With any exercise for an adaptive athlete you are given a choice, don’t do it or modify it around the functional capability of the person.

I’m a big fan of option 2…adapt the exercise. Karla has functional issues with her legs. When we sat down and worked out her functional capabilities and goals for the program, she wanted to address strength and functional imbalances and develop her limited leg function.

I am a huge fan of the “Big 3” lifts (bench press, deadlift and squat) however I realised Karla wasn’t ready for a squat and goblet squats are also out due to other limb functional limitations.

After a few test runs, we decided the seated leg press was the best option. Even then we had to make some adjustments for Karla. The photo below shows you what I’ve done.

The red theraband holds her feet into place and the green theraband stops her right leg from moving medially / towards her left leg and creating a weird angle between her hip, knee and ankle and turning it into an unsafe exercise, with a high risk of injury.

This allows her to complete a leg press with solid form whilst we work on the associated issues causing the imbalances.

A win!