Leg Press Those Linemen?

Leg Press Those Linemen?

Leg Press Those Linemen With few exceptions muscles exert smaller tension at shorter lengths.
The rectus femoris muscles and wrist extensors are in deference to the above rule in some populations.
The rectus femoris is one of the four powerful quadricep muscles of the upper thigh. The rectus can flex the thigh at the hip and extend the leg at the knee.
In a seated position since the hip is flexed and the muscle is at a shortened length the action of extending a leg is primarily driven by the other three muscles of the quadriceps, the vastus lateralis, vastus medialis and vastus intermedius and less by the rectus femoris.
Biomechanically, you would think that the strength of the shortened rectus in knee extension would be weaker for everyone. Not true.
There are the aforementioned exceptions, thus the relationship between muscular strength and the tension a muscle can produce is very complex, especially across groups of individuals.Comparing cyclists with runners, you find the cyclist tend to be strong at a short compared to long rectus femoris length.
It has been argued that since cyclists have a shorter range of hip motion when cycling, compared to the range of motion of runners, that producing more tension at a shorter length is due to training. Other scientist argue that a strong rectus femoris in a shortened position is the result of genetics or of both genetics and training.
Whether the answer is training, inheritance or a combination of both, for the coach and athlete it raises an interesting conundrum about playing sports that require you to keep your knees bent.
When playing offensive line in football the position of choice is bending at the hip and knee. The lineman are also taught to slide their feet to keep an effective posture. They must be strong with their rectus femoris in a shortened position.
Knowing this, a leg press should be the tool of choice to agument strength.  Something for coaches and athletes to think about as they design their workout to Get Strong.



Leg Press Those Linemen With few exceptions muscles exert smaller tension at shorter lengths.
The rectus femoris muscles and wrist extensors are in deference to the above rule in some populations.
The rectus femoris is one of the four powerful quadricep muscles of the upper thigh. The rectus can flex the thigh at the hip and extend the leg at the knee.
In a seated position since the hip is flexed and the muscle is at a shortened length the action of extending a leg is primarily driven by the other three muscles of the quadriceps, the vastus lateralis, vastus medialis and vastus intermedius and less by the rectus femoris.
Biomechanically, you would think that the strength of the shortened rectus in knee extension would be weaker for everyone. Not true.
There are the aforementioned exceptions, thus the relationship between muscular strength and the tension a muscle can produce is very complex, especially across groups of individuals.Comparing cyclists with runners, you find the cyclist tend to be strong at a short compared to long rectus femoris length.
It has been argued that since cyclists have a shorter range of hip motion when cycling, compared to the range of motion of runners, that producing more tension at a shorter length is due to training. Other scientist argue that a strong rectus femoris in a shortened position is the result of genetics or of both genetics and training.
Whether the answer is training, inheritance or a combination of both, for the coach and athlete it raises an interesting conundrum about playing sports that require you to keep your knees bent.
When playing offensive line in football the position of choice is bending at the hip and knee. The lineman are also taught to slide their feet to keep an effective posture. They must be strong with their rectus femoris in a shortened position.
Knowing this, a leg press should be the tool of choice to agument strength.  Something for coaches and athletes to think about as they design their workout to Get Strong.

M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i State Strength And Conditioning Clinic

Get Strong

M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i State Strength And Conditioning Clinic

 

Mississippi State Strength and Conditioning Clinic              
Set For February 25-26, 2011                                             



The Mississippi State University Strength and Conditioning Staff officially invites you and your staff to join us at the 2011 Mississippi State University Strength & Conditioning Clinic.
The clinic will be Friday, February 25th, 2011, from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. and Saturday, February 26th, 2011, from 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., with lunch being provided.

Matt Balis, Chad Smith and James Townsend of the Mississippi State Strength and Conditioning Staff will kickoff the 2011 Clinic by speaking Friday evening. Saturday guest speakers for the clinic will include the following:

Jeff Connors, Director of Strength and Conditioning, East Carolina University

Michael Doescher, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Valdosta State University

Mike Gittleson, Former Director of Strength and Conditioning, University of Michigan

Lewis Caralla, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, Georgia Tech

Bryan Miller, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Oregon State University
Chip Smith, Founder and President, Competitive Edge Sports 
 If we can be of any assistance, please feel free to call or e-mail James Townsend at 662-325-8582, or Matt Balis at 662-325-8627.

We look forward to seeing you!

Pendulum In The M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i State Weight Room

50 rep set

Every Friday in the off-season we trained the 50 rep leg press.

Mike Gittleson was the Director of Strength & Conditioning at the University of Michigan for 30 years and was a part of 15 Football Championships in that time.

Early in my career I watched Dr. Ken Leistner train Kevin Tolbert, now the Head Strength Coach at Stanford University, on a leg press for fifty straight repetitions. The weight was enormous and the exercise was absolutely brutal. After about the 25th rep I figured Kevin would never get another rep and he did. This went on until he reached 50. I was more than impressed.

I respect Dr. Ken and figured if this young man, Kevin, had legs that strong by doing 50 rep sets and Dr Ken advised it then I'd better check it out.

I returned to school and instituted the 50 rep set. Every Friday in the off-season we trained the 50 rep leg press.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Leistner

What amazed me after 5 weeks of training was how incredible the strength of the athletes legs became.

Photo Courtesy of Gabe Harrington of Colgate University

Initially I thought their gains were going to be slow. There is a correlation between endurance and strength, but training high reps normally is not the most efficient way to build strength. I was surprised the players leg strength exploded.

This is what I like about the 50 Rep Leg Press:

1. It is brutal.

2. The athletes don't like it even though they make tremendous gains.

3. You learn a lot about the anatomy of your legs and how muscles like the adductors on about the 45th rep begin to scream as the femoral head of the femur tries to disengage from the acetabulum of the hip joint. This is not going to happen, but it sure feels like it.

4. You learn a lot about each athlete and effort.

Burnie Legette was an engineering student as well as fullback on the football team and played professionally for the New England Patriots. When he leg pressed 50 reps the weight room would kind of stop and the focus would be on Burnie. Burnie's leg press weight was not only heavy, but every rep was so perfect that I wanted to to write home to his mother about each movement he performed.

The exercise and effort was so extraordinary you couldn't help but watch not once, but everytime he lifted. 'Burnie is leg pressing", we would whisper. The irony was that being competitve and tough the players wanted to emulate his effort and as a coach I wanted each player to perform 50 reps the same way. I think everyone who saw Burnie lift tried to train the same way as it was their nature..... but there are reasons though there is only one King.

Sometimes I must admit training 50 reps straight may put you in Wonderland. You must be prepared for the adventure and be smart when training in the aforementioned manner...... this is what the King said as quoted from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"....very sage advice I might add.

“"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop”