Legs VERY sore, but the game must go on. Help!!!

[KristyRemo]

Hey guys. I changed up my workout routine yesterday to incorporate "explosive" weight training for softball. Leg press, leg extension, leg curls, hip adductor & abductors & calf raises. 4 sets of 15, 12, 10 & 8 & probably 60% of my max. GREAT workout, but I am so sore I can barely walk today. Not a problem if I didn't have a softball game tonight & a tournament Sunday. I play softball 4-5 days a week, including weekend all day tourneys.

Is there anything I can do to make running the bases & fielding the ball less painful? Warming up & lots of stretching? Extra water? Help here guys! This sucks!

[Heisman]

Stop doing leg extensions, abductors, and adductors. They are all useless IMO.

Do some light running and then stretch everything out. Do this throughout the day, especially the running part. Then warmup thoroughly before the game.

[THASHIZ]

There's no reason to stop doing the extensions, abductors, and adductors. Just be sure to stretch out after lifting, and always give yourself plenty of time to warm up before your games. I wouldn't worry too much about this just yet. You will get use to it. Every gets sore when they switch up their routines.

[Heisman]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
There's no reason to stop doing the extensions, abductors, and adductors. Just be sure to stretch out after lifting, and always give yourself plenty of time to warm up before your games. I wouldn't worry too much about this just yet. You will get use to it. Every gets sore when they switch up their routines.

There are far better exercises out there then extensions, abductors, and adductors.

[THASHIZ]

I didn't say they were the best exercises. Everyone who plays a sport should do leg extensions. They strengthen the muscles around the knee...will help prevent knee injurues. Obviously if hit right, it doesn't matter, but they do help. Girls have big problems with knee injuries....do them.
As far as the others, they focus on problem areas a lot of females have. So if she wants to do them, I see no reason why she shouldn't, and they are good for working muscles that aren't directly worked doing other exercises.

[Heisman]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
I didn't say they were the best exercises. Everyone who plays a sport should do leg extensions. They strengthen the muscles around the knee...will help prevent knee injurues. Obviously if hit right, it doesn't matter, but they do help. Girls have big problems with knee injuries....do them.
As far as the others, they focus on problem areas a lot of females have. So if she wants to do them, I see no reason why she shouldn't, and they are good for working muscles that aren't directly worked doing other exercises.

Leg extensions will hurt the knees a lot more than they will help them IMO.

There is no such thing as spot reduction, so she can't work the inner and outer thighs specifically in the hope to lose the fat. If anything the muscle will get bigger which will push out the fat more and make everything look worse.

If she does squats with different stances then everything will get hit quite well IMO.

[THASHIZ]

Leg extensions if done properly with not overly heavy weight will not, well should not, cause knee problems.

So you think that if you have a little fat somewhere you shouldn't work that area? You might want to stop and think about what your saying. Look, we don't even know if she's doing them to get rid of fat. Simply, those exercises directly work that area, so why not do them.

Have you ever done them? Probably not. They are also good to do to prevent groin injuries. A lot of people who have hurt that area, specifically do those to help with recovery and to strenghten to help prevent future injuries.

[Heisman]

If the leg extensions aren't done with really heavy weight and you don't lock them out then I agree that they are most likely pretty safe.

There is no such thing as spot reduction. You shouldn't give an area more work just because it has fat on it. You need to lose bodyfat to make it look good.

She may not be doing them to lose fat. Either way, I still don't think they are a good exercise.

Heavy squats should work that area plenty. If she does squats with a wide stance, some squats with a close stance, and front squats then she should be fine. Squats > then all other lower body exercises.

Nope, I've never done them. I think with stretching and some warmup sets then you probably won't get injured. I don't know if they are good at recovering from injury; they may very well be, but it most likely depends on the injury.

[THASHIZ]

Whatever kid, look I'm almost twice your age...I know a thing or two about a thing or two. I played college football and have seen many knee injuries, groin pulls, etc. Those exercises mentioned are all done as part of rehab.

[15u]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
Whatever kid, look I'm almost twice your age...I know a thing or two about a thing or two. I played college football and have seen many knee injuries, groin pulls, etc. Those exercises mentioned are all done as part of rehab.

ahhh the age old "i'm older, i know more" argument. heisman knows quite a bit about excersizes...

leg extensions are bad on your knees, and only give you minimal muscle gains.

[th3 gr34t3st]

NO, leg extensions are NOT part of rehab for knee injuries. I'm still rehabbing my knee from surgery and my therapist told me NOT to do leg extensions under any circumstances and to not even kick my leg out at all. Extensions place alot of pressure on the knee ligaments and cartilage and the negatives out weight the positives. Stick to squats and variations of the squat.

[THASHIZ]

I don't know what your injury is, but I bet you will eventually be doing them.

Yes leg extensions can be bad for you. If you read my post earlier I said not to go very heavy. So you think they are so bad for you, then why does basically every body builder do them? They work, that's why. And I'm not using the"I'm older so listen to me" reasoning either. But the argument does have merit, at least in my case it does.

[Heisman]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
I don't know what your injury is, but I bet you will eventually be doing them.

Yes leg extensions can be bad for you. If you read my post earlier I said not to go very heavy. So you think they are so bad for you, then why does basically every body builder do them? They work, that's why. And I'm not using the"I'm older so listen to me" reasoning either. But the argument does have merit, at least in my case it does.

