Intro
I picked today’s guest-post image before reading the article, which was an editorial slip. Placing a barbell on your back during single-leg work isn’t wrong in itself, but it does have drawbacks. More load isn’t always the key to making exercises harder. Lesson learned, and I’m not changing the photo. This solid piece by Dr. Michelle Boland and Tim Richardt gave me several “aha” moments.
Top 3 Single-Leg Exercises for Stronger Legs
1) FRONT FOOT ELEVATED ZERCHER SPLIT SQUAT
Load position advantage
Holding the weight in the crook of your elbows lets the muscles along the back of your torso relax a bit, allowing deeper movement while not being limited by grip strength. A barbell behind the neck can limit hip range of motion due to compression. The Zercher setup keeps you more vertical, so you get more up-and-down movement and better stimulation of the glutes and quads. If you don’t have a barbell, dumbbells work just as well.
Vertical displacement with a stacked position during the split squat is key to loading muscle tissue while reducing joint strain.
Why front foot elevation?
Lifting the front foot shifts your center of mass backward, letting the front leg relax more to deepen the descent. It also increases hip flexion, which loads the hip extensors more effectively.
Bonus: heel up?
You can lift the front heel to allow greater knee and hip loading while keeping the torso stacked. Keep the heel down as you let the knee drift forward over the mid-foot to allow more hip and knee flexion.
2) STAGGERED STANCE RETRO RDL
Why backward movement can help
The staggered stance retro Romanian deadlift uses the front leg to push your center of mass backward toward the working leg. It strongly targets the glutes and hamstrings and serves as a good bridge toward a true single-leg deadlift. The main difference from a conventional RDL is the direction your center of mass moves: forward in a standard RDL, backward here.
Single-arm loading
Holding a kettlebell in the opposite hand (away from the back leg) encourages ribcage rotation toward the loaded side, increasing hip loading. The combination of an opposite-hand reach and front-foot support helps load the back leg’s hamstrings and glutes as much as possible.
Technique
For the front-foot-supported version:
Position the non-working leg in front and use it to push the back leg backward, creating a hip shift toward the working leg. The arm opposite the working leg holds the weight and tracks over the front big toe. Maintain a tripod foot—heel, big toe, and little toe contact—and sit the hips back, feeling load under the heel and the forefoot. Return by driving through the tripod foot to the starting position.
3) REAR FOOT ELEVATED SPLIT SQUAT
Elevate that back foot
The rear-foot elevated split squat places more emphasis on the front leg and is a solid progression toward a strict single-leg movement. In a standard split squat the load is shared, but raising the rear foot shifts the center of mass forward, increasing load on the front leg.
Load placement
To optimize loading, use dumbbells in each hand. A back-rack barbell can limit hip flexion and available range of motion. The stride length matters too: a shorter stride targets the glutes more, while a longer stride shifts load toward the quads for bigger overall leg development.
Additional loading options
There are three extra loading variations you can try to train different planes of motion in the rear-foot elevated split squat.
Bonus yoked-worthy exercise: Walking Toe Touch Lunges
Muscle recruitment
Walking lunges with an opposite-arm reach promote higher hamstring engagement by biasing a posterior pelvic tilt. This helps fix the pelvis in place and load the hip extensors more effectively, making it a strong finishing move after your main lifts.
Technique
Keep a steady up-and-down rhythm with your head aligned over your shoulders and hips. Reach the opposite arm toward your front toe while guiding the shoulder blade around the rib cage. Use a small hip hinge to stay moving forward, protect the back knee, and keep the stride short and controlled. Stand up by pushing off the front foot, maintaining the tripod foot contact.
Summary
To build bigger legs, choose single-leg exercises that allow full range of motion while handling substantial loads. Proper loading positions—like dumbbells at the sides or a Zercher hold—enhance motion availability. Foot placement and elevation are crucial for ensuring you load the target tissues through a wide range.
Now go work those legs so they’re impressive enough to catch anyone’s eye.
