Fixing the Laggy Leg in Single Leg Deadlifts

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This week on a special edition of Movement Fix Monday we take a look at fixing the dreaded laggy leg in the single leg deadlift. This may be better known as 'not knowing how to engage your posterior chain at all'.

Here's the thing. Someone's vocal cord vibrates and it creates the words 'keep your back neutral'. That goes into someone's ear and their brain processes it and then a signal goes to the muscles around the joints in their body and we hope it all worked out well enough to create the desired change in how someone moves.

That doesn't always work so well though because people do weird things and different things from other people just based on words alone.

Anytime I can use a band or something that inputs forces through the body or some mechanical or movement based stimulus I use it. I skip all that processing of words and conversion into contraction of some muscles.

In this case, just stick a mini band around the athletes legs, above the knees. Have them perform a single leg deadlift and push the open chain leg (the leg that isn't attached to the ground) against the band and that will be a good cue to teach them how to engage the posterior chain and clean up their laggy leg.

The goal isn't to do tons of banded single leg deadlifts. The goal is to perform well executed single leg deadlifts and this is a tool to help someone get to that point.

Here's another post and video on single leg deadlifts if you want to continue down the TMF rabbit hole.

If you need some additional help with your low back and/or hips, check out our newly released Hip/Low Back Health and Mobility Program.

Ryan