This is the sports training section. We don't care about bodybuilding in here.

[THASHIZ]

Um, yes I know that. I was responding to the statement that leg ext don't build muscle.

[Falcon01]

I have torn my ACL and meniscus more than once in my life and have gone to some of the best docs in the city. (i live in san antonio and even went to the spurs guy!) all of them said no knee extensions. they put great pressure directly on the knee and can cause more hurt than help. So I would definately find better exercises to do than extensions.

[15u]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
Um, yes I know that. I was responding to the statement that leg ext don't build muscle.

if you are responding to my statement, i didn't say they didn't build muscle, i said they build minimal muscle. squats are much much better for muscle gain than leg extensions.

[th3 gr34t3st]

Originally posted by Falcon01
I have torn my ACL and meniscus more than once in my life and have gone to some of the best docs in the city. (i live in san antonio and even went to the spurs guy!) all of them said no knee extensions. they put great pressure directly on the knee and can cause more hurt than help. So I would definately find better exercises to do than extensions.

Torn ACL and meniscus sucks big time. I'm still recovering.

[talldude84]

Abductors and adductors need work if you're playing a sport the requires a lot of lateral movement. They also help prevent injury...I see no negatives in doing them. I was coached by a guy who had trained the canadian olympic track and field team for a while and he had me doing some adductor/abductor work for b-ball.

As for not getting sore - eat more protein, drink more water, stretch out for 15-20mins after working out. That should minimize soreness. Before you play, have a LONG warmup and a lot of water. You can injure yourself much easier (pull a muscle) if you're stiff and dehydrated. I wouldn't do too much static stretching, only a few minutes worth, but more dynamic stretching before the game. Dynamic stretching is stuff like kicking your leg up in front of you as high as it will go, high knees, heels to the butt...stuff like that. Be sure to warm up before stretching.

[THASHIZ]

Originally posted by 15u
if you are responding to my statement, i didn't say they didn't build muscle, i said they build minimal muscle. squats are much much better for muscle gain than leg extensions.

Wow, I didn't know that about squats....of course I know this and that leg ext aren't optimal for size. They are excellent for the tear drop area and for isolation on the quads if done correctly. Like I"ve said many times now, don't go too heavy and really squeeze your quads. They will help the muscles around your knees.

[Falcon01]

Originally posted by th3 gr34t3st
Torn ACL and meniscus sucks big time. I'm still recovering.

When did you tear yours??

[KristyRemo]

Easy fellas! I didn't ask for advice on my exercises. The adductors, abductors & extensions are all a part of my softball training and what works for you may not work for me. However, these exercises are helping. The question was, how do I make playing softball less painful if I am still really sore from my workout. The answer: I can't. So I found someone to fill in for me until the soreness wore off yesterday. Common sense tells me I ought to let my muscles recover as much as possible to rebuild as well as avoid injury.

Everyone has different opinions on what works. Be it HIIT, moderate cardio, different exercises, etc. So why bother trying to argue & get someone to think your particular opinion is right & theirs is wrong? An opinion cannot be wrong or wrong. It is simply an opinion. Opinions are like a$$holes. We all have them.

[pure_power]

Because your obviously in season you need to watch your volume. If the soreness is too much to prevent you from performing at the level you wish to achieve, then you need to cut back on some things. Let your body be your guide in this. During the season you should only try to maintain, rather than build. It looks as if you're trying to build when obviously the stress of the practice and game schedule will affect your lifting, and vice versa. Secondly, make sure (which was said before on this post) to stretch out (mainly static stretching) after all work outs. As far as stretching before a game, there are varying theories on that. Some believe that static stretching is not beneficial before a game, but rather detracts from you ability. It is a dynamic warm-up rather than is recommended. However, if static stretching before a game feels better on your body and enables you to perform better, then by all means do it. I could go into the whole adductor and leg extension debate, but I won't. Do what you have available (although I would recommend hitting the hamstrings, lower back, glutes, and core mainly).

[KristyRemo]

Thanks pure_power. Great response. However, softball is a year round sport here in Texas, so if I use it as an excuse to cut back on the intensity of my workouts, I'll never reach my goals. I am thinking the only reason for the unusual soreness is because I changed my workout. Thanks!

[THASHIZ]

Originally posted by THASHIZ
There's no reason to stop doing the extensions, abductors, and adductors. Just be sure to stretch out after lifting, and always give yourself plenty of time to warm up before your games. I wouldn't worry too much about this just yet. You will get use to it. Every gets sore when they switch up their routines.

My first response to the topic.

[pure_power]

Originally posted by KristyRemo
Thanks pure_power. Great response. However, softball is a year round sport here in Texas, so if I use it as an excuse to cut back on the intensity of my workouts, I'll never reach my goals. I am thinking the only reason for the unusual soreness is because I changed my workout. Thanks!

Ok, didn't realize you played the whole year. Well, as some said before, the changes in your routine could be the reason why you are sore. Like I said though, I would just monitor the volume and let your body be the guide. Also besides stretching to relieve soreness there are various restorative techniques to aid in your recovery:

-ice/ice massage
-contrasting (2 minutes hot/2 minutes cold...repeat a few times) shower
-glutamine
-creatine
-sports massages
-extra workouts

These are just a few methods of restoration to help you prevent soreness and enable you to run without soreness. Remember though if you do use these methods, to switch them up. After a while, like any exercise, they tend to lose their effectiveness if overused.