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#1
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Hip Flexors. OUCH
We had a foot of snow in the Tug Hill region of NY last weekend, and I
managed to get out for about 2 hours of easy classic skiing. The snow has since melted, but my hip flexors are still VERY sore. This happens every year after my first classic adventure, and in fact it seems to get a little worse every year as I get older. Is there any kind of exercise other than skiing (or roller skiing) that works the hip flexors, so that one can ease into the ski season without all the pain? The classic stride seems to be the only exercise I do that works those weird muscles. Thanks, Onno Oerlemans |
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#2
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Uh, stretching? Everyday and after exercise. I've found the latter
really helps minimize injuries and soreness. A google search on "hip flexors stretch" will give some good ideas, including listed as for skiing (one I do on my back). Gene "Onno61" wrote: We had a foot of snow in the Tug Hill region of NY last weekend, and I managed to get out for about 2 hours of easy classic skiing. The snow has since melted, but my hip flexors are still VERY sore. This happens every year after my first classic adventure, and in fact it seems to get a little worse every year as I get older. Is there any kind of exercise other than skiing (or roller skiing) that works the hip flexors, so that one can ease into the ski season without all the pain? The classic stride seems to be the only exercise I do that works those weird muscles. Thanks, Onno Oerlemans |
#3
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I'm not a great skiier, but I am a great massage therapist. Stretching is
one of the best things you can do after to prevent soreness, warming up properly before the the other best thing. Stretch all year, not just during ski season. It's getting worse every year because you aren't doing anything to improve it. 10-15 minutes a day should show improvement fairly quickly. If you don't have 10-15 minutes, do your stretches during the commercials of whatever TV shows you watch, a half hour show will give enough commercial time to work your hips, quads and hamstrings. An hour show will give you enough time to stretch your whole body. There are plenty of good internet sites that can clue you into good stretching routines. "Gene Goldenfeld" wrote in message et... Uh, stretching? Everyday and after exercise. I've found the latter really helps minimize injuries and soreness. A google search on "hip flexors stretch" will give some good ideas, including listed as for skiing (one I do on my back). Gene "Onno61" wrote: We had a foot of snow in the Tug Hill region of NY last weekend, and I managed to get out for about 2 hours of easy classic skiing. The snow has since melted, but my hip flexors are still VERY sore. This happens every year after my first classic adventure, and in fact it seems to get a little worse every year as I get older. Is there any kind of exercise other than skiing (or roller skiing) that works the hip flexors, so that one can ease into the ski season without all the pain? The classic stride seems to be the only exercise I do that works those weird muscles. Thanks, Onno Oerlemans |
#4
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My problem has always been the groin muscles after the first classic ski
outing - and I do stretch all year. Just haven't found a stretch that seems to hit the right muscles. And yes, I do the one where you sit on the floor, put the soles of your feet together, lean forward and press your knees down. Anyone else found something that actually works? Kathy "Jessica Chadwick" wrote in message . net... I'm not a great skiier, but I am a great massage therapist. Stretching is one of the best things you can do after to prevent soreness, warming up properly before the the other best thing. Stretch all year, not just during ski season. It's getting worse every year because you aren't doing anything to improve it. 10-15 minutes a day should show improvement fairly quickly. If you don't have 10-15 minutes, do your stretches during the commercials of whatever TV shows you watch, a half hour show will give enough commercial time to work your hips, quads and hamstrings. An hour show will give you enough time to stretch your whole body. There are plenty of good internet sites that can clue you into good stretching routines. "Gene Goldenfeld" wrote in message et... Uh, stretching? Everyday and after exercise. I've found the latter really helps minimize injuries and soreness. A google search on "hip flexors stretch" will give some good ideas, including listed as for skiing (one I do on my back). Gene "Onno61" wrote: We had a foot of snow in the Tug Hill region of NY last weekend, and I managed to get out for about 2 hours of easy classic skiing. The snow has since melted, but my hip flexors are still VERY sore. This happens every year after my first classic adventure, and in fact it seems to get a little worse every year as I get older. Is there any kind of exercise other than skiing (or roller skiing) that works the hip flexors, so that one can ease into the ski season without all the pain? The classic stride seems to be the only exercise I do that works those weird muscles. Thanks, Onno Oerlemans |
#5
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There is an excellent groin stretch in Michael Alter's sports stretch
book.I can't really describe other than to say you are on your knees with the lower legs flat to the ground. You push your hips to the ground, and you can really feel it. Also, though I can't tolerate too much yoga because I get bored... the standing series for Ashtanga pretty much hits all the major areas for skiing, including the hip and groin. This year I did lots more ski-walking and dryland training, concentrating on simulating a good kick, and was able to make the transition without any soreness. Chris |
#6
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Seems to me that ski-simulation-walking / bounding and running are obvious
summer-season exercises to train the hip-flexors. But I don't like those because of the impact stress on my knees and ankles. So . . . For building endurance and lactate-threshold in hip-flexor muscles, an exercise I do is bicycling using only one leg. When seated on a bicycle, the hip-flexion motion raises the knee-joint, and with it much of the weight of the leg, which is real work. The problem with two-legged bicycle pedaling is that most of us naturally do not use our hip-flexors much, and instead use the downward-push by the left leg on the other pedal to lift up the mass of the right leg. So the right leg gets a "free ride", instead of getting trained to lift its own weight. (which means that some of my main downward leg-push is going into lifting my other leg, instead of driving me and my bicycle forward faster.) Once you learn the feel of using the right hip-flexor muscles to lift the weight of their own right leg, you can also train the hip-flexors in two-legged pedaling. (though I usually find my legs getting lazy about taking the "free ride" upward). Here's some other exercises for hip flexors, perhaps focused more on building strength: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/Hip...#anchor1938598 Though I'm not sure why strength in the hip-flexors should be of much importance for XC skiing. Ken P.S. Another muscle move that can be trained in single-leg bicycling is ankle dorsi-flexion: pulling my toe up toward my knee, which is how it feels in bicycling. The other way to look at this is that I'm driving my knee down toward my toe, which sounds like what some coaches have been talking about as the "secret key" for leg-power in ski-skating in the last year or two. |
#7
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I do that stretch on my back, so it becomes dual purpose. There's also
the standing adductor stretch, and a little strengthening on machines in the gym. Do you rollerski? Even if you do, I think a little soreness is inevitable after the first ski because the intensity of muscle use on snow is greater. Gene "Kathy" wrote: My problem has always been the groin muscles after the first classic ski outing - and I do stretch all year. Just haven't found a stretch that seems to hit the right muscles. And yes, I do the one where you sit on the floor, put the soles of your feet together, lean forward and press your knees down. Anyone else found something that actually works? |
#8
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Ken Roberts wrote: For building endurance and lactate-threshold in hip-flexor muscles, an exercise I do is bicycling using only one leg. When seated on a bicycle, the hip-flexion motion raises the knee-joint, and with it much of the weight of the leg, which is real work. Great idea. I'll try that. Since I start to ride inside on the trainer in late fall just before ski season, this is a great time and place to do some one-legged riding. Though I'm not sure why strength in the hip-flexors should be of much importance for XC skiing. I'm not sure why either. I never feel tired in that muscle--just feel a lot of pain in the days after the first real classic ski. Skating doesn't have the same effect. I imagine it's from pushing the ski forward after the kick, and in a sense lifting the ski. Onno |
#9
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On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 08:36:53 -0500, "Kathy"
wrote: My problem has always been the groin muscles after the first classic ski outing - and I do stretch all year. Just haven't found a stretch that seems to hit the right muscles. And yes, I do the one where you sit on the floor, put the soles of your feet together, lean forward and press your knees down. Anyone else found something that actually works? If the skiing you (or Onno) is doing is not taking you beyond your easy range of motion, then more stretching can't be the answer. It has to be to strengthen the muscles that get sore. JFT **************************** Remove "remove" to reply Visit http://www.jt10000.com **************************** |
#10
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Onno wrote
I imagine it's from pushing the ski forward after the kick, and in a sense lifting the ski. Yes I think that's the move in classic diagonal stride that's using the hip flexors. When I say that I don't see why strength is important for that, I mean "strength" in the narrow sense of the maximum force those muscles can exert in a single repetition (or small number of repetitions, say not more than five). The weight of the ski and the leg is what it is -- there's no benefit in having hip flexors so strong they could move ten times that weight. Seems to me the key attribute to train for the hip flexor muscles in classic striding is rather "endurance": being able to move that limited weight thousands of times in a performance. Ken |
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