The Importance of Building Single-Leg Strength

“By improving our single-leg strength we can help to replicate the pressures put on our ankles and knees in the game in order to allow us to withstand a higher level of play.“

Whether we knew it or not, the lockdown in the UK has encouraged so many people to work on and improve their strength – even if it is just using your body weight. With every LIVE workout, squat, lunge, press up, deadlift, crab walk (the list continues) you have been building your strength and because of this you will be returning to the court a stronger, fitter athlete. Looks like the lockdown wasn’t too bad then eh?

But seriously, developing overall body strength is vital to improving your game and to developing as an athlete. Strength training will help you to:

• Reduce the severity of injuries
• Improve your performance
• Improve your speed and power
• Improve your mental strength to carry on
• Improve your ability to withstand body contact

So it looks all positive, but where do you start? With a sport that requires as much jumping, changes of directions and catching off balance as ours, it is really important that we prioritise single-leg strength training within our programmes. By building single-leg strength we will improve our body’s ability to withstand the pressures of the game and, more importantly, help us to avoid those dreaded ACL injuries.

Why is Single-Leg Strength Important for Netball?

If we take time to look at the game, you can see that athletes are required to jump, land, sprint and change direction constantly throughout the game. If we take a second look at the most common injuries, these often occur in the ankle and knee – this is primarily due to poor landing.

This is why single-leg strength is important. Athletes needs to have a solid strength base in order to repeat these movements again and again without complications or injury. By improving our single-leg strength we can help to replicate the pressures put on our ankles and knees in the game in order to allow us to withstand a higher level of play.

When we take part in single-leg exercises, we encourage our muscles to work together in order to maintain balance and complete each movement. By building strength in our legs (Hamstrings, Quadriceps, Glutes, Gastrocnemius) we will be relieving the pressure put on our joints in a game and therefore avoid the risk of injury.

Single-Leg exercises are also fantastic for our core strength – another key training consideration (come back next month to learn more about this). By forcing your body to move in different planes, you are encouraged to use and engage your core in order to maintain stability through a movement. This in turn will be invaluable to improving your performance on court. Think about that moment when you manage to catch the ball on the side line, moments before it goes out of court, control your balance and pass it to your teammate for the win – that’s all thanks to your strength training!

Incorporating Single Leg Exercises into Your Own Workouts

There are a plethora of single-leg training exercises out there to choose from so how can you ensure you are doing the best one for your sport? An important thing to remember is that not all exercises were created equal.

Whilst it might look cool to see that person in the gym balancing on a ball whilst lowering a weight to the floor on one leg, this isn’t going to help them to build #gains on the court. It might be good for balance, but they are not concentrating on isolating their muscles and therefore the exercise becomes redundant.

A key thing to remember is that the most simple exercises are the most effective. Start just using your body weight and once you have perfected this, move onto incorporating bands, kettlebells, dumbbells and barbells to help increase the resistance and in-turn improve your strength. As always, with strength exercises, you have to ‘earn the right to progress’. Doing too much too soon will only result in injury!

Below is a list of what I think are the top five exercises you should be incorporating into your training today to help you to progress on court tomorrow. Try completing 3 sets of 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week to see an improvement in your on-court performance.

1. Single-Leg Landings – Single Leg Landings – starting on two feet, jump up (as if to receive a pass) and land on one foot. Make sure to keep your balance and control the landing. Repeat on both legs.

2. Single-Leg Squat – Starting in an upright position, lift one leg and hold onto your toes. Slowly bend your grounded knee making sure to keep your chest up and not to collapse into the movement. You can make this move easier by standing on a box or step. Repeat on both legs.

3. Single Leg RDL / Arabesque – Starting in an upright position, bend one leg up into a right angle and leave the other leg grounded. Slowly bend forward to touch the toes of your grounded foot making sure to extend your body to make one long line. Repeat on both legs.

4. Glute Bridge – Laying on the floor with your legs bent and heels within a hands distance of your glutes, lift your hips up to the sky making sure to squeeze your glutes as you reach the top. Slowly lower making sure to ground one vertebrae at a time. To make this harder try to keep one leg lifted and practice the bridge on one leg. Repeat on both legs.

5. Side Plank – Laying on your side, plant your hand directly under your shoulder, stacking you feet one on top of the other and lift up with the hips to create a bridge shape. To make this harder, lift the top leg up and balance. Your core strength and stability is important here. Repeat on both sides.

How to Incorporate Single-Leg Strength Exercises into your Coaching Sessions

Do you remember Serena Guthrie’s inhuman balance on the circle edge? Or Karin Burger’s amazing athleticism to keep the ball on-court? All of this was possible because of the strength training and balance work they have incorporated into their training programmes throughout their netball journey. However we don’t all have access to S&C coaches, gyms or even the time to fit it all in. So how can we best help our athletes?

As well as encouraging your athletes to complete their own strength training outside of your coaching sessions, there are still things you can do on the court to help make strength training more relevant to the game. In order to do this we need to imagine the game and the scenarios player’s may find themselves in and look to recreate this in our sessions.

This give your the perfect opportunity to get creative as a coach and think about how you can make training different but challenging for your athletes. Use some of the ideas below to help get your creative coaching juices flowing. An exercise circuit like this should only take up 5-7 minutes of your overall session, and should be incorporated regularly for best results.

Tip: Think about how each exercise could be made relevant to individual playing positions.

1. Static Single-Leg Pull ins
2. Off-court returns
3. Partner push landings (each leg)

Please remember that all strength training is important and we should be aiming to develop our whole body strength in order to improve as an athlete. If you want to know more about how you can build strength and improve your game have a look at our Personal Programmes which are personalised to you and aim to help you improve your athleticism, strength, speed and skills on court. We also provide personalised session plans to help you with coaching at your club/school. Have a look at our Coaches’ Corner for more information.