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“Hey, John would you mind doing a simple lower body exercise assessment for me” I asked.

“Sure, what do you want me to do?” he answered.

“I want you to squat down and back up about 5 times”

“Like this?” John asked while easily descending down into a full squat and back up with a grin on his face as if to say ‘That’s it…What else you got?’

“Great job John!” I complimented him.

“Now, let’s try one more test. Try standing on one leg.”

John lifted his left foot a few inches off the floor balancing on his right leg.

I pulled my ball-point pen out of my pocket and placed it on the floor about a foot and a half in front of him.

He looked at me confused.

“Ok, John I want you to use one hand and pick up that pen while maintaining balance on your right leg.”

“Are you training me to be some circus elephant or something?” he asked.

“Seriously, I’d like you to try to pick up the pen” I said.

As John began to bend down his eyebrows scrunched, his lips tightened, his concentration level rose as he stared with laser focus at his target…the pen laying just in front of him on the floor

About a quarter of the way down with his hand closing in on the pen his leg began to wobble, then his upper body…his arms began flapping uncontrollably until he lost control and his left foot hit the ground to stop him from collapsing on the ground

John was baffled as to why he couldn’t do something that sounded so simple…to pick that damn pen up off the floor

But, this wasn’t some attempt at making John feel silly and I didn’t have some trick ninja pen with mysterious Jedi mind powers nor was I planning on training John for Cirque du Soleil

I was using the most valuable exercise testing tool for the lower body…

…As fitness professionals we perform various exercise assessments to gather information which we use to design fitness programs for our clients

These assessments provide feedback about areas such as flexibility, endurance, strength and cardiovascular conditioning

One of the most commonly used tests for assessing the lower body is the overhead squat. However, looking at the big picture of human functional movement reveals that we are asymmetrical in nature

We all have dominant upper and lower extremities and perform most of our standing movements in a single leg dominant environment…

…walking, dropping and picking up your keys off the floor, getting in and out of the car, going up and down stairs, running & playing sports are some examples of the single leg dominant environments that play an important part of our everyday lives

Many lower body injuries occur during single leg activities involving deceleration. This is often due to weakness, instability, overuse and poor flexibility

In fact, there are a number of single leg movements that we perform outside of the gym and yet most traditional exercise programs either fail to train these movements or train these movements with inefficient muscular recruitment patterns

For example, a runner or tennis player who only uses squats or deadlifts to train the lower body will see minimal improvements in performance at best and is vulnerable to an injury to the hips, knees or ankles since the single leg demands of the activity are not adequately addressed

Or, performing lunges and emphasizing activation of the quadriceps is a knee injury waiting to happen

Because of this, I always include dynamic single leg exercise assessments that give me instant feedback about which areas need to be addressed to improve strength, stability and/or flexibility

I perform the test differently than the typical multiplanar reach as I’ll share with you

Dynamic Single Leg Exercise Assessment

I use this to test 2 functional movements: internal and external stabilization of the hips & lower extremities

How To Perform

• Have the client begin standing on his/her right leg
• Place a 6-inch cone (or a pen to increase the challenge) approximately 18 inches in front of the right foot measured from the toes
• To assess lower extremity internal stabilization have the client attempt to touch the cone with his/her fingertips of the left hand
• This should be performed under control
• To assess external stabilization of the lower extremity have the client attempt to touch the cone with the right hand (still standing on the right leg)
• Have the client repeat the test standing on the left leg

What To Look For

You want to watch for proper hip, knee and ankle movement and note any breakdowns that occur at either of these areas

To keep things simple I use 3 categories during the single leg fitness assessment:

1. Stable-Client can perform the exercise without instability or breakdown
2. Unstable-Client can perform the exercise but some level of instability or breakdown occurs
3. Falls-Client cannot perform the exercise without touching the ground with the other foot (or hand–sounds weird but it does happen sometimes)

The category provides the appropriate training level for the client:

Stable-Dynamic single leg exercises in various planes (ex: multiplanar lunges)

Unstable- Modified single leg exercises is various planes (ex: reaching lunges to bench)

Falls-Static single leg conditioning exercises (ex: single leg rows, presses)

Incorporating single leg exercise testing is probably the most important lower body assessment tool for identifying muscular imbalances, strength deficits,  joint instability and designing fitness programs to help prevent or rehabilitate injuries to the hips, knees and ankles.

Give this test a try on yourself or your clients and leave me a comment about what you noticed.

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