QUADS CONTINUED Many dancers are concerned about OVER-DEVELOPED QUADS. There are also many MYTHS (I think) surrounding quad use. While quad shape/size depends in part on your body type, there are certain things you can do/should not do to alter your quads. Here is my opinion: - PULL UP when standing! while this may seem counter intuitive (didnt I just say you use your quads to pull up???), when you are fully pulled up when standing it actually decreases the amount of work your quads need to do because of the way your bones and joints work/are shaped. - TURN OUT! Have you ever heard You shouldnt lift your leg with your quads, lit from underneath??? Lets think about it. When you lift your leg devant, you are essentially flexing your hip. As I said before, your quads arent really the main muscles that flex your hip (except for the rectus femoris, a bit). So you CANT actually lift with your quads. HOWEVER. When you lift your leg in a straight position, you need your quads to straighten your knee and stop it from bending. Try this in a turned in and then in a turned out position. In which position must your quads do more work? In the turned in position, of course! this is because of the shape of your knee joint and gravity. Also, as your extension improves, there are less gravitational forced acting on your leg, so your muscles need to work less. So when you lift your leg devant, TURN OUT to reduce the amount of work your quads must do to KEEP YOUR KNEE STRAIGHT (not to flex your hip/lift your leg). When people say lift from underneath, it is more for visualisation and in my opinion it helps you to TURN OUT more (use the external rotators, the gluts). Of course the hip flexors will do the lifting work.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 18:13:50 +0000
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