marshall’s right. there’s adduction but it’s predominantly eccentric. It’s fine to use it as a recovery workout. Not exactly specific to sprinting, but if your sport is not purely linear, it could help.
ok, so now I’ll try to complicate things by making a simple remark like: “after the 70-80m mark, I start to feel that at top speed, my legs turn out moreso than during the first portion of the race, this feeling is when my leg is flexed and my foot is just starting to step over, i.e. I feel as though the vastus lateralis or the glutes are pulling the axis of my femur outwards or rotating it” would this be due to a weakness of the adductors, and can this be addressed with sumo squats for example??
Possibly, yes. this could also be seen as a weakness in the vastus medialis (and more specifically the vmo which is responsible for patellar stabilization and proper tracking of the knee joint) in relation to the vastus lateralis. But the sumo squat could help. I’ve also had some athletes perform knee extensions while squeezing a swiss ball between their knees, or a hip bridge with a swiss ball between the knees.
thanks for the amazingly quick reply, and let me continue then, I know of a real imbalance in my left leg vs my right leg (mass-wise) my left leg is visibly larger than my right leg, and I have legs that seen in the mirror, seem to have a good amount of mass on the bottom half of the quads, how could I helpmyself get a) greater strength, speed and mass in the top half (i.e. theoretically the fibers related to leg leg flexion in relation to the hip are in the top half, or would be refleced by more mass there) and b) what’s the best way to work on an adduction machine without having the people at the gym look at you funny (they already do that when I work on the bun and thigh machine) (that last one was just for laughs btw
I’ll answer b first because a is much more complicated. Have you ever attempted standing adduction/abduction by using elastic bands or tubing? Either tie an elastic band around your knees and walk sideways (abduction), or have a partner hold an elastic band to the inside of one knee and walk sideways pulling him along with you (adduction). Perhaps look into purchasing some elastic bands from www.performbetter.com, I think they’re like three dollars.
In regards to A, is there a strength imbalance between the two legs or does it just appear that way. I would recommend doing some single-leg work but training for strength, speed and mass at the same time would seem very complicated. Why not train it for strength, and then for mass, and then strength again and finally train for speed. This would seem to be the logical progression.
true, as far as strength there appears to be no imbalance, other than perhaps a slightly diminished fatigue resistance.
As for elastic bands, I don’t have acces to them, and the only reason I’m training in a gym is because I work in one, I probably won’t have acces to it next year since I’m going to stop teaching martial arts to give sprinting more time and recovery
as for the “they’re only three dollars” reply i’d expect my family is currently going through an economic crisis, we just bought a house, and haven’t sold either of the other two, on can be sold and the other one is going to court cos the person renting it was a real bitch, and is in breach of contract. (sorry I started to rant)
As for training during the holidays I don’t know what I’m really going to do cos I don’t have the CFTS or the GPP DVD to get something going, but if you can give me seggestions then I’ll be really happy
I should be doing weights until the end of january and then It’s all training off the track cos I’m heading out to the beach, I already measured a 200mt strech, where there’s a 100mt flat and 100mt on a very slight incline (hill) and the surface is (soft gravel getting to sandish)
if you’d like some assistance, e-mail me at dmartinez_atp@hotmail.com. maybe i’ll even send you some spare bands that I have as a gift. Call me Santy Claus.