finishing up by using a drop set in the last set that you do, and really just keep going. 
 
Ryan: 
Let's say that you're doing a full shrimp squat then as soon as you can't do those anymore, then Immediately you let go of your leg and you keep going and you immediately go down. You end up doing lunges to the point where you just really can't even do anything. Then the next day you can't walk. But drop sets are great. 
 
Andy: 
You absolutely will need help getting off the toilet. 
 
Ryan: 
These are things that I use for example when I'm working on, front lever is a great example of where I'll do the front lever at the highest level that I can. Actually I did these yesterday, and were at the highest level I can, I couldn't do it anymore so then I would drop and do a straddle front lever and then immediately go in and eventually get to a tuck front lever and can barely hold it because I was just so exhausted after that. But that's another way that you can look at getting really good at a particular movement, getting a lot of volume over time. Anyway, the most important thing though, work at a level that is good for you and making changes where necessary. No matter what you do, always bring awareness back into your body making sure that your, sounds funny but being true to yourself. 
 
Ryan: 
That's the most important thing because you don't want to just try something that you think you might not be ready for. You want to make sure that you are good and ready for that. The way to do that is practice a particular skill, go slow, make sure that you have the proper strength and mobility and control to be able to do that and work at a pace that's good for you. 
 
Andy: 
Absolutely. 
 
Ryan: 
A lot of stuff we talked about today but we love single leg work here in GMB. Andy you mentioned broad jumps. Those are other leg oriented movements that we absolutely love. For us, it really comes back to what movements can we use for the particular activities that we want to be doing? Again, it's not about doing more of particular movements here in GMB, it's about using the proper movements that are going to be good for us to help us with our activities. Getting strong, working on our mobility, working on that control. What else did we talk about? Understand each leg is going to be different. Lower reps done slowly, build that foundation. What else? That's about it. 
 
Andy: 
That's mostly it. Do those things and if you find that an exercise isn't a good fit for you, that's fine. You don't have to do it. We get a lot of people worrying about things like, "Well, I read that some peoples hip joints won't allow them," cool don't or, "My glutes aren't firing", they might not be. But what matters is not measuring how much electric impulse your glute muscles are putting out, that doesn't matter. What matters is learning to do the movements that are important for you. Do the movement at the level that works for you, practice the movement, either you'll get better at it or you'll find that you have a true limit. 
 
Andy: 
In either case, you know more now from doing the movement than you did when you were just guessing a bunch of shit based off random stuff you read on the internet. Doing the work is really key. Last bit, let's talk about one quick secret technique that everyone can apply right now. There's so many things that we talk about and all of these random things on the internet that everyone says are really important. But some of the most important stuff is also some of the simplest. I spend a lot of time holding my phone, typing on a keyboard, pressing buttons mindlessly on the remote control, actually, I don't do that because I don't watch TV. But Ryan, what should we do? 
 
Ryan: 
This was especially for you Andy because of what you wrote to me the other day with your hands. 
 
Andy: 
My chronic masturbation problem. 
 
Ryan: 
Yes, it's just one in your right hand only right? But make sure that you stretch out your hand and your fingers every single day. What I mean by that is it can simply be a matter of just opening up your hand and splaying your fingers as widely as possible. 
 
Andy: 
Using the word splay, every appropriate opportunity. 
 
Ryan: 
That's right. That's my favorite word. Look at your hands and your fingers. This is something that a lot of people neglect. With all of us being on the computer and our stupid smartphones all the time I think this is something that we can all benefit from. 
 
Andy: 
Amen for that. 
 
Ryan: 
Stretch hands, splay them. 
 
Andy: 
All right. 
 
Ryan: 
Thanks for listening, everybody. 
 
Andy: 
All right, get splayed, people.