Squats

[mr brightside]

How do I know if I have alignment issues? Is it an injury thing, or not running to my potential?

The level you run at i don't think you have any issues. The common test is to do one legged dips and lunges and watch for your knee shooting either outward or inward. If it looks ok try it on a wobble cushion and see if it's still ok. Training darting and poor alignment out of you is done by improving control, eventually with wobble cushions and BOSU balls. When you outgrow them you start back at the bottom again and do it with both eyes closed. In my heyday i was doing one legged Delt raises on a BOSU flat side with my eyes closed...aah, those were the days.

[cyclops]

The level you run at i don't think you have any issues. The common test is to do one legged dips and lunges and watch for your knee shooting either outward or inward. If it looks ok try it on a wobble cushion and see if it's still ok. Training darting and poor alignment out of you is done by improving control, eventually with wobble cushions and BOSU balls. When you outgrow them you start back at the bottom again and do it with both eyes closed. In my heyday i was doing one legged Delt raises on a BOSU flat side with my eyes closed...aah, those were the days.

Agreed, and make sure you are doing all the exercises slowly to enable the neural connections to get firing correctly. Essentially you need brain and muscles to have time to chat and agree that the movement you're doing is getting locked in memory. If you do movements too fast, or incorrectly the wrong connection messages will be learnt....and hence biomechanic issues, risk of injury etc.

[Adam]

The common test is to do one legged dips and lunges and watch for your knee shooting either outward or inward.

The physio had me doing lunges the other week, and my knee was shooting inwards as a result of IT band issues. As I said above, now on a course of one legged squats, making sure my knee is in line with the second toe.

[John Peel]

I've been given a specific squat to do in order to sort out where my knee is moving in my running stride after a particularly bad IT band issue - so agree with what Iain's saying here.

I've been given one of those kind of 'special' squats to do as well to correct an alignment issue.

[neilly]

Thanks everyone. I never knew what alignment problems were. My right knee has always bent inwards when running/squatting, I thought I was knock kneed. It doesn't seem to have affected me but I'll lock into it. Did a hard trx session tonight with lots of pistols jump squats. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.