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           Truly Huge Fitness Tips
         Presented by TrulyHuge.com                  
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Support Your Joints

It's true bodybuilders, powerlfiters and others involved
in athletics cause a lot of stress, wear and tear on
their joints.

Each and every workout you do subjects your joints and
tendons to the work load volume of tons of w eight along
with the wear and tear of stretching and contracting over
and over again.

Today millions of people have joint disorders.

Joint supplements can aid in joint and connective tissue
health and repair.

If you have been training hard for years, joint
supplements can really make a big difference.

Even younger trainers should use joint support supplements
to prevent future joint problems.

For more information on joint health go to https://www.trulyhuge.com/healthiestjoints.htm 
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     Fitness Tips For 3/25/2009
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Squatting Exercise Information
 
The squat is called the "king of exercises". EMG studies show that over 
200 muscles are activated by squatting. The squat is one the most widely 
used exercises in all of sports, athletes from beginner to professional 
all squat. 

Types of Squatting Exercise

Powerlifting Squats: This style has the feet placed wide, with the hip 
at an acute angle and the knee is close to a right angle. The bar is 
placed lower on the back and the knees are over the feet. This places 
a greater portion of the load on the gluteals and hamstrings, enabling 
larger loads to be moved. The drawback of this method is that a large 
shear force is put on the lumbar spine and great erector spinea 
development is necessary for proper execution. 

Olympic Squats: In this method the bar is carried high on the traps 
to place a greater load on the quadriceps. The feet are slightly wider
than shoulder width, the hip angle is at a right angle and the knees 
are at an acute angle. Bodybuilders and Olympic lifters favor this 
style to stress the quads and limit the glutes. The great shear force 
generated at the knee is the major pitfall of this style.

Athlete’s Squats: This is a compromise of the two above styles with 
the angles of the hip and knee approximately equal and the bar across 
the middle of the traps. 

Squatting Variations

There are many variations of the three basic methods mentioned above. 
They include jump squats, lunge squats, one legged squats, twisting 
squats, Smith machine squats, safety squats, leg press/hack squats, 
block squats, and partial squats. These variations are alternatives 
to squats, while some have added benefits; others are down right 
dangerous. 

Squatting Safety

Partial squats are particularly dangerous; in fact squatting above 
the parallel position is actually more dangerous than going below 
parallel. Dr. Fredrick C. Hatfield of the International Sports 
Science Association states the following reasons: 
  
Contrary to popular belief, squatting above the parallel position; 
knees at approximately 90 degrees flexion; is actually more 
dangerous than going to parallel or below. There are two reasons 
for this. When you look at the structure of the knee, you’ll note 
that at about 90 degrees flexion, the tibia’s sloped shape allows 
it to shear upwards and over the femur. This causes a lot of 
compressive forces against the patella, and pulls forcefully 
against the posterior cruciate ligament. These potentially 
destructive forces become significantly less as you descend 
further into the squat position, largely due to the fact that 
the tibia’s surface isn’t sloped posteriorly, where it 
articulates with the femur. The second reason is that, because 
of better leverage doing partials, you’re obliged to use a far 
heavier weight in order to gain any sort of adaptive overload
on the muscles involved; dangerous to the entire shoulder 
girdle, neck, low back, and knees. 

Simply stated the knee joint was not designed to flex part way 
with a heavy load applied to it. It can withstand high forces 
when used in a full range of motion, but heavy partial 
squats are not recommended at all.


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