Leg Power – 2 Great Exercises to Develop Great Leg Strength!

If you want to develop animal-like leg strength and even want to learn a different way to do it rather than using the more traditional type of lifts like squats and cleans then you will like this article. Remember that to gain ultimate strength in any lift you have to learn and practice it with flawless technique. The following 2 exercises can be varied to a level of desired intensity.

Lift 1: (The One-Legged Squat or Pistol) Now this is a very difficult and challenging exercise to execute in the beginning. It is certainly something that has to be carefully practiced in order to obtain optimal results. This exercise can be practiced with the use of a chair or bench. You want to start by lifting one leg off of the ground in front of you and completing a squat on the other leg. Now this can be varied to the desired intensity a couple of ways. One you can use a different height chair or bench depending on how far you can take your range of motion. The other way is starting from a seated position and executing the concentric portion of the movement, or upward phase of the squat by standing up on that leg. The second variation is to actually put one foot on the bench and in a controlled fashion lower yourself until the leg that is hanging just touches the floor before coming back up.

Lift 2: (Flipping Tractor Tires) Did I just say “flipping a tractor tire?” Yes, I did. If you can get your hands on a commercial tractor tire and have an open field or area to play in then this is a tremendous way to build total-body strength and overall leg power! You can manipulate this lift several ways. First, you can simply stand outside of the tire squat to grab the edge and flip it over. You can add an extra dynamic by jumping up on the side-wall of the tire after the flip and back down in the doughnut hole of the tire, back to the opposite side-wall, and finally back to the ground on the opposite side.