Support Center > FAQ

Should I bend my knees past 90 degrees when I land?

(1/6) > >>

Mark Toorock:
We hear this one all the time. Some people will say you should never bend your knees past 90 degress - ask them to get off the floor from lying down, or how they get off the toilet.

Here's my response to a recent email

New Traceur,
At Primal fitness we teach people to bend past 90, but this is with personal supervision. What I would suggest is that you do unweighted squats as conditioning at least 3 days a week, working up to where 50, 75, or even 100 squats isn't a big deal for you,, and lay off anything that could be considered a drop until that time. Then, do some small drops, like 10 a day from a foot, and see where you are naturally more stable. Drops over about 5-6 feet will never be "good for you" as an exercise to build leg strength, and should be practiced sparingly and probably only in your second year of training when conditioning is up and you are very adept at landing and rolling.
M2

Chris Lyons:
I'v been landing and bending my knees past 90 degress for years... guess I need to go back to the drawling board. :-\

bjkpersonal@aim.com:
i understand doing squats to condition the legs against the pressures of gravity, but can you advise a certain type of leg position?  i had this dilemma last night and ended up with the conclusion that i can push myself forward from any jump under 5 feet or so.  however, i'm not sure if i should roll at such a low height.  i don't need to take the pressure off of my knees, but it's the only way i can think of keeping my forward momentum, unlike bending my knees, where my only option is to try to spring myself upward, land, then resume running.  solution, please?

Chris Lyons:
WARNING: CHRIS IS ABOUT OT GIVE ADVICE!!

if i was in  your position the easiest way to maintain momentum in my opinion would be to perform a small hop almost imediatly after landing, and landing in such a way so that you would still tip forward, even when crouched.

KC Parsons:
Rolling after a drop (talking in terms of smaller drops especially) makes it feel like you're keeping forward momentum, and so you think you're keeping your speed up. However, but simply doing a standard landing, then exploding upwards and forwards into a sprint, you achieve a faster speed, but with a stop in between.
The idea of a roll is to disperse the force of the impact of the drop, and keep it 'flowing'. Not necessarily faster, though.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page