Is your sister a Civil Engineer?
Is your sister a Civil Engineer?
My daughter can do 5 complete [deep] one legged squats and has national junior triple jump standard. Single squats will make you faster![quote]other training wrote:
A mom and living in Palo Alto.
Talk about one of the world's greatest athletes. She got an ankle injury just prior to the Placid games otherwise she was capable of winning all races like I did and like she did the year before at the Worlds.
Now she is still one of the top X country skiers in the country.
Eric
First of all, I haven't been frequenting the website as much. When did Eric Heiden start posting? Regardless, welcome Eric, you were a truly exceptional skater and cyclist.
Now as to the question. Have you tried box climbs with dumbells? Take a couple of dumbells and raise up on a 2 foot high box. Alternate legs.
You can do high reps with this, which I think is important for training endurance runners in the weight room and it doesn't beat you to death as much as squats.
Cheers.
distance guy wrote:
You got some kind of evidence showing elite runners performing one-legged squats?
No I haven't. I am more concerned with my own weakness and whether I can or should try to correct it.
Dr Kevorkian wrote:
other training wrote:I have done some mega workouts with free weights that even you would be impressed with Speed Kills. But they were half squats, I can't do full squats even with even weights.
My best distance is half marathon. I do a lot of short sprints, and I know the benefit of this work, but my basic leg strength is lacking when my legs are around the 90 degree angle, which they always are during the knee raise phase of our racing stride. Having greate strength during this 90 degree phase will lead to a longer faster stride I am sure.
I bet Bekele can do one legged squats.
What exactly are you talking about? First lets define some terms: when you say "1/2 squats", I assume you mean what Speed Kills defined them as: parallel squats, ie, quads parallel to the ground, right? If so, that would create the "90 degree" angle you refer to (the angle at the knee joint, the angle between shin bone and thigh bone, right?
Ok, then you say:
"....my basic leg strength is lacking when my legs are around the 90 degree angle, which they always are during the knee raise phase of our racing stride. Having greate strength during this 90 degree phase will lead to a longer faster stride I am sure."
OK, that's where you lose me, because
A) you already said you do 1/2 squats with impressive weights, so your legs would NOT be weak at the "90 degree angle." And....
B) One's knee joint may be at the 90 degree angle during the "knee raise phase of our racing stride," but how will squats help you there??? It's a complete different motion. How does the knee get to that point? It starts behind the body, the hamstring curls up to your butt, you bring you knee in front of you with hip flexion and start to kick your foot out in front in you. In NO way does the squat motion mimic this movement. One is using HIP flexion to pull the knee in front of the body and upwards a bit, but not quad concentric power, which is what squats are mostly about (yes, squats works one's hams and glutes too, but not that related to the movements in bringing one's leg forward).
Squats mostly mimic, or can be related to the landing phase of running, when one's foot touches the ground your quad and kneed tendons are used to absorb the impact eccentrically (along with foot and ankle muscles/tendons), and then concentrically contract to push the body uwards and forwards. But the knee joint at this point is nowhere near 90 degrees. More like 130 or so.
Squats definitely can help one's power, durability and explosiveness, especially as relates the landing/push off phases of the stride, but I don't think they help much for knee lift (or if the do, it is more incidental, and other exercise would help more).
Last comment, though 1/2 or full squats would help for max power, since the angle (as I pointed out) of the knee when the foot is on the ground is nowhere near 90 degrees, one leg squats at around 100-120 (slightly lower than running angle) would better mimic the running stride. So I would think they would be an excellent exericse for specific leg strengthening for running (and the full/1/2 squats would be used for early season general conditioning, strength base). From one leg squats one could move to plyo's, and then finally to pure sprints (of course each of these elements would not have to be completely seperated, ie, not an absolute periodization would be needed, but the general focus would move in the direction I mentioned).
When doing half squats, my legs would be bent almost 90 degrees. I had no problem doing lots of sets with very high reps and very heavy weights. However, going beyond 90 degrees I have no strength at all. I would only be able to do full squats with very light weights.
