|
Knees, like shoulders, are very complex joints. The two parts
of the limb, the upper and lower, are linked in the middle
by a common joint, the knee. Although that enables the knee
to be stabilized by the tendons of both the thigh muscles
and the lower-leg muscles, the double protection also increases
the potential for problems. Add to that the ligament and cartilage
structures, and you can begin to appreciate the many variables
inherent in movements that involve the knees. What’s
more, quite often an injury that emanates from an exercise
that strongly involves knee action causes pain elsewhere.
There’s a long muscle that runs the length of the lower
leg along the lateral, or outside, of the tibia. It’s
called the peroneus longus, and it comes together at the knee
with the other muscles of the front of the lower leg. Their
job is to turn out the foot, stabilize the ankle and to some
extent stabilize the knee. Bouncing at the bottom of full
squats very often strains the peroneus longus. When that occurs,
the muscle draws in fluid and swells along its entire length.
It’s one of the most persistently painful conditions
I’ve seen in my many years of training. In addition,
it takes a very long time to recover from the problem, often
six to eight months. Most of the people who experience it
aren’t aware of the cause until the injury is well advanced.
So, if you don’t use proper form on exercises that involve
the knees, it can cause injury anywhere in your lower body.
Along with the idea of using proper form goes the principle
of starting with a proper warmup. More than half of your muscle
mass lies between your waist and your knees. For that and
other reasons I prefer a longer warmup for my legs than what
l do for my upper body. I ride a Lifecycle for 12 minutes
at level 9. Not only does that provide a good warmup, but
the resistance is such that I also get an optimal aerobic
workout, 12 minutes being an ideal time for high-level aerobics.
If you don’t get off the bike sweating profusely and
with a thigh pump, you need to work harder.
The only other warmup I do for lower body is to march in place,
holding onto something stable while I lift my knees one at
a time as high as possible. You must forcefully lift your
knees all the way up to your chest, if possible. That way
you completely flex not only your knees but your abdominal
area as well. Do 25 slow, forceful reps with each leg so you
feel it through the entire movement.
I only do two stretch movements for the legs. The first is
simply to bend forward with your knees locked or, if that’s
uncomfortable, slightly bent. Grab your ankles and pull your
head to your knees for a count of 25. That will effectively
stretch your hamstrings as well as the muscles of your lower
back. You do the second stretch in the deep lunge position,
with your front knee well in front of your ankle and your
upper body erect, not leaning forward. The rear foot cannot
remain flat on the floor, so you should be balanced on the
ball of your rear foot. This position stretches the quadriceps
and the calf muscles as well as the Achilles tendon attachment.
I perform the marching in place with the two stretches as
a circuit, doing three sets of 25 for each movement or position.
That said, it’s time for some advice on proper exercise
form for leg work as well as tips on recognizing potential
problems and preventing injuries.
The single best thigh exercise, without question, is the squat.
It may, in fact, be the finest exercise in all of weight training.
No other movement has the ability to build incredible strength
and endurance not just in the obvious area, the thighs, but
in the entire body. No other exercise has the ability to change
your metabolism so positively that all bodyparts gain. No
other exercise can take a natural Middleweight and make him
a powerful natural Heavyweight.
The only way to negate all the good things that squats can
do for you is to do them incorrectly. First of all, don’t
bounce at the bottom. As with any other pressing exercise,
you must perform squats under control throughout the rep.
I like to stop completely for a count at the bottom. Second,
don’t turn your feet out too much, as it will create
torque, or twisting, when you come up with a heavy weight.
Third, don’t stop your squat descent at parallel, as
it requires the quadriceps’ attachments to make a static
contraction. The tendons are asked to first check and stop
the weight’s descent and then act as the fulcrum when
the quadriceps start taking the weight back up. That’s
incorrect! I don’t give a damn what any football coach
or doctor, ignorant of kinesiology, has told you. Let the
weight continue down till your thighs are below parallel,
at which point the fulcrum moves back up the thigh and into
the belly of the muscle, where it belongs.
Finally, forget the knee wraps. Knee wraps simply usurp the
work of the tendons and ligaments as you go to below parallel.
Use them long enough, and you’ll find you’re incapable
of squatting anything like the same poundage without the wraps.
Do you wrap your elbows when you do presses? Do you wrap your
ankles when you do calf work? Wraps are nothing more than
a crutch.
Now that I’ve covered how not to squat, let’s
talk about the right way to do it. Everyone’s structure
is different, and the variables require you to make adjustments
in how you position yourself to ensure the most effective
application of the workload in the exact area of the muscle
you wish to work. For example, you may be long-waisted, your
thighs may be disproportionately longer than your lower legs,
or your ankles may be stiff. Some squatters can’t remain
erect as they go below parallel. They pitch forward and their
lower backs become more directly involved than their thighs.
If that’s your problem, try a wider stance. Try to squat
between your legs, rather than over them. If you still lean
forward considerably in the low position, put a block under
your heels. Try a one-inch board. If you’re still unable
to keep your back out of it, go to a two-by-four. Lifting
your heels like that tilts your pelvis forward, so you must
squat erect to counteract the forward tilt.
I don’t like leg extensions, certainly not as a first
movement in a quad workout, and I don’t like them for
precisely the same reason I don’t like French presses
for the triceps. They create a disadvantaged lever, placing
a great portion of the resistance on the attachments, rather
than the belly of the muscle. If you feel you must do leg
extensions for shape or to rehabilitate a loose knee, put
them last in your quad routine, and don’t do many.
Leg presses, hacks and sissy squats all pose a common danger.
Because of the position of your body, with your torso well
back from your thighs and your knees taking an excessive amount
of the workload, your knee joints open quite wide at the bottom,
fully extended position. That allows the cartilage to be pinched
as your quadriceps shorten and your knee joints close. The
problem occurs most often with sissies and hack squats and
front squats done on a block.
Leg presses also open the knee joints quite wide at the bottom,
but they offer excellent options for working the thigh muscles.
Again, however, you must know how to use a leg press properly.
You can use the 45 degree angled leg press to work three of
the four areas of the thigh, the extensors (anterior), the
flexors (posterior) and the adductors (medial). Which muscles
you work is determined by your foot placement on the platform
and the closeness of your thighs to your chest at the bottom
of the movement. Not only can leg presses be excellent for
the adductors, but when you stop at the bottom with your legs
in a specific position and your toes turned out, they become
a great first movement for the leg biceps, or hamstrings,
far better at promoting growth when combined with leg curls
than are stiff-legged deadlifts.
The strength and development of the abdominal and spinal erectors
are of great importance to the leg work you’re doing,
especially squats. When your abs and your lower back are strong,
you can maintain a solid position in all of your exercises,
no matter how heavy the weight, and maintaining a good position
is of primary importance in avoiding all lower-body injuries.
Consequently, it’s a good idea to start your leg workout
with very steep situps. I like to use five sets of 20, 18,
16, 14 and 12. Then at the end of your leg workout do six
sets of five reps of regular deadlifts. Note that you should
be stronger on the deadlift than you are on the squat.
Keep in mind that if you do a lot of hard, heavy squats, your
thyroid will respond to the heavy heart action and slow your
metabolism, and you’ll grow faster. Also, if you’re
presently recovering from an injury, don’t let that
stop you from training the areas that aren’t injured.
When your body is stressed because of hard exercise, your
adrenals produce cortisone, a much better-quality cortisone
than you can get from your doctor. The cortisone supplies
your entire system, including the injured areas. It also greatly
reduces recovery time. For example, if you’ve injured
a shoulder or an elbow, don’t let that keep you from
working legs or at least riding an exercise bike hard for
15 minutes. It really helps.
Related Articles
Prevent
and Treat Shoulder Injuries
Preventing Shoulder
Injuries
Teen Beginning Bodybuilding
| Popular Products! |
NoX2
Are you ready for the PUMP of your Life? Nitric
Oxide, a key molecule manufactured by the body.. |
|
Dymatize
Xpand
Xperience xtreme pumps with Xpand, the all new
nitric. |
|
Nitrix
Nitrix has just tapped into one of the most powerful
muscle building.. |
|
