Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Phase 2

Variation on the squats I mentioned. This is a great exercise for almost every part of your legs but, as "Tude says, can cause problems if not carefully done. For years I've preferred to do these holding 40-50 pounds in sand weights near my waist or between my thighs, as oppossed to being topheavy with arms at shoulder-height. For me it's always been too easy to lose balance when my arms and weights were up high, so I keep them close to my center of gravity. Keeps me from teetering and tottering too much and putting extra strain on my knees, which I don't need at my age.

I think this is my new favorite thread.So many things I want to respond to with my ADD.
First to those that can hike to get in shape for hiking, Kudos.I am really truly jealous.
Some of us live in urban areas and although there might be some hills it is nothing compared to hiking with significant elevation change and altitude that the Sierras and Baldy etc. offer.And that type of low altitude hiking is mostly unsatisfactory to me.
So since some of us have to work most of the week and in my case work Saturdays the only opportunity to get into or keep in shape is to find a workout in a gym or stadium stairs to get fit and/or hiking shape in the mornings before work.I have one weekend day off so I choose to spend it with my family so planning a weekend hike is usually not an option.

Bee,
You will love the stadium stairs.One frequent complaint of hikers is the strain on feet,knees,hips and legs while going downhill on a hike. The stairs will get your muscles that you need for going uphill but IMO more importantly it strengthens the muscles required for deaccleration and braking while going down hill.While many exercises emphasize the quads ie. stair steppers,treadmills don't give you the downhill work one needs for hiking. Please start slowly like walking up and down the stairs to start. You can slowly add speed like running on them as you get stronger.Stairs also offer the same cardio benefits of running witout the pounding on feet,ankles,kness,hips and back.The bent knee on stepping up prevents the pounding of running. Going down stairs you can control the pounding of joints by the speed of descent and catching your self on your toes so the foot,knee,hip and back have no jarring impact that running does. Again start slow and slowly increase you speed as you get stronger keeping good form landing on an arched foot to cushion impact.

Steve,
I have treated literally thousands of hamstring pulls and tears. My research and clinical experience reveal a muscular imbalance between the quads and the hamstrings.The quads are much stronger in general than the hamstrings. Often the strength of quads to hamstrings is 2-1. When running the quads push and the hamstrings grab and pull.With greater strength in the quads pushing harder and faster than the hamstring can pull there is a greater tendancy to injure or tear the hammy. Research points out hamstring injuries are due to their weakness and not lack of flexibilty which most people think is the cause of a hamstring injury.BTW I love that exercise that you posted. It is one of my favorite ball exercises.Great hammy strengthening exercise.

Another souce of leg injuries especially hammies is poor spinal mechanics specifically poor motion of the illiums and also the SI jt.(sacro-illiac).The illium is essential in almost all movement especially the running motion. The illiums is where the leg bone articulates with the "hip socket" and it is the bone you feels aound the waist where your belt line is.Keeping the illiums moving can be done with stretching but a good manipulation really can free up that area.Squats cause more weight room injuries than any single exercise I have ever seen. Usually poor technigue and too much weight. Squats can be death to knees and backs and once again the main benefit is to strengthen the quads which are already too strong for most hamstrings.
Leg curls with weights (heel to butt),bridges on the ball as you showed and any machine that can isolate and strengthen the hamstring is highly recommended.

All stretches should be dynamic. I really hate to see people doing straight leg hamstring streches of any kind.Dynamic motion ie.jogging, weights, walking,stairs or any movement is MUCH MUCH better than any static stretching.High level colleges and pro sports team almost NEVER do any form of static stretching because they cause injuries and do not prevent injuries.
If any one has any questions please feel free to ask.I spent 20 of my 25 years in practice as a team doctor at the high school and college level.I also own a sports training faciltity where we have trained many elite athletes.

ROTFLMHO!!!!

OK Rod, ya got me worried now.

First, the whole hammy/quad (im)balance thing makes a ton of sense to me. I was a sprinter in high school and college (100 up to the 400), so I've got pretty well-developed hammies from those 8 years of strength-building weightroom work. My high school coach was a bear about leg curls instead of presses, so I had to do way more of those than I ever wanted. He also loved to have us run stadium steps, which I thought was pure torture, but in retrospect Thank God for Coach Yancy! Of course my quads were still way stronger than the hammies, but I never suffered any significant injuries during those years other than one or two hammy tweaks - unlike a lot of sprinters I was around, who often had much more serious hamstring and Achilles tendon issues.

Fast-forward about 30 years to a 52 YO guy who has not done any running of significance since hanging up the track shoes after college, but has concentrated for the past 20 years on hiking - usually the mountainous type. Quads are still very strong, hammies less so. Everything works the way it's supposed to, but my knees seem to have weakened in the past few years, exhibiting all kinds of lovely cracking and popping when I squat down and rise again. I rarely ever experience any knee discomfort on the trail, only in deep squats. That's why I started my squat routine - to flex and strengthen these knees that really haven't been flexed regularly since I gave up Tae-Kwon-Do 20 years ago. Am I doing the wrong thing with deep squats, holding about 40 pounds in soft weight between my legs?

Damn CaT, I had to Google that one.

Can we call this thread: ASK DR ROD???

Are there any problems to watch out for when doing lunges? Are they beneficial?

I will bee going on a "stadium safari" this weekend, so that I can start working on those stairs. BTW, you are only the second person who has mentioned that downhill conditioning is important, too.

B

Bee
I like lunges in general.The most important thing in lunges and most leg exercises in general is keeping hips neutral and knees bent to 90 degrees max.I prefer a 45 degree knee flex and a slow paused lunge.The more you flex the knee the greater the strain on the joint(ligaments and meniscus) and the tendons. Remember the goal of exercise to to make your body stronger and healthier.Exercise should never cause pain(not to include the lactic acid pain of exercising) or injury.Repetitive motion always has the risk of tendonitis.Therefore I believe in not pounding or over stressing a joint. 45 degrees is preferable to 90 degrees on the knees.

Bulldog34
That especially applies to squats. 45 degrees max. Especially over the age of 40.Did I say I am not a big fan of squats period? There are much better execises for legs.