Leg Extensions (this should be fun)

[brianrichard]

Mark I recently did something stupid and decided to volunteer as a subject for a research study being done by a grad student at my college. Thought it would be good for networking, get into the lab, meet some people, all that jazz.

Anyway, the study is on blood pressure and requires 3 training days a week doing isometric leg extensions on a Biodex. Basically I give it all I've got for 3 reps to find what the max is i can push, then for 4 reps lasting 2 minutes each i'm holding at 30%.

Aside from it fucking up my normal programming, and being a total pain in the ass holding a leg extension for 2 minutes at a time, it's also really starting to hurt my knees. I've seen plenty of literature claiming leg extensions aren't so great for the knees and some that say they are fine. However clearly, for me, this is not good for my knees.

Could this process on the biodex actually be more harmful to my knees than a regular leg extension machine? The fact that i'm not actually doing reps, or holding isometrically against gravity, but rather pushing or extending against an immovable load.

Do I bail out on this student or what?

Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

Depends on how highly you value your knee integrity. I would damn sure not get sore knees for a bullshit ex-sci study.

[Steve Hill]

Depends on how highly you value your knee integrity. I would damn sure not get sore knees for a bullshit ex-sci study.

The only logical reason I could see participating was if A) The Lab assistants were smoking hot, and B) They were available and willing and C) I wanted a date(s). Otherwise, yeah, waste of time.

[Carlos Daniel]

I find it amusing how the exercises that are" bad for you" are usually the hard ones, the ones that require significant effort like squats and deadlifts, while some other ones much more prone to cause injury (bench press anyone?) and leg extension are given a free pass.

[forgeforth]

The only logical reason I could see participating was if A) The Lab assistants were smoking hot, and B) They were available and willing and C) I wanted a date(s). Otherwise, yeah, waste of time.

I'm not convinced. Strength now, pussy later. I'm sure Mark would agree.

[brianrichard]

yeah, i told the dude my knees were too important...kind of a no brainer i guess.

I find it amusing how the exercises that are" bad for you" are usually the hard ones, the ones that require significant effort like squats and deadlifts, while some other ones much more prone to cause injury (bench press anyone?) and leg extension are given a free pass.

agreed... squatting never hurts my knees...ever... yet 3 days on this biodex and i can't walk down stairs without flinching...

Interesting to note as well, my dad has been weightlifing (average joe lifting, not PL/OL or anything) for almost 40 years and has had really bad knees for at about 15 years now... he stopped doing squats a long time ago but continued to do leg extensions as his primary quad workout. after i got rippetoe's book and learned a proper deep squat, i passed along what i learned to my dad along with rip's reasoning for it being good for your knees and my dad gave it a shot. granted he doesn't squat that heavy (nor does he want to) but he has been amazed at how his knees don't hurt at all while doing them.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'm not convinced. Strength now, pussy later. I'm sure Mark would agree.

That seems excessively stoic.

[Good Ryan]

I'm not convinced. Strength now, pussy later. I'm sure Mark would agree.

I don't see why they can't be concurrent.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

The 4 most important things are
Training, food, sleep and girls
the priority changes based on how long I've been without each one.

[xcardiobunny]

I'm not convinced. Strength now, pussy later. I'm sure Mark would agree.

Men who complain about their bad back, knees, whatever are a huge turn-off. Keep the future in mind.