Kind of symptomatically that I haven´t touched upon the subject of stretching.
I think it is VERY important to stretch the quadriceps, especially after the very heavy squatting.
The standard quadriceps stretch, when you are standing on one leg and stretching the other, wont do.
You have to lie down on a fixed surface e.g kitchen table or the like, lie face down on the table extending your leg to be stretched straight with your kneecap facing down. support your body with your other leg on the florr.
keep your hip in contact with the table and stretch your quads by pulling your foot towards your buttocks.
stretch until you feel discomfort but not pain, stretch for 30-60 seconds.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Why did it happen
I have been thinking lately about the reason I got patellar tendonitis in the first place.
I think it is a combination of factors.
too much jumping in too short a time, I just didn´t give my body the chance to adapt to all the stress that volleyball puts on the knees.
bad technique. probably mostly during the landing phase.
muscle imbalances. Like most athletes i am not particularly strong in the posterior chain.
inflexible, my body is not flexible enough to be able to work during full range of motion.
body weight, i weigh 90 kg, which is not so much for 190 cm, but still gives quite a bit of acceleration to take care of during landing.
explosive power, I have always been more explosive than elastic when it comes to jumping. My standing CMJ is almost the same as a full spike jump. Somehow I think the starting power output gives more of a blow to the knees than an elastic power from the stretch shortening cycle.
Age, I am 45 now, and I am sure that my healing processes work quite a bit slower than they used to...
Science hasn´t found any good reliable indicators as to who actually gets tendonitis and who doesn´t. It seems there are complex mechanisms involved.
I think it is a combination of factors.
too much jumping in too short a time, I just didn´t give my body the chance to adapt to all the stress that volleyball puts on the knees.
bad technique. probably mostly during the landing phase.
muscle imbalances. Like most athletes i am not particularly strong in the posterior chain.
inflexible, my body is not flexible enough to be able to work during full range of motion.
body weight, i weigh 90 kg, which is not so much for 190 cm, but still gives quite a bit of acceleration to take care of during landing.
explosive power, I have always been more explosive than elastic when it comes to jumping. My standing CMJ is almost the same as a full spike jump. Somehow I think the starting power output gives more of a blow to the knees than an elastic power from the stretch shortening cycle.
Age, I am 45 now, and I am sure that my healing processes work quite a bit slower than they used to...
Science hasn´t found any good reliable indicators as to who actually gets tendonitis and who doesn´t. It seems there are complex mechanisms involved.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
eccentric training
So,
now I have finished building my eccentric training apparatus.
It is basically a modified power cage, equipped with two electrical hoists.
I am using it to do heavy eccentric squats on it.
I have done two weeks of training, each week consists of two sessions, each session is 4'4 full squats using as much load as I can handle. In my case it is 130 kg.
It is kind of scary....But it is probably mostly because the whole situation is so new. I ( or my assistant) lower the weight using the hoists, at a fairly slow pace (0.083 m/s or 5m/min). I try to keep the wires slack, by resisting the downward motion. When the bar hits the bottom, i let the hoists carry it back up again. Sounds simple, but as I said, it is pretty demanding mentally to try to work on 130 kg, use as much force as possible, and keep good form.
I have never squatted more than 100 kg before, so 130 kg is "overload" for sure.
The funny thing is that the excercises seem to be working- the pain is almost gone, but it is replaced by a really bad case of DOMS.
now I have finished building my eccentric training apparatus.
It is basically a modified power cage, equipped with two electrical hoists.
I am using it to do heavy eccentric squats on it.
I have done two weeks of training, each week consists of two sessions, each session is 4'4 full squats using as much load as I can handle. In my case it is 130 kg.
It is kind of scary....But it is probably mostly because the whole situation is so new. I ( or my assistant) lower the weight using the hoists, at a fairly slow pace (0.083 m/s or 5m/min). I try to keep the wires slack, by resisting the downward motion. When the bar hits the bottom, i let the hoists carry it back up again. Sounds simple, but as I said, it is pretty demanding mentally to try to work on 130 kg, use as much force as possible, and keep good form.
I have never squatted more than 100 kg before, so 130 kg is "overload" for sure.
The funny thing is that the excercises seem to be working- the pain is almost gone, but it is replaced by a really bad case of DOMS.
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