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Showing results for tags 'forward bending problem'.
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As many here know, I have had a long-standing R leg upper-hamstring, 'lower underbutt' problem for years. This has been exacerbated by all the sitting and writing I have done over many, many years. Miss O and I have been sieging the SLS, concentrating on negatives and assisted positives from a trestle of about 700mm height. The "assistance" exercises we have been doing following these workouts (3–5 sets of as many reps as possible; today 10 on my weaker leg) are weighted speed skater squats (two legged version) and for me, Bret Contreras's glute ham raise (today, 15 reps with 60Kg). The latter exercise works glutes, mainly, in their strong ROM. But following the two-leg SSS, the last two workouts we have added a single-leg version. The way we do it is to stand next to the seat of a heavy wood chair and to maintain contact with the vertical shin, and the action is achieved by the hips only going back and down. Also, we make sure the non-working leg does not press against the working leg, nor move backwards; the former helping stabilisation; the latter reducing the load. Once the full depth has been achieved, the hip height and knee angle both are maintained; the only muscles that can be used to lift the trunk and shoulders are the glute and hamstrings on that side. Today, the weakness on the R side was clearly experienced: I could only manage four unweighted reps on the R side (yet my R leg is significantly stronger than the left, due to a significant LLD) and during the positive of one rep, I felt a spiralling sensation run down from the sore spot to the outer calf, via biceps femoris. This was not a pain, but simply a very strong sensation. I did 2 x 4 reps only in all (remember this is second-last exercise in the session, and I had been pushing towards failure on all exercises beforehand) but even so, the actual load was relatively small. To illustrate, last week I did the same exercise (but the two-legged version) 10 x 20Kg. The differences in the two exercise's demands on the body are very different though. The two-leg version is completely stable and (just like the two-leg squat) is a zero balancing challenge. The single-leg version, where one half of the muscles in the hips and legs can be used at any time, requires a non-trivial balancing component which requires co-contractions of many more muscles; the exercise is 3–4 times as hard, perceptually. On the other hand, better form can be achieved because all the muscles of the trunk can work together to 'stick the butt out' (which exposes the problem area and makes both the glute and biceps femoris do all the work, rather than the lower back). I felt today that it's the co-contraction component which is the gold. Following the GH raises, I stretched out the hamstrings with the Elephant walk: something has changed, and the sore spot, while still sore, was permitting more movement. I will report back on this over time, but if anyone else here with pike–pancake–underbutt problems can try this exercises and report back 1) their experiences, 2) the sensations they feel, and 3) any L–R strength differences experienced, we might learn something.
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