? for those who don't do squats and lunges: How do you maintain muscle in your LB?

[Scorpio6]

1. Use 3# ankle weights, sit on the bed or a mat or the couch -- keep the knee soft, lift & lower, work up to 30 times per leg. When it gets too easy instead of increasing the wt of the ankle wt belt, put a dumbbell like 5 or 8 lbs on top of hte thigh above the knee.

2. Wall Sit -- back up against a wall, go slowly down only as far as you can without your knees bothering you, and hold it for a minute -- or 2. Can increase the benefit by putting a rolled up bath towel or squishy ball between the knees and that helps the inner thigh muscle.

3. Plies -- don't go up on the ball of the foot the way so many barre videos teach. Stay on the flat of the foot and go down slowly, controlled, with perfect form and come back up the same way. That's the way they do it in ballet training.

Good luck to you!

[cherimac]

Great exercises Scorpio, thanks for sharing.

[Terry]

I failed the glute activation test, then I realized that I am one who works my legs more than my glutes. My knees hurt for years until I finally started focusing on making my glutes do their share of the work with squats and lunges.

If you watched me do them with glutes and without, I don't think you could tell by looking. I have to think about sticking my rear out towards the back wall, pushing my heel into the floor, and sort of lifting my toes. If I stand up right now and do a right lunge my natural way, my right knee will instantly hurt. If I do a right lunge right now with the right glute engaged, my right knee will not hurt. Same goes for the left side and for squats.

If you can't pass the glute activation tests, this might be one of your knee issues

Also if you are interested, google "The mediocre athlete".

[Pat58]

Originally Posted by Lucky Star

See now, I can't do static lunges at all. Something about them really aggravates my knees.

I'm no exercise scientist by any shot, but I have a feeling that some women's skeletal formation just makes lunging a difficult thing - for either hips, knees, feet, ankles or all of the above. Lunges feel unnatural to me and give me weird DOMS, not a good kind. I never feel them in the targeted area either!

[edensmom]

Originally Posted by cherimac

Barre work aggravates my knees but squats and lunges don't. It's funny how we're all different. I definitely recommend slowing the pace and adding in some floor work.

This is me too. I can do a little bit of barre work every now and then but sure couldn't use it as my main strength work bc of my knees.
When my knees are bugging me, I avoid forward lunges and curtsy lunges. Reverse lunges never aggravate my knees though.
Also, just go slower, like others have said.

[eyefit]

Originally Posted by cherimac

Barre work aggravates my knees but squats and lunges don't. It's funny how we're all different. I definitely recommend slowing the pace and adding in some floor work.

This is me too (three!:P), although I've found it's mostly just the plies. I recently got Cathe's Turbo Barre back through a wonderfully generous VF'er (thank you!!) and have found I can do the leg lifts and firewalker portion just fine but the barre section labeled "thigh focus" with the plies is what kills my knees. I also agree that squats and lunges are wonderful exercises that will actually help your knees IF they are done at a slower pace than many videos are showing. It is darn near impossible for me to keep good form with the pace of many videos. Bob's Ultimate Cardio Body was especially bad for me there.

[eyefit]

Originally Posted by Terry

I failed the glute activation test, then I realized that I am one who works my legs more than my glutes. My knees hurt for years until I finally started focusing on making my glutes do their share of the work with squats and lunges.

Oh yes, this too! VERY important to use the glutes. Whenever you activate the glute muscle with an exercise it takes the pressure off the knees.

[Jane P.]

In the original NROL book, the author says that the main reason for pain when doing squats and lunges is that your knees tend to turn inward. They should track between the first and second toes. You might try doing squats holding a Pilates circle or even a yoga block between your thighs to keep the knees from turning inward (or outward). This will also give you the added benefit of working your inner thighs at the same time.

[bubbles76]

Originally Posted by Terry

I failed the glute activation test, then I realized that I am one who works my legs more than my glutes. My knees hurt for years until I finally started focusing on making my glutes do their share of the work with squats and lunges.

If you watched me do them with glutes and without, I don't think you could tell by looking. I have to think about sticking my rear out towards the back wall, pushing my heel into the floor, and sort of lifting my toes. If I stand up right now and do a right lunge my natural way, my right knee will instantly hurt. If I do a right lunge right now with the right glute engaged, my right knee will not hurt. Same goes for the left side and for squats.

If you can't pass the glute activation tests, this might be one of your knee issues

Also if you are interested, google "The mediocre athlete".

Can you achieve the same result by putting your toes on a piece of plywood, ala the early Firm dvds? I cannot picture this to save my life. I also failed the glute test (though DH passed with flying colors, go figure).

[edensmom]

Originally Posted by Jane P.

In the original NROL book, the author says that the main reason for pain when doing squats and lunges is that your knees tend to turn inward. They should track between the first and second toes. You might try doing squats holding a Pilates circle or even a yoga block between your thighs to keep the knees from turning inward (or outward). This will also give you the added benefit of working your inner thighs at the same time.

Thanks for the tip Jane! I am going to try this.