Hi, I read you Strength Training for Triathletes article on slowtwitch, and was wondering if you could help me with one part of it? I have ITBS for some time now and am starting to get it under control after going through many pairs of shoes and finally finding the correct one, ice, ART therapy, stretching, and now strength training. My question is about the part of your article that talks about strengthening the IT bans.
-Crabwalk (photo left): Using tubing, place your feet about hip distance apart and make sure the tension is tight. Move one foot to the side without raising your hips (bend your knees!) or dragging the foot on the floor. Follow with the other foot, but again, do not drag it. Do not “sumo walk”, meaning raising the hip to unload the foot. Keep your spine in a neutral alignment through the neck, knees do not cross the toe line, and hips and shoulders in alignment.-
In this exercise do I want to kick the side of my leg out first as I lift it then crab walk forward and repeat the other side? Sort of like doing a leg lift to the side? I currently do leg lifts on my side. I am looking at strengthening this area to prevent future problems. I appreciate your time, and all your great information.
We were just talking about this exercise yesterday and how it seems to be one of the miracle cures for that problem area, and I rarely say there is a quick cure to anything…
I know it’s a hard movement to explain so hopefully I can communicate this better. Now you know why we did the dvd!
You want to move to the side, not forward, and keep the line, kinda like shuffling. It’s like spreading your legs then bringing them back closer together, up to 12 steps one way then head on back for 12. Keep the feet close to the ground without dragging them. Make sure you bend the knees. And watch your feet that the toes do not move outward. You can even cheat a bit by facing your big toe a bit inwards. You should feel this big time in your hips, the area of your glute med and tensor fasciae latae (or what I call, tensor cafe latte).
Now, I hope you are doing the rest of the exercises as well (yes, mom…). Remember that this could have stemmed from so many various areas. If you don’t have time for them let me know and I will tell you which are most important for you to do in the amount of time you have.
Thanks for the reply Maylene-- I was wondering the same thing. Where would you recommend purchasing stretch cords. I’ll be ordering the DVD soon---- thanks again for all your posts— keep them coming.
I look forward to doing these as part of my training. Thanks for taking the time so I understand how to do these drills. As for the DVD I would be interested in buying one of those, could you tell me how I go about this? My e-mail is werner.iseli@wedbush.com
I recommend Perform Better for all our equipment. Here is a link for lateral resistors http://www.performbetter.com/SearchResult.aspx_Q_CategoryID_E_327 - I like these better than the tubing with handles but some people do not like the stress around the ankles or the tugging on the hair (from the bands).
