Leg Development, Part 2: When you train any muscle you need to mentally lock in to the muscles you are training and not the movements you utilize to train them. A squat is not a squat. To get the most development from these movements, get down as far as you can safely into what we call the “pocket” and flex your way back to the beginning, no bouncing out of the bottom and using momentum, not only will this save your back and knees it will produce greater tension on the targeted muscle. Your squat depth needs to be around parallel depending on you mobility and anatomical leverages. And if you are getting back or knee pain from squatting you are using either (1) Too much weight and (2) Bad technique. How do you know if you are putting in the effort? One feedback cue is the time it takes your breathing to return to normal after a set, this is termed oxygen debt. It more correctly helps you to ascertain how close you came to your maximum workload capacity. This is what you should be assessing in your workouts for maximum development. The longer it takes your breathing to return to normal after doing a set, the greater the oxygen debt which means the greater demand you have put on the working muscles. Provided your conditioning is sound, use oxygen debt as a gauge to your maximum performance levels and forget about how much weight you lift. (You are not a weight lifter!) Leg extensions and the many variations of hamstring curls are known as single joint movements, or more commonly known as isolation movements. When doing such exercises always employ the technique of peak contractions. By this I mean start the movement in the fully stretched position and then flex the weight up to the fully contracted position. When you get to the position of full contraction flex the muscle you are working as hard as you can, and then lower slowly. Not only does this demand more intensity and more fiber recruitment, but it will force you to do the movement properly which ensures “you train the muscle not the movement”. If you cannot lower the weight under control it is too much weight and the same applies if you can’t force a peak contraction. Again, this moves your concentration away from external cues.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 20:43:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015