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Weight Training
Question
A few days ago, I started weight training at a local gym. I was doing some squats and the gym instructor told me that I shouldn't position my kneecaps past my toes. He told me it would gradually damage the knee joints and I might develop knee problems later on. He told me I should position my kneecaps no further than my toes, or slightly behind the end of my toes. Does this make sense?
Answer
The instructor who said this you is not totally right but not completely wrong either. It is true that the deeper you squat the more stress that is placed on the quadriceps tendon that inserts onto the patella (knee cap). When squatting deeply, the tendon is in a very awkward position to leverage force. This places additional stress on the knee joint itself and has the potential to damage cartilage or (more likely) result in a strained tendon. But this does not mean that you shouldn’t squat fairly low, only that you should be very cautious about the amount of weight you are lifting. The risk of injury or damage to the tendon/knee joint increases the more stress you place on it, but at the same time it is important to simulate the knee angle observed during actual skating.
Posture, technique, and body positioning is critical if you are to reap the most benefit from any strength training exercise, and squats are no exception. During long distance skating, knee angles are approximately 110-120 degrees, while sprinters will squat even lower (90-100 degrees). In order to transfer strength gains achieved in the gym to sport-specific performance, it is important to simulate the same range of motion of skating when training in the gym. And this includes developing strength and power at the lower knee angles.
If you are training for gains in muscle size and raw strength/power, you are likely lifting very heavy loads. If this is the case, be cautious about how low you squat. 110 degrees is deep enough, and this should place the knees directly almost over the toes. If you are training for more endurance-based improvements (using higher reps) it is relatively safe to squat fairly low… say, 90 degrees. Just be aware that the risk of both acute injury a repetitive-strain/overuse injuries increases when you squat low, especially when using heavier loads. Use common sense, and at the first sign of pain or discomfort, either reduce the amount of weight being used or don’t squat as deeply.
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