I was doing some plyometrics the other day and I realized that most of the time I’m running/side stepping or jumping I’m always mostly on “my toes” so…
Would it make sense to do some squats where by I don’t let my heel touch the floor or would that be useless?
Cheers
It would damage the knee I would imagine.
Sure, if you want your knees to feel like shit. Stick to calf raises.
Well…
IF you keep your weight on your toes as you squat you will F** up ur keens eventually. Plus u run the risk of falling on your face. (with a heavy weight falling on or with you)
HOWEVER, to train your claves do a CALF RAISE while holding DB, or with a BB on your upper back. Additionaly, you can learn to Snatch or Clean (the Olympic lifts) since those movements involve the calfs too (along with every other muscle in you body).
There is one thing you have to remember, in the Track you live on TOES, but in the weight room you live on your HEELS.
–In the track you need MOBILITY, while in the weight room you need STABILITY. Two very different things.
Thats what power cleans do. Thats what calf raises do. Thats not what squats do.
Thanks for the advice all.
I remember reading somewhere that that was how squats were first done in the old days of lifting, like back in the late 1800’s or so. Someone came up with the idea of doing them flat-footed and it was the most revolutionary thing in excercise at that time. Can’t remember where I read that though…
^^^ I doubt that.
Thw squat is a natural motionand would have been done flat footed for most of the time.
The position a few hundered years ago would have been used much more then it is today.
[quote]Galvatron wrote:
I remember reading somewhere that that was how squats were first done in the old days of lifting, like back in the late 1800’s or so. Someone came up with the idea of doing them flat-footed and it was the most revolutionary thing in excercise at that time. Can’t remember where I read that though…[/quote]
I think it’s in Super Squats from Ironmind.
[quote]Fuzzy-47 wrote:
^^^ I doubt that.
Thw squat is a natural motionand would have been done flat footed for most of the time.
The position a few hundered years ago would have been used much more then it is today.[/quote]
You’d see pics of Reg Park and all those guys back in the day doing 'em with their heels on 2x4’s. I’ve seen Arnold do 'em like that too
Hindu squats are done on your toes, as are sissy squats. I am not a big fan of these exercises, due to the stress they put on your knees.
Matt Furey the combat conditioning guy is a big advocate of the hindu squat, but that is bodyweight only, for unreal amounts of reps.
seriously if you are landing on your toes during plyometrics you are gonna stuff you shins and foot bones. During jumping you should land flat footed and push off onto your toes as you take off.
nnn sound like an olympic lift start on heels and pushes off onto the toes
Actually you should land on your toes, in a manner of speaking. Your toes hit the ground first, then you rock back to your heels. If you land flat footed you are not using your ankles as shock absorbers. Your ankles, knees and hips should all bend as you land to absorb the force of the landing.
[quote]aussiethrower wrote:
seriously if you are landing on your toes during plyometrics you are gonna stuff you shins and foot bones. During jumping you should land flat footed and push off onto your toes as you take off.
nnn sound like an olympic lift start on heels and pushes off onto the toes[/quote]
HOWEVER, to train your claves do a CALF RAISE while holding DB, or with a BB on your upper back. Additionaly, you can learn to Snatch or Clean (the Olympic lifts) since those movements involve the calfs too (along with every other muscle in you body
Actually full cleans and full snatches done properly (Olympic level comp) the heel stays on the ground. Triple extension is not used by the top weightlifters. Check out video of Shane Hamman. His heel will never leave the ground. All pushing goes through his heels. Helps activate hamstrings and glutes more.
[quote]jsal33 wrote:
Actually full cleans and full snatches done properly (Olympic level comp) the heel stays on the ground. Triple extension is not used by the top weightlifters. Check out video of Shane Hamman. His heel will never leave the ground. All pushing goes through his heels. Helps activate hamstrings and glutes more. [/quote]
I know Dimas isn’t know for his perfect technique… but I’d be pretty sure top weightlifters (what else do you call a 3/4x olympic medal winner?) use triple extenstion?
If you’re gonna cite the “top” people, then at least pick the best of the best instead of merely very good.
What Dimas is doing there though is really just a weight shift, from the heel to the ball, rather than a conscious drive off the toes. If you check out this video you can see a better example of his flat footed pull: Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos
There are a fair few other big lifters that pull basically flat footed - Tsgaev, Huster, Sagir, Reza.
Of course, then you have lifters like Vanev who are right up on their toes at the top of the pull, although I wonder whether this is more a function of the fact that Vanev is explosive as hell, so it’s really just a follow through motion, rather than any deliberate plantar flexion.
There’s an excellent thread on this over at goheavy if anyone’s interested - just search for “coaching the dbl knee bend”.
Hanley
My point was simply that it is not advisable to look for a clean to help develop calves. In my experience when I clean and plantar flex I usually get into problems going forward. Staying on my heels keeps the correct muscles activated. It also makes it easier to get under when my calves are not flexed. When I stopped b eing concerned with triple ext my form improved.
By the way Dimas is incredibe.
Jsal33
Ninearms
Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out tonight.