Single-Leg, Ground Movement, Jumping and Throwing

The four movements most programs forget

Open almost any gym program and you will find squats, presses, rows and maybe some cardio. What you rarely find is planned practice of standing on one leg, getting down to the floor and back up, jumping and landing, or throwing something. These movements tend to show up in a warm-up or a fitness video and then disappear.

Yet they shape how you handle real life and sport. Every step on a staircase puts you on one leg. Every time you play with a child on the floor, recover from a slip or kneel to fix something, you get down and up again. Every sprint, change of direction and quick reaction asks your body to absorb and produce force fast. This article answers one question: what are single-leg work, ground movement, jumping and throwing, why do they matter, and how do you train them at your level?

The simple answer

In APEX, single-leg and get up and get down are two of the ten fundamental movement families you met in article 25. Jumping and throwing are not separate families. They are fast expressions of families you already know. A jump is a squat or hinge done explosively. A chest throw is a push done explosively. A rotational throw is rotation done explosively. All four share one theme: controlling your own body in less stable, faster or more varied positions.

You train them the same way as every other family. Build capacity and skill together, start with the version you can control, and climb one rung at a time only when you can control, repeat and recover from the current one, and only when the next rung serves your goal. A small dose, done regularly and early in a session, goes a long way.

Why these movements matter

Single-leg: the position life actually happens in

Walking, running, climbing stairs and stepping off a kerb all happen with most of your weight on one leg at a time. Article 30 covered the lunge, a split stance where both feet share the work. Single-leg training goes one step further: one foot carries you while the hip, knee, ankle and trunk keep you steady. Step-ups, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, single-leg box squats and simple balance stands all belong here. They build strength in each leg separately, expose differences between sides, and train balance and hip control that two-footed exercises do not demand.

Get up and get down: an underrated test of capability

Getting to the floor and back up uses legs, hips, trunk, arms, mobility and coordination in one sequence. Children do it constantly in play, and many adults slowly stop doing it. When people stop practising it, it can become harder, and the loss is often noticed only when it matters, such as after a fall or when playing with grandchildren.

Jumping and throwing: force produced and absorbed quickly

Article 19 explained power as force produced quickly. Jumping and throwing are the most accessible ways to train it. Just as important is the reverse skill: landing, which means absorbing force quickly and with control. Someone who can land softly and stay balanced has practised a skill that is useful in sport and in ordinary moments, such as jumping off a step or catching yourself when you stumble.

What the evidence says

Keep the layers of APEX apart here: what research supports, how coaching applies it, how APEX organises it, and what you decide for yourself.

• Balance and functional exercise and falls. A large Cochrane systematic review found that exercise programs, particularly those built around balance and functional exercises, reduce the rate of falls in older people living in the community.^[1] This is strong evidence for older adults. It does not prove the same effect at every age, but it shows why balance work is not a fringe idea.
• Guidelines. The World Health Organization recommends that older adults include varied multicomponent physical activity that emphasises functional balance and strength training on three or more days a week, to improve functional capacity and prevent falls.^[2]
• Getting up from the floor. An observational study of adults aged 51 to 80 found that a lower score on a sitting-rising test (sitting on the floor and standing up with as little support as possible) was associated with higher all-cause mortality over the follow-up period.^[3] This is an association, not proof that practising floor transfers extends life. It suggests the ability reflects a mix of qualities worth keeping.
• Jump training. A meta-analytical review found that plyometric (jump) training improves vertical jump height in healthy people.^[4] That supports using jumps when jumping or power is part of your goal.
• Injury prevention in sport. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials found that strength training and, to a lesser degree, balance (proprioception) training reduced sports injuries, while stretching showed no clear effect.^[5] This applies to sporting populations and does not mean any single exercise prevents injury for you.

What the evidence does not provide is an exact best dose of single-leg, floor or throwing work for every person. The doses below are coaching principle, not research findings. They are deliberately small, repeatable and easy to adjust.

The APEX principle: four ladders, one method

Each of these movements can be laid out as a ladder. The rungs are tools, not grades of worth. You move up when you can control the current rung on both sides, repeat it with consistent quality, recover from it, and when the next rung moves you closer to your goal. If it does not, staying on a lower rung while adding load or repetitions is still progress.

Single-leg ladder

1. Supported single-leg stand, one hand on a wall or chair
2. Unsupported single-leg stand, then with the arms or head moving
3. Step-up onto a low box or stair, then a higher one, then holding dumbbells
4. Supported single-leg Romanian deadlift, fingertips on a wall, then free
5. Rear-foot elevated split squat, a bridge between lunge and single-leg work
6. Single-leg box squat to a high box, lowered over time
7. Advanced options such as pistol squats or heavily loaded single-leg deadlifts, only if your goal values them

Capacity track: step-ups, split squats and supported single-leg work with a hand on a rack let you load each leg safely. Skill track: free balance stands and slow single-leg reaches teach control. Both can happen in the same week.

