Squats and Lunges

[paul-scotland-uk]

Hi guys,

Hope you all had a good xmas and new year

This question is mainly for Dragon ... when you say do squats, lunges to front and side. Should these be done in the one workout .. The last time I tried this my legs were so fatigued from squats that I could barely do one lunge !!

I have a serious lack of strength in the adductors ( very poor flexibility in side spilts ) and am way off the floor, though I can perform a full front split with little effort. I accredit this to the constant heavy pounding I give the kickbags at my Taekwon do dojang, which I believe has strenghthened my legs in the muscles associated with the front split.

I recently recieved my Iron Boots, but at this stage of training my legs are too weak to use them safely. I'm still at the 100 adductor flys stage ( with ankle weights ) but as you mention, if you go too hard on these muscles they hurt like hell for several days !

Paul.

[paul-scotland-uk]

Sorry .. created a new thread my accident !

[dragon]

I have done dynamic strength exercises(lunges,flys,pulldowns) but to be honest it was never part of my staple workouts,just something i did every few cycles.
But yes,i did them in one workout.If you find your legs fatigued after squats and wish to concentrate on dynamic strength,perform only one work set of squats and one back down set(about 80%-90% of your work set) using low reps.I believe this is how i performed them at the time.
This will increase strength gains without taxing your body and taking up too much time.

Dragon.

[paul-scotland-uk]

Yeah, I'll probably try that and see how it goes, as I really need these muscles strengthened in order to do something about this serious lack of flexibility in a side split.

Thanks for the help.

Paul.

[dragon]

The dynamic strength exercises are used to prepare your connective tissues ready for isometrics.If you're already at that stage and wish to improve flexibility,i'd concentrate on the stretches themselves.
The best thing(in my opinion and personal experience) to help you achieve the side split is performing the isometric side split.
If you hit a plateau concentrate on the strength gains for a while until you see progress(i.e-tense harder or for longer.Or perform more sets).

Dragon.

[paul-scotland-uk]

The dynamic strength exercises are used to prepare your connective tissues ready for isometrics.If you're already at that stage and wish to improve flexibility,i'd concentrate on the stretches themselves.
The best thing(in my opinion and personal experience) to help you achieve the side split is performing the isometric side split.
If you hit a plateau concentrate on the strength gains for a while until you see progress(i.e-tense harder or for longer.Or perform more sets).

Dragon.

I'm doing the dynamic strength exercises at the moment in long single sets as instructed in the book and the video in order to prepare the muscles for further effort ahead.

I generally tend to do these excercises ( adductor flys and on ocassion isometrics depending on how I feel and to test my muscles reaction to them ) at the end of my taekwon do classes. I have to be honest and say that at this stage, I don't believe the muscles are proparly prepared for these isometric excercises yet, and so I tend to stick with static relaxed stretches for the time being.

I also try to stay as rigid as possible to prinicple of working on speed or technique before working on strength or endurance throughout the workout ( even during class I wont over exert myself if I feel these principles are being broken ).

Paul.