Single Leg Push-off

Muscles worked

The force comes from the quadriceps across the front of the thigh, which straighten the knee and, just as importantly, control it on the way back down.

A plyometric repetition is over before a slow contraction could contribute anything, so they have to produce that force immediately on contact.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down.

Every exercise for:QuadricepsCalvesHamstrings

How this movement works

The working muscles shorten as they drive the load away from you, and more than one joint changes angle to do it. Load spreads down a chain instead of sitting on one muscle, which is why a compound push handles more weight than any single-joint alternative — and why joint position, not the muscle, is usually what fails first.

It is filed under plyometrics, which trains the stretch-shortening cycle: loaded fast, released immediately. Contact time matters more than volume, so these belong early in a session.

What you need

These train the quadriceps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Single Leg Squat with Barbellbarbell
• Single-Leg Leg Extensionmachine
• Smith Machine Hack Squatsmith machine + machine
• Split Jumpbody only
• Split Squat with Dumbbellsdumbbell

Difficulty

Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.

Of the 173 quadriceps exercises in this database, 70 are listed at beginner level.