The Wall Sit for Quad Strength
The wall sit exercise is a quad builder that is typically used for building isometric strength and endurance in the quadriceps muscle group, glutes and calves.
This exercise is a good way to gradually build leg strength for downhill skiing. Although the exercise does isolate the quads and may help you to stay tucked longer without quad fatigue, the wall sit exercise should be used in combination with other quad strengthening exercises, such as the walking lunge or some basic plyometrics if ski conditioning is your goal.
Learn how to do it right.
Sports Safety Equipment
Sports safety equipment and gear may sometimes look a little bit odd, but using the right protective safety gear for your sport is essential for preventing serious injuries or reducing the severity of an injury you can't avoid.
Here are the 5 most important pieces of sports safety gear:
Jump Lunge Exercise
The jump lunge exercise is a great addition to any interval or circuit training session. Add 30 to 60 seconds of jump lunges in between your other exercises and you can keep your heart-rate high during your entire workout. This simple exercise can be modified for beginners or elite athletes: you can vary the speed of the jumps, the length and depth of each lunge, and the height of each transition. This movement challenges balance and coordination while building power and strength.
Do It Right -> Jump Lunge Tips and Safety
Start in a deep lunge position.
Quickly and powerfully push off your forward foot and change feet in the air.
Land softly to absorb the impact and prepare for the next jump.
The Most Overrated Exercises
With thousands of exercises you could do, it's not hard to imagine that some are better than others. Some exercises give you a lot of bang for the buck; some exercises are just plain dangerous; and some exercises are just overrated. If you ask the experts what are the most overrated exercises you get a pretty long list. But those that show up over and over include the following.
The Most Overrated Exercises
1. Traditional Crunches.
Walk into any gym at any time of the day or night and you can probably find someone doing crunches. While this exercise is easy to do, and targets the rectus abdominus pretty well, there are far better exercise choices for the abs and core.
Do a Plank on a balance ball instead. All by itself the plank gives you a better core workout than a crunch, but do it on an unstable surface and it works your entire body--shoulders, torso, hips and legs--while improving spine stability.
2. Seated Knee Extensions
The standard seated knee extension is not only over-rated, but it's not great for building any sort of functional strength. This movement focuses exclusively on quad strength, but misses out of the entire movement chain and doesn't help athletes develop lower body strength and stability.
Do a Walking Dumbbell Lunge instead. You'll get a better complete lower body workout with the walking lunge. This helps build dynamic strength and stability throughout the body: quads, hamstrings, and glutes as it improves single-leg strength and stability.
3. Abduction/Adduction Machines
I imagine most people would be happy to avoid this silly machine at the gym. This contraption is intended to condition your abductor and adductor muscles, which are critical for hip and knee stability. The only problem is these monstrous machines don't do a very good job of it. You will never do this movement in real life. In real life the adductor and abductor muscles (the glute medius in particular) help maintain stability in the hip as you move through the entire range of motion (this includes flexion, extension and rotation). In real life this occurs during walking, running, jumping and lateral movements while in a standing position.
Do a Lateral Mini Band Walking instead.
This exercise specifically targets hip function and stability in a real-life way.
4. Traditional Bench Press
Here is another exercise that you will most likely never perform in real life or in most sports. The bench press puts tremendous stress on the shoulder joint, by limiting the movement of the scapula during the movement. (see this explanation) You can modify the bench, or try another exercise.
Do a Push Up instead.
There a literally dozens of ways to modify push ups and increase the intensity and complexity of this basic exercise. If you think you've tried them all, check out the superman push up and the Aztec push up.
Is Your Stretching Routine Targeting the Right Muscles?
Stretching to improve of maintain flexibility is important for all athletes. But do you know if the stretches you are doing are actually targeting the right muscles? Unless you have a thorough understanding of anatomy or physiology, it can be hard to visualize where a specific muscle is located. And it can be even harder to know if that stretch you are doing for your quads is really targeting the quads or if you are stretching the psoas instead.
That is what I love about Brad Walker's The Anatomy of Stretching. Even if you don't know a ton about anatomy, this illustrated stretching guide gives you plenty of visual cues to help you understand what muscle is being targeted during specific stretching exercises.
Going through each stretch while referring to the book will help you visualize the muscle you want to stretch and get a better understanding of where the muscle begins and ends. After reviewing the book, stretching will not only feel good, but it will do some good as well.
Stretching Exercises By Sport
Here are some basic stretching routines for athletes who play specific sports.
- Best Stretches for Cycling
- Best Stretches for Golfers
- Best Stretches for Runners
- Best Stretches for Snowboarding
- Best Stretches for Soccer
Injury-Specific Stretching Routines
Here are some sample stretching routines for athletes who have specific injuries.
- IT (Iliotibial) Band Pain Stretching Routine
- Back Pain Stretching Routine
- Calf Pull Stretching Routine
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What It Takes to Get Defined Abs
It seems everyone wants toned and defined "Six Pack Abs."
While it's not a simple thing to develop, it is possible. The key is living a lifestyle that combines good nutrition, and quality exercise that, when combined over time, melts away the layer of fat covering the core. Once this fat is reduced, you'll begin to see the muscle definition.
If you want to start seeing some ab definition, start here:
Exercises for Hips and Knees
Some of the best exercises for your hips and knees a simple moves that work your hip through the entire range of motion,
To reduce knee pain, and help the patella track properly, it helps to do exercises that engage the abductors and adductors. Theses muscles are critical for providing integrity of the hip joint and create a strong, balanced link between the lower body and the core. If you routinely exercise the hip only in one direction (with walking, running, clycing, etc.) you are missing out on some lateral movement that helps improve that structural integrity of the hip, as well as the entire lower body.
If abductor and adductor muscles are not strong, flexible, and balanced, the patella (kneecap) may not track properly as the knee bends and you may wind up with knee pain, patellofemoral syndrome, or another injury.
Learn how to add the best knee and hip exercises to your workouts to help build hip joint integrity:
Example Beginner Exercises
Example Intermediate Exercises
Example Advanced Exercises
Running Injuries Can Creep Up Slowly
Running injuries that start slowly with subtle nagging aches and pains can turn into a more serious injury over time. At first, most of these aches go unnoticed or if they are noticed, they are often ignored until a serious pain occurs.
Such "silent injuries" in runners can be caused by a wide variety of factors and most fall into chronic pain category. Such problems can linger from months and years of neglect.
While subtle, these injuries do have warning signs you should recognize. Read more:
Groin Strains, Pulls and Tears
It's not uncommon for even the most accomplished athlete to suffer a groin strain. The adductor muscles of the inner thigh are at risk for a strain during any sports that require sudden starts, stops and a quick change of direction while running. The most common sign of a problem is a sudden, localized pain in the inner thigh, but a severe groin injury, such as a groin tear, tends to cause acute pain, swelling and even a large bruise on the inner thigh.
The best treatment for these injuries depends upon the severity of the strain, but rest, ice, compression and elevation is the immediate first aid treatment. Recovery from a groin injury can take a few days or months, depending upon the extent of the injury.
Five Tips for Treating Groin Pain
Learn More About Groin Pulls
Weighted Step Ups for Leg Strength and Power
If you want to build leg strength without excessive knee strain, add the weighted step up to your routine. Both beginner and elite athletes can use this exercise to gradually build power in the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. This exercise is easy to master, and once you learn the basic movement, there are a variety of options to increase the difficulty or turn this into a dynamic, power exercise.
Use this exercise to improve your vertical jump, or to build power for sprints, cycling or downhill skiing.
The only equipment required is an adjustable step and some dumbbells.
Shop for an adjustable step
Shop for dumbbells