[quote]madquarker wrote:
Dre the Hatchet wrote:
BTW I know this is uncalled for but I’d strongly recommend that you drop the leg extensions for ass-to-heels squats. They are a lot joint-friendlier than leg extension which put your knee in a very unnatural plane of movement. If you are unsure about your squat form get some coaching.
I agree with that completely… except squatting causes almost excruciating pain. I’ve been told that my quads are a mess (ie too weak), my IT band is like a steel cable, and my hamstrings are too tight.
I’m foam rolling the IT band, stretching the hamstrngs, and trying to strengthen the quad… but it’s hard to find an exercise to do that doesn’t exacerbate the pain.
Thoughts?[/quote]
My unsolicited advice is that the leg extension is a perfectly fine piece of equipment if used properly. It is used during ACL surgery re-hab. It is not the devil machine that some make it out to be (not directed at Dre the Hatchet, just in general).
Some people run into problems when they attempt to use max loads (i.e. loads too great for the muscle to lift while keeping the knee joint stable) for multiple reps. If the leg extension helps some of the muscles in your quads get stronger without knee pain, use it.
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
madquarker wrote:
Dre the Hatchet wrote:
My unsolicited advice is that the leg extension is a perfectly fine piece of equipment if used properly. It is used during ACL surgery re-hab. It is not the devil machine that some make it out to be (not directed at Dre the Hatchet, just in general). Some people run into problems when they attempt to use max loads (i.e. loads too great for the muscle to lift while keeping the knee joint stable) for multiple reps.
If the leg extension helps some of the muscles in your quads get stronger without knee pain, use it. [/quote]
Thanks - I wondered why the extension got such a bad rap. My problem wasn’t the ACL, just PF pain. The high weight load won’t be a problem for me though; right now I’m doing either just the metal support with no weight, or whatever the lowest weight is with one leg - anything beyond that is quite painful.
I was out of town and went to a ymca because it was close and you can get a guest pass. it was my chest day, which is tuesdays so i dont get caught up in the international monday chest day bullshit. needless to say shitty ass gym, the flat bench was being used by some idiot bent over it doing wrist curls.
as soon as he got up from a set i immediately went over and started benching. HE came over and asked ME to tell him when I was done so he could continue. holy shit thats when you know you are in a shitty gym. when you are only 210 pounds and you are the biggest one in there.
[quote]bwhitwell wrote:
One of many reasons I have for not going to a gym.[/quote]
Yeah, I don’t run into this much in my basement.
Come to think of it I’ve never had to deal with this. When I first started training it was in a Jack Lalanne. They had SO much equipment and I had SO little idea of what I was doing I just found something nobody was using if I came back and what I was on had been snagged. I was scrawny and had zero confidence to demand my equipment back anyway.
Once I joined a real gym I trained mid afternoon when practically nobody else was there. except Saturday and even then I had no problems.
Now I train in my basement which I obviously have all to myself.
The common sense answers given by the experienced guys here would clearly be the way to handle it though and hopeful nobody has to go to the mat over a leg extension machine too often.
I love the awkward moment when you start heading to use a machine, bench or whatever and you notice someone else headed the same direction. You lock eyes with the other guy, there’s a slight hesitation and you both start power walking in hopes of getting their first. You win some you lose some.
Just one of the little battles that is waged everyday in the gym.
i always mark my equipment, i leave a water bottle ON the bench, or stuff in the squat rack. i say this story all the time but once i actually had someone take plates off a bench i was using after i went to the bathroom so that the guy who took it oculd put it on his legpress with like a gajillion other plates and move it 2 inches. SO BEAST!