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Good morning!
I hope everyone that was able to be on our week 2 resistance training session enjoyed it! I want to open this forum to everyone regarding what exercises you liked, what you did not like, any exercise requests, and what you want to see more in the future. Please feel free to add any other comments on how the session went as well, we love constructive criticism 🙂
Also attached in this post is a handout that has all the warm-up, resistance, and cool-down exercises we completed in our session yesterday. It has detailed descriptions of how to complete each exercise, as well as a modification for each with pictures. Feel free to use this forum if you have questions about the handout as well!
We encourage you to practice these exercises at least twice before the next session, so that you come prepared and ready for next week. Next Thursday will be around 2-3 sets of about 4-6 resistance exercises, so we want to make sure we program the exercises you like!
If you have any other comments and concerns, you can reach out to me directly through my email at farringtona3@upmc.edu.
Have fun and always remember to be safe!
AdelineEDIT: The resistance training handout was too big to attach, so Jen will be emailing a copy to everyone!
The handout is very helpful. Thanks so much for posting the .pdf version!
About the first resistance exercise, “Squat with Band Around Knees”: The “exercise picture” (for the unmodified exercise) shows a different foot position in the squat position compared to the starting position. (Wider stance and feet pointing outward in the squat; narrower stance and feet straight ahead at the start.) Is this intentional? If not, which stance do you recommend?
Also and possibly relatedly, what is the purpose of the band around the knees in this exercise? Is it intended as an aid to maintaining proper form (knee position), or are we meant to be attempting to stretch the band, as part of the exercise?
Thank you!
Good morning, Pat!
This is a great question. First question: The stance may appear a bit wider in the “squat” picture, since she is lower to the ground, and her feet are turned out slightly, whereas in the starting position, her toes are pointed forward. This is natural as your knee positioning may naturally get wider as you squat.
I would recommend starting with a position where your feet are a little wider than hip distance (more similar to the “squat” picture), because this will help with your squat depth (how deep you can sink down in a squat) and keeping your center of gravity (helping with your balance).
Second question: The band around your knees during this exercise helps you focus on pushing on the resistance to keep your knees from concaving/buckling inward. You want to make sure as you squat down, you are actively pushing your knees out against the resistance of the band to keep that wide stance.
Please let me know if that is too confusing, or if you have other questions!
Adeline
So I take it that’s a “no” on “Is this intentional?” Perhaps my initial question [Q1a] would have been clearer if I’d asked: Are the feet supposed to move [as in, pivoting about the heel] during this exercise? (as the pictures would seem to imply…)
Thanks for the guidance on choosing a stance [Q1b], and on the role of the band [Q2]. About the latter, I take it this means that any old band stiffness will do — and that for this exercise, one should progress it by adding weights rather than by increasing the band stiffness?
Single-leg Leg Press vs Squat:
Can you comment on the functional comparison between these two exercises? They seem to work similar muscle groups, and their modified versions are identical.
If one has the ability and equipment to do weighted squats (and to progress by adding weight), is/are there added benefit(s) from also doing single-leg leg presses with a resistance band? IF so, what? Is upper-body involvement from anchoring the band meant to be part of the point here?
Thanks!
Hi again Pat!
Follow-up on the original first question…your feet are not supposed to pivot during a squat but should instead remain in one place.
And yes you are correct about the band stiffness and progression! Progressing with weights, not bands, is recommended.
For the single-leg leg press versus the squat:
You are correct in that they are working the same/very similar muscle groups. The benefit of the single-leg leg press is that it allows you to isolate each leg more than you normally would be able to during a squat. So even though you are working similar muscles, it is beneficial to add in single-leg exercises to help isolate each of the muscles in each leg on its own. Even though this is a benefit of the single-leg leg press, this does not mean you should “choose” it over squats. Squats are more functional for balance. This is why it’s so important to add variety in your workouts and how it’s important to do both exercises! The upper body portion of the single-leg leg press is just for stabilization, not as a benefit of the movement/not to work your upper body muscles.I hope that makes sense! Please let me know if you have any feedback or exercise requests for tomorrow’s session!
Adeline
Hi Adeline,
That all makes sense. Thanks!
As to feedback on the handout, if you’re able to edit the pictures, then I’d suggest fixing the feet in the illustration for the squat-with-band-around-knees, as already discussed. 🙂 Also, it would be nice to add some indication of which muscles are being targeted in each resistance exercise. I hesitate to suggest adding text to the instruction blocks, since the whole thing currently fits so neatly on a page (and that is helpful!). Perhaps a fine-print list of muscle names at the bottom of each exercise-name block, for the cases where this info isn’t already contained in the name of the exercise?
As to requests for tomorrow’s session: I’m already regularly doing weighted squats (as well as the seated leg extension) and countertop push-ups. For scheduling reasons, as well as unfamiliarity with the other exercises, I’m planning to use a light band tomorrow and not looking to use this as a heavy lifting session. Rather, I’ll be wanting to use tomorrow’s session as an opportunity to practice form with the new-to-me band exercises — with an eye toward working up to using them to complement what I’m already doing, in the way you suggest. So, since you ask, my own preference for tomorrow would be that we skip the squats and wall push-ups, and focus on exercises that use the band for resistance.
–Pat
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