Thread: Feet and Legs
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Old 10-17-2011, 12:30 AM   #5
Lee Salzman
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 406
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Re: Feet and Legs

If you are trying to generate a single linear force from the body, this is generated by the body expanding between the head and feet into that line. So if the body starts coiled, it will straighten out, like the difference between squatting down and standing up. The knees are between these two ends, so for those two ends to maximally extend away from each other, the knees must also be extending onto this line too. The hips too. The spine too.

Rotation around an axis of the body is likewise achieved by making two lines, one starting at one foot, the other starting at the other, but they both extend into the hips, up through the spine, and up to the top of the skull, just in opposite directions. In essence, one line extends forward, while the other line simultaneously extends back (without breaking the integrity of the hips or spine, they must not collapse). Feet and knees are still extending onto those lines, not across them in a horizontal plane. Legs and knees drive into the hips, and not the hips dragging/torquing on them.

Having your knees slide around on a plane cross-cutting this line of extension (or similarly, torque on this cross-cutting plane) will cause instability and literally force cutting into the knee joints. I killed my knees for a while trying to do standing exercises that way until I learned better. When you think about it, it's obvious, but peer pressure can cause you to do funny things... Bad stuff.

Last edited by Lee Salzman : 10-17-2011 at 12:33 AM.
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