The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
-
Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
-
Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
-
Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
-
Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
What's Q-angle? The extension machine has the benefit of having split weights, so I can be sure that both quads are pulling their own weight (my right side is noticeably stronger). I can't put more than 5kg plus whatever starting resistance it has before the pain starts, though.
I have neoprene knee wraps, but I don't know if they help at all. Sometimes I feel like they keep my patellae from moving naturally.
The highest I've ever gotten to was 1x185 (I hope these numbers are pounds) and 135 used to be my comfortable working weight for the 5-10 rep range. Now the pain starts at 10x95 for me.
Q-angle is the angle the quad meets the knee, but I was more generally trying to suggest that it's (basically) impossible for a machine to have same number of degrees of freedom as your leg. If you sit in a neutral hip position, then extend your leg, your foot will generally not track straight in front of you. Or more precisely, the arc the contact point with your tibia traces out will not be on a curve exactly parallel to the sagittal plane. On a unilateral machine were you can only adjust how far forward you sit and the distance of the shin pad, they should try set the pivot so it is coaxial with the pivot of of the average users knee. This can't be aligned for everyone because you have only two degrees of freedom for adjustment and (at least) 4 degrees of freedom for the pivot axis. Twoish translational and twoish rotational.
For sleeves and wraps I would guess the majority of the beneficial effect is proprioceptive. Some people have an easier time feeling where their knee is in space if something is touching it, others can feel the tracking better if there is nothing "interfering" with it. I do not think it is generally good to rely on supportive equipment to hold your body together.
Yes, I was talking about pounds. I personally think isolated quad training is unnecessary if you are squatting less than 1.5x bw (that is 1+1.5x assuming not over fat male). Fortunately? At the weights you quoted the pain will likely go away if you get stronger. Both from a supporting musculature and kenisthetic awareness perspective. I agree with @Boarchariot, for your strength levels goblet squats are a good option. Unless you are a very light person, body weight might be too much for a first warmup for now and reverse sled pulls might be a good general warmup. If using a bike for general warm up, make sure your seat is high enough you can almost lock out your leg, and you are being careful with knee tracking through the whole cycle. You might also consider step-ups, really focusing on controlling your knee tracking and the eccentric, if split squats are just too awkward.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link