3 Movements To Improve Leg Strength
Maximize Leg Strength With Daily Movements
Are you struggling with your lower body strength? Have you noticed standing from a seat or walking downstairs now requires your arms or another person’s assistance for balance and support? Wondering how you can enhance muscle strength, endurance, and balance while performing daily tasks?
If you’re in the Geriatric population and attempting to mitigate muscle atrophy or strength decline while aging, this is the post for you!
This post is focused on maintaining maximal function using three core movements, which we all perform daily. With minimal modifications, you can produce a significant impact in months of implementation to better improve and maintain your greatest asset, Independence.
This post will showcase three movements, with variations, to significantly enhance strength and improve mobility for the Geriatric population:
Sit-to-Stand
Walking
Stair Negotiation
Now, after reading this list of movements you may seem skeptical that they are too basic or too simplistic and don’t offer much challenge for the average 55+ year old. Heck, it may not even be a challenge for an 80- and 90-year old, especially if you are still fully independent.
My grandfather, a WWII Veteran, lived with my family and I from 2009-2020. He was incredibly “fit” up until 93, when he began to slow down as he inched towards 96. He was able to complete 10k to 20k steps/day without any assistance, thriving and maintaining a higher quality of life with his robust physical and mental status. Most of his daily “exercise” routine was related to the 3 movements I previously mentioned.
So regardless of your age and functional capabilities, you can alter these exercises to maximize your lower body strength, endurance, balance and coordination to challenge any ages 55+. Remember, no matter what age you are, these three core movements are a staple for daily movements when attempting to walk in your home and out in the community.
So, let’s look at a few methods that can be incorporated into those core movements to improve current functional strength, prevent further deterioration, and vastly improve your overall physical and mental well-being.
Addition v. Removal of Support Surfaces
Tempo Training
Stable v. Unstable Surface Training
Multidirectional Changes
Environmental Changes
Utilize the 5 methods individually or in conjunction with one another, based on your health and fitness and level, to create progressive difficulty and maximum benefit.
1. Addition v. Removal of Support Services
One simplistic method for regaining strength and endurance is modifying the distribution of weight placed on lower body versus upper body. As functional decline occurs, we shift from 100% weight bearing on our lower body to a combination of upper and lower body weight distribution to enhance our stability with increased base of support.
While utilizing hands can help maintain independence in the short term, it can be deleterious in the long term with increased lower body atrophy and strength deficits causing a cycle of worsening balance, strength, and further compensations. Follow the techniques noted below to progress these 3 movements towards no upper body support.
Upper body support, Both Hands, with external support from a caregiver/family member
Upper body, Both Hands, without external support from a caregiver/family member
Upper body support: One Hand,
Upper body support: 2-3 Finger
Upper body, 1 finger on/off support surface as needed to retain balance
Strictly Lower body weight bearing
Lower body weight bearing: Add Resistance (Weighted)
2. Tempo Training
Tempo or setting the speed at which you perform a select movement can be another alternative to advance your mastery and elicit greater muscle breakdown and growth. Assess the current tempo you complete each movement, then vary the tempo associated with each. You can use this method for many applications, with some examples noted below:
Increasing tempo/speed when walking, increasing total distance in less time
Walking for 20 minutes at 3.0 mph versus 3.3 mph
Increasing tempo/speed with stairs, increasing performance, and reducing time to completion
Completing 12 stairs in 30 seconds versus 12 seconds
Decreasing tempo during a sit to stand, creating increased time under tension and muscle tissue breakdown and growth
Sit to stand with focus on slow descent or ascent
Increasing tempo during a sit to stand, creating increased explosive power
Sit to stand with focus on fast, yet controlled, descent or ascent
Performing movements with isometrics, static contraction of muscles without movement
Holding a wall sit without moving for specified time
Using varying tempo’s during training, interval training, for cardiovascular and musculoskeletal benefits
Walking at 4.0 mph for 20 seconds, then 3.0 mph for 40 seconds for specified time
3. Stable v. Unstable Surface Training
Implementation of the next training principal can be useful for increasing motor (muscle) recruitment aka higher muscle activation. Using varying surfaces, stable versus unstable, will help alter sensory input to the brain requiring constant readjustment in our muscles to maintain stabilization and balance.
Think about the last time you walked on flat hardwood floor compared to walking on sand. When you walk in sand, the body is forced to reactively adjust and recruit muscles in varying patterns because of the changing stability or terrain related differences. Perform the three movements in the following scenarios:
On A Firm/Non-Complaint Surface (Wood, Tile)
On Uneven/Complaint Surface (Hill, Grass, Sand, Foam Pad, Gel Pad)
4. Multidirectional Changes
Next, we can implement multidirectional change with our functional movements to greater enhance range of motion, stability, and motor recruitment. It’s important to understand the body tends to move in all three planes of motion (sagittal, frontal, transverse planes), which intersect the body to create the various movements we complete: Bending, straightening, limbs towards or away from the midline of the body, rotation, etc. Directional changes can be useful for implementing new or complex movements in multiple planes of motion causing more complex movement patterns and varies the primary muscles activated with the subsequent movement:
Walking Forwards v Backwards v Sideways
Walking While Pivoting Towards A New Direction
Walking Using Stop, Go, Turning (Simon Says Game)
5. Environmental Changes
Finally, an excellent way to alter the complexity of a movement is related to environmental changes. We have already alluded to a major change in surface area texture and support. Here are some other methods to alter the environment for greater muscle activation:
Open (Crowded Area) v Closed Environment (Alone In An Area)
Lighting
Terrain Characteristics
External Loads (Carrying An Object)
Collision Avoidance (People, Object, Pets)
Cognitive Demand (Distracting Environments, Tracking Object/Person, Walking and Talking)
Summary: You can significantly maintain or improve your current level of function, improve your quality of life, and prevent significant decline with daily functional tasks implementing three core movements: Sit-To-Stand, Walking, Stair. These three movements are required for daily living, once these gross motor skills are learned, and should be maintained in their highest function to maximize functionality. While most middle-aged adults find these movements simplistic, many geriatric individuals are struggling to maintain their independence. Thus, we should be cognizant of the importance of these three movements and options to challenge ourselves regardless of functional levels.
Have you used any of the previously mentioned techniques for exercise or during a previous rehabilitation? What’s your favorite method? Do you have other techniques you incorporate for strengthening, endurance training? Would love to hear some ideas in the comments or emailed for further discussion.
Want to learn more? Check out my other resources for more educational posts/information!