Get up and get down ladder

1. Chair-assisted floor transfer: kneel down holding a chair, sit, then return the same way
2. Half-kneeling to standing without pushing on the knee
3. Floor to standing using one hand, then no hands
4. Crawling patterns, such as bear crawl holds and short crawls
5. Partial Turkish get-up, bodyweight or a very light load
6. Full Turkish get-up, loaded gradually

Landing and jumping ladder

1. Landing first: rise onto the toes and drop into a soft, balanced half-squat (a snap-down), then hold it
2. Low box jump: jump onto a low box and step down, so the landing load stays small
3. Countermovement jump in place, landing and sticking the position
4. Broad jump for distance, sticking each landing
5. Lateral bounds, landing on one leg
6. Single-leg hops in place, then forward
7. Advanced options such as depth jumps, only for those who need them and have a solid base

Throwing ladder

1. Chest pass to a wall with a light medicine ball (a fast push)
2. Overhead throw against a wall or forward on open ground
3. Rotational side throw to a wall from a split or side stance (fast rotation)
4. Scoop toss forward or backward (a fast hinge)
5. Heavier balls or throws with a step or approach, if the goal requires them

A real-world example

This is an illustration, not a real case. Imagine someone in their forties who has trained for a year on machines and dumbbells. Their leg press is strong and their squat is solid. Yet when they stand on one leg to put on a shoe, they wobble. Getting up off the floor takes both hands and a grunt. When they jump for a ball at a family game, they land stiff and feel jarred.

Nothing about their program is wrong for building muscle. It simply never asked them to work on one leg, move to and from the ground or land. This is a central lesson of the movement phase: strength supports skill, but skill still needs practice. A short block of about 12 to 15 minutes, including rest, twice a week, with step-ups, a supported single-leg deadlift, two or three floor get-ups and a few snap-downs, fills the gap without changing the rest of their training. After some weeks, the honest measure is simple: steadier balance, easier floor transfers and softer landings.

What people commonly get wrong

• Treating balance work as a circus act. Standing on wobble boards while juggling weights rarely serves a goal. Stable, controlled single-leg strength usually serves people better than chasing instability.
• Jumping before landing. People rush to jump high or far and ignore how they land. Teach and check the landing first.
• Doing jumps and throws tired. Power work done at the end of an exhausting session becomes sloppy conditioning. Keep repetitions low, rest fully and put these early in the session, as article 19 explained.
• Thinking jumping is compulsory. For some people, especially when health, joints or very low capacity come first, a quick sit-to-stand or a brisk step-up trains speed of movement without impact. Jumping is a tool, not a requirement.
• Ignoring the weaker side. Always starting on the stronger leg lets the gap persist. Start with the weaker side and let it set the repetitions.
• Waiting until there is a problem. The ability to get up from the floor is usually easier to keep than to rebuild.

Where this fits in APEX and what it means at each stage

These movements appear at every stage, in different forms:

• Restoration: supported single-leg stands, chair-assisted floor transfers and sit-to-stand practice. The aim is safe function and confidence. Jumping usually waits.
• Foundation: step-ups, supported single-leg deadlifts, floor to standing, crawling holds, snap-downs and low box jumps, plus light chest passes. Simple, repeatable, twice a week.
• Transformation: loaded step-ups and rear-foot elevated split squats become useful muscle and fat-loss tools, while a short landing and throwing block keeps athletic qualities alive alongside body-change goals.
• Development: broad jumps, lateral bounds, rotational throws and loaded get-ups build capacity for more demanding skills and sport.
• Performance: specific jump, hop and throw progressions chosen for the sport or event, with doses planned around the rest of training.

Safety comes before any rung. If you have joint pain, a recent injury, a bone health condition, are pregnant or have recently given birth, have a condition affecting balance, or take medication that can cause dizziness, speak with a qualified healthcare professional before adding jumping, landing or floor work. This article is general fitness education, not medical advice, and it cannot assess your situation. For children, jumping, crawling, throwing and climbing are a natural part of play. Parents and coaches can encourage varied active play, and articles 66 and 67 cover children and teenagers in more depth.

What not to copy

Elite athletes perform depth jumps from tall boxes, heavy overhead throws and single-leg feats that look impressive online. Those are the top rungs of ladders they have climbed for years, chosen because their sport rewards them and placed in programs that manage the total load. Copy the principle, not the exercise: learn the landing, start low, do a few high-quality repetitions while fresh, and progress by control. You do not need their drill. You need your next rung.

Your next best step

Take a simple, honest baseline this week, then add one small block. First, check three things and write them down: how long you can stand on each leg with control (30 seconds is a practical personal ceiling for this check), how you get from standing to the floor and back (how many hands or knees you need), and whether you can drop into a soft, balanced landing from your toes. These are personal baselines, not standards of worth.

Then choose the rung on each ladder you can clearly control, and add a short block at the start of two sessions a week: about 12 to 15 minutes, including rest, on the first rungs, growing to about 20 to 25 minutes as higher rungs bring more sets and longer rests. Repeat it for several weeks, retest your baseline, and move up one rung only where you have earned it. Choose jumping and throwing rungs only if they serve your goal and your health allows them.

Next in the course

You now have all ten movement families and the fast expressions built on them. Article 35, Learn, Control, Load, Strengthen, Perform, pulls the whole phase together into one progression model you can apply to any exercise.