Should I try to correct this weakness? that is my question on this thread. I have never gone under 56 seconds for 400m even though I have a very fast finish, my sprint times are poor, even for a long distance runner.
Eric Heiden wrote:
Swing the anaconda on your lower back and assume the speed skating position. Do 1 x 100 squats with each leg. Do that 5 x. Then repeat with both legs. Going down to slightly below 90 degrees.
So this is 5 sets of 100 with each leg, then 5 sets of 100 with both legs?
Dryland skating simulation (duckwalk for 10k)
Gruesome. :)
Is this really Eric Heiden and if so how would I know it is really you?
Eric Heiden wrote:
that was only workout number 1. usually we did 3 workouts a day.
Weights
Dryland skating simulation (duckwalk for 10k)
cycling/running
repeat.
Eric
Is that one workout or all 3 of them?
Workout 1 weights,
workout 2 skating simulation,
workout 3 cycling/running?
Then the same thing the next day?
I'm in the same boat, my right leg is much stronger than left. It's more apparent when i perform leg extensions. my left leg can barely lift 5lbs, i mean BARELY. my right leg is fine i can lift 25lbs+. not that thats strong, but a huge imablance. i believe it is effecting the way i run. people have questioned if i was OK, because i was looked as if i was limping while running.
Squats are similar but can't put a raw number on them like leg ext.
Dryland skating simulation (duckwalk for 10k)
Did that take you all day to cover a 10k?
shaolin kung fu dudes have no problem doing one legged squats while fully extending the other leg
Full squats are bad for the knees. Have fun blowing one out. 1/2 squat is all you need...knees at 90 degrees.
Also, plate loaded machines do not equal squats. I've seen guys do 1500+ pounds on a plate loaded machines and do half that doing an actual squat. Very different exercises.
Alan
I'd thought duckwalks were walking while squatting down on the ankles, but looked this up last night and it's just bending over at the waist and keeping the back parallel to the ground.
The legs are then bent at the knees while walking.
It might be possible to cover a 10k in 1 to 2 hours this way.
duck walks wrote:
I'd thought duckwalks were walking while squatting down on the ankles, but looked this up last night and it's just bending over at the waist and keeping the back parallel to the ground.
The legs are then bent at the knees while walking.
It might be possible to cover a 10k in 1 to 2 hours this way.
I'm sorry, but that's got to be hilarious to see.
One legged squats are great for strength, and balance. The one benefit I've really noticed from doing them is the workout for the stabilizer muscles. If you do 3 sets of 6-8 you will be sore in some places you never realized you could be sore.
Remeber - "you can't fire a cannon from a canoe" and this will make you less canoe-like.
Eric,
In a recent article by Scott Abel at
called "5 Things That Drive Me Nuts", you were mentioned as an example of hypertrophy without heavy weights.
A lot of people in the forum are arguing as to the claims Abel made about your training so I was hoping you could shed some light on it. The two that stick out most are:
Barbell Squat: 205 lbs x 300 reps
Leg Press: 500 lbs x 5 sets x 100 reps
Was this true, or is Abel completely off base here?
Also, what would be some good strategies for handling the nausea from such training?
Cool workout with the tires and whatnot. I'll probably hurt myself trying that out in the back yard this weekend! ;D
Look forward to your reply,
ElbowStrike
(on T-Nation forums)
I used to do single-leg squats quite competently years ago when I was into that sort of training. I can still do them albeit not nearly as proficiently. I think most reasonably fit people are strong enough to them. They're extremely challenging neurologically, and strength is not so much the limiting factor as skill. Nearly anyone can leg press his/her bodyweight with one leg when the stabilization factor is removed. If you practice single-leg squats every day, you most likely will be doing them fairly easily within a few weeks. That was my experience anyway.
I nominate Heiden as the most accomplished athlete to post on here (prob. H. Rono) second. Seriously, getting guys like Heiden on here is what makes this board occassionally spectacular. It would be great if more like him would share, but I don't think it will happen.
Finally found what I believe are his duckwalks: https://youtu.be/qyfUh1wA96o?t=834