The Best Exercise that No One is Doing

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Here are a few exercises that many people forget about but are very effective.

SINGLE-LEG SQUAT
Stand on a bench or box that's about knee height. Hold your arms in front of you and flex your right ankle so your toes are higher than your heel. Keeping your torso as upright as possible, bend your left knee and slowly lower your body until your right heel lightly touches the floor. Pause for 1 second, then push yourself up. That's one repetition.
YOUR BEST EFFORT: 0 TO 1 REPS

THE PROBLEM: Individually, your legs aren't strong enough to support your body weight through the entire range of motion.

THE FIX: A two-pronged attack using "negatives" and "partials," both of which help you challenge your weak spots and lower your breaking point. Do this workout once every 4 days until you can perform at least two single-leg squats with perfect form.

NEGATIVE SQUAT

Stand on your left leg, facing away from a bench. Holding your arms and your right leg in the air in front of you, slowly lower your body until your butt is slightly higher than your breaking point. (Ideally, this should take 5 to 7 seconds.) Sit, then stand up using both legs. That's one repetition. Do six reps with your left leg, then six more with your right. Complete a set. Rest for 2 to 3 minutes and move on to step 2.
PARTIAL SQUAT

Stand on a bench holding a pair of 5-pound dumbbells. As you perform a single-leg squat, simultaneously lift the dumbbells in front of you to shoulder height. (This helps counterbalance your body, making the movement easier.) Again, lower your body until you're just above your breaking point, then pause for 2 seconds before pushing yourself back up. Do 10 repetitions with each leg, pausing for 10 seconds instead of 2 on the last rep with each.YOUR BEST EFFORT: 2 TO 5 REPS

THE PROBLEM: Because you can't adjust the weight you're using, as you can with free weights, your muscles give out quickly -- and that limits the total number of repetitions you can perform, a key factor in increasing strength.

THE FIX: A technique called escalating density training, or EDT. Popularized by Charles Staley, author of Muscle Logic, this method helps you slow the onset of fatigue, so you can complete more total repetitions than usual. Instead of doing as many reps as you can in each set, you'll do more sets of fewer repetitions. In addition, you'll further increase the challenge to your legs by adding two other single-leg exercises: the Bulgarian split squat and the high stepup.