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Hi John!
I am so happy you enjoyed the session yesterday. I know it’s a lot to think about when you are completing these exercises, and I am so glad you are trying your best to work on everything. My recommendation is to get the technique and posture down before focusing on the breathing, because we want to make sure you are completing the exercises safely and do not injure yourself. When practicing technique, it may be beneficial for you video yourself to watch your technique back.
Regarding the assessments, we are looking into uploading videos of how to complete each functional assessment, so that you all can practice them safely at home.
Thank you for your participation and great job!
AdelineAwesome, thank you so much for the feedback! Today we only have resistance band exercises, so hopefully you can get more practice in. I will add the major muscle groups that each exercise works on the handout for this week as well.
Best,
AdelineHi 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
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
EDIT: The resistance training handout was too big to attach, so Jen will be emailing a copy to everyone!
That is awesome! I am so glad you like swimming…hopefully it will help you feel better out of the water.
Adeline
Good morning Khatmeh!
Thank you so much for feeling comfortable to submit a question. I would definitely recommend trying some more water-based aerobic activities like swimming or water aerobics to substitute some of the Zumba or Tai Chai. When you’re in the water, it helps take a lot of pressure and weight off of your lower back, and it may help subside some of the pain when you are out of the water. Activities in the water are less weight bearing, which could overall help how you feel when you complete strengthening or weight bearing exercises. I would recommend these water-based activities (2-3x/week) in addition to body weight resistance exercises (only using your body weight about 2x/week on days you are not doing any aerobic activity). Hopefully this will help take some of the pain and pressure off of your back.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Adeline Farrington
Good morning, everyone! My name is Adeline Farrington, and I am a Researcher in Health and Fitness at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. I will be leading most of the exercise sessions with you all, and I am super excited to be here. I just completed my Master’s in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh (H2P!) and went to the University of Louisville for my undergraduate degree. I can’t wait to learn more about each of you and help lead this journey!
