Many personal trainers have their clients stand on one leg while lifting weights.
Is there really a point to this? Why don’t we see the trainers themselves doing this?
Sometimes the person stands on one leg while lifting dumbbells overhead. Another variation is to perform dumbbell rows while leaning over on one foot. Hmmm.
I’m a former certified personal trainer and I never had my clients standing on one leg while lifting weights.
Strength training techniques that have been clearly shown by extensive research to be the most superior in 1) burning fat, 2) increasing strength, 3) increasing conditioning/fitness, and 4) increasing muscle size, are done without standing on one leg.
Unless you are studying ballet or plan on standing on one leg while lifting suitcases into the overhead compartment on an airplane, or standing on one leg while lifting up your toddler, there is no point in standing on one leg while lifting weights at a gym.
People who don’t have personal trainers are now starting to do this on their own, having witnessed plenty of personal trainers having their clients do it.
They then figure there must be some value to this, and mindlessly jump on the bandwagon.
Have you noticed lately how the way personal trainers train their clients has changed?
Beginning several years ago, personal trainers began having their clients perform all sorts of funky-looking moves.
Traditional compound routines and even some isolation training has now been replaced with oddball-looking stuff like standing on a wobble board while pulling at tension tubing held by the personal trainer.
Meanwhile, people with ripped physiques continue to do the traditional things like bench press, incline dumbbell press, lat pull-downs, hack squats, hamstring curls, squats in a squat rack, deadlifts, dips and chin-ups.
You don’t see the buff bodies lifting weights while standing on one leg. There’s a reason for this:
Standing on one leg while lifting weights is nowhere near the best way to achieve 1) faster metabolism and optimal fat-burning, 2) stronger and/or bigger muscles, 3) tighter, fitter muscles, and 4) a fitter, healthier body.
You can improve your balance skills without standing on one leg, believe it or not. Some heavy-duty quad presses on a regular basis will do the trick.
So will holding dumbbells straight at your sides while squatting to muscle failure.
Personal trainers have their clients standing on one leg while lifting without really knowing why they should do this, other than it has a revolutionary look to novice gym patrons who don’t know any better.
