Advanced

Single-Leg Bounding

Single-leg bounding is an advanced horizontal power drill that hammers the glutes, hamstrings, and calves of one leg while demanding excellent landing stability. It transfers strongly to sprinting and single-leg jumping, but the forces are high, so build up with two-leg bounding first.

Equipment
Body Weight
Body part
Glutes, Hamstring
Type
Balance, Plyometric
Browse by movement
Gait Drill
Muscles worked
Target
Gluteus Maximus, Biceps Femoris, Semitendinosus
Secondary
Rectus Femoris, Vastus Lateralis, Gastrocnemius Lateral Head
Tertiary
Gluteus Medius, Gastrocnemius Medial Head, Soleus Gastrocnemius

How to do it

  1. 1

    Start with a few easy jogging steps to build a little momentum.

  2. 2

    Push off one leg and hop forward for maximum distance, driving the opposite knee up.

  3. 3

    Reach forward with the airborne leg, then land on the same push-off leg.

  4. 4

    Absorb the landing with a soft knee and immediately drive into the next bound.

  5. 5

    Use a strong arm swing to help propel each hop and keep the hips level.

  6. 6

    Bound for a set distance or number of contacts, then switch legs.

Tips

  • Aim for distance and rhythm rather than height, keeping ground contact reactive.
  • Stay tall and drive the free knee forward and up to power each bound.
  • Master two-leg bounding and single-leg landings before loading this drill.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The drill quietly becomes alternate-leg bounding after two or three contacts, because the same leg twice in a row is much harder. Pick a line and check you land on the leg you pushed off.
  • Your approach builds into a near-sprint instead of a few easy steps, and arriving too fast makes the first landing a collision you have to absorb rather than reuse.
  • The line drifts sideways over the run, since a single leg pushes slightly across the body, and a curving path bleeds off the distance each bound should carry forward.
  • Ground contact time stretches out while the distance per bound stays the same, so the set looks unchanged and the reactive quality has gone. Time yourself over a fixed distance.
  • The hamstring is at full stretch and full speed at the moment the foot reaches for the floor, which is precisely how hamstrings tear. Do these on fresh legs and stop early rather than late.
  • Contacts per leg get counted like two-leg bounding, and one leg is now absorbing every landing on the run; 10 to 15 contacts a leg is a working set.

Frequently asked

How much single-leg bounding should I do, and what should I be able to do first?
Three or four runs of 10 to 15 meters per leg, roughly 6 to 10 contacts a run, with a walk back and two minutes between runs. Before starting you should bound comfortably on alternate legs, hop forward and stick a single-leg landing without the knee wobbling, and have a few months of squatting and hamstring work behind you. Once a week is enough. Add a run before you add distance, and end the session when the best bound of a run is clearly shorter than the first.
What can I do instead of single-leg bounding if I have no space or only a hard surface?
Alternate-leg bounding over the same stretch keeps most of the benefit and halves the load per leg, and single-leg hops in place or over a short line train the ankle and knee without the forward reach. In a gym with no runway, a single-leg broad jump with a full stop on each landing gives you the push-off and the landing separately, which is where most of the value sits. Grass, turf or a track is worth going out of your way for, since repeated single-leg landings on concrete add up in the shins and heel.
What is single-leg bounding good for, and who should not do it?
It is one of the highest-force drills for single-leg horizontal power, which is why sprinters, long jumpers and field athletes use it to build the push-off and the elastic landing that acceleration depends on. For anyone else the cost is high and the return small. Do not use it while a calf, Achilles or hamstring is sore, in the weeks after a lower-limb injury without clearance, or as conditioning, since these forces do not belong in a tired set.

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