Levitation Squat - Excellent Exercise For Massive Legs

Levitation squat is a great one leg exercise. It will help you improve the strength and size of your legs.

At one point you will be able to do standard squats with ease. At that point, you may start to wonder how to increase the load. First, you may try lunges and Bulgarian squats. But what’s next?

Introducing: Levitation squats.

What is levitation squat?

Levitation squat is the true one leg exercise you can do. You will be doing a squat while balancing on one leg. The other leg is lifted off the ground. This leg is levitating in the air. Hence the name – levitation squat.

This exercise targets your leg muscles. It also involves your core to maintain stability.

It’s a great exercise for building your leg size and strength. Levitation squats will also help you improve your balance.

This exercise is a bit easier to do than pistol squats.

Equipment

You don’t need any equipment to do a levitation squat. But, you will be touching the ground with your knee with each rep. So, you might want a soft surface to do it. An exercise mat might be the solution you are looking for. It’s not a must, but it’s nice to have.

So, a piece of equipment you may want to have handy when doing levitation squats is:

Exercise mat

Levitation squat benefits

Here are some of the benefits of this great exercise:

More muscle activation: When you do this exercise you will activate your quads and glutes. You will feel this exercise is harder than regular squats. It will activate your leg muscles more than squats.
Improved leg strength: This exercise will work your muscles harder. Your body will have to adapt to this increased load. So, your strength will improve when you include it in your workouts.
Increase in leg size: When you add this exercise to your workouts it will help you build your leg muscles. After a while, you will start noticing an increase in your leg size. Your leg muscles will grow faster.
Improved balance: Levitation squats will make you balance on one leg. This will help you improve your balance over time.
Improved ankle mobility: To be able to do this exercise right you have to be able to flex your ankles more than usual. So, your ankle mobility will improve over time.

To avoid injury and make the most of this exercise, do it with perfect form. If you have problems with your performance ask a qualified trainer for help.

Prerequisites

Here are the things you should consider before doing this exercise:

Strong leg muscles: This exercise is not for beginners just starting out. You will have to slowly build the strength of your leg muscles. To be able to do it, you have to build enough leg strength. Especially the strength of your quads and glutes. You can do this by following a proper leg progression.

STRENGTH TEST:

Do Bulgarian squats for 3 sets with 10 reps in each set. If you are able to do it with perfect form, you may try to do your first levitation squat. To be on the safe side, follow pistol squat progression step by step. This will help you progress to levitation squats more safely.

Good balance: Balancing on one leg may be hard when just starting out. If you train it slowly, you will improve your stability over time.
Core strength and stability: Your core muscles must keep your body straight while balancing on one leg. So, your core must be strong and stable.
Good ankle mobility: In this exercise, you touch the ground with your knee at the lowest point. To be able to do this, your ankles need to be flexible enough. Your ankles need enough mobility before you do this exercise. You can reach this goal with proper warm up and stretching.

Levitation squats muscles worked

Levitation squats will mostly work your leg muscles. You will have to lift your entire body weight on one leg. So, your quads and glutes will do most of the work.

You will also need to have strong abs and a lower back. Those muscles will help you keep your body straight. This is important for balancing on one leg.

Levitation squats muscles worked:

Primary:

Quadriceps
Gluteus

Secondary:

Hamstrings
Calves
Abs
Lower back

How to do a levitation squat

Positioning:

Stand straight with your feet close to each other. Lift your right leg up so it’s bent in the knee. The leg on which you are standing is your working leg. The leg that is lifted up from the ground is your non-working leg.

Extend your arms straight in front of you. You will use your arms to help you balance.

Downward movement:

Lower down slowly by bending the leg on which you are standing. Bend this leg in the knee to go down. Keep on lowering down until your non-working leg knee touches the ground.

Your knee should touch the ground lightly. Do not rest your weight on the non-working leg. Be careful that you don’t touch the ground with your foot. If your foot touches the ground, you will accidentally use it to push yourself up. This will make this exercise easier to do. So, you will lose some of the effects of the exercise.

Upward movement:

When you touch the ground with your knee it’s time to rise back up. Push hard against the ground with your working leg. Extend your working leg by straightening your knee. Keep on rising up until your working leg is completely straight.

You have just made one repetition or one rep. You will reach mastery of this exercise when you can do 3 sets with 10 reps in each set.

Progression

Levitation squat is a hard exercise. You will need patience and consistency to be able to do it. You will slowly build strength and balance by following a step by step progression.

This is easy because this exercise is part of a pistol squat progression. You can easily find what your current level of strength is.

This will be the exercise in which you can do 5-8 reps for 3 sets. Start from there and slowly tackle one exercise at a time.

Here are some of the easier exercises you will have to master before levitation squats:

So, you mastered levitation squats. Now what? Well, there are still more difficult exercises you can try. Here are some of the options for you: