Question by 504hood: Ankle weights?
I’ve been wearing 5 pound ankle weights on each leg for a while (started in mid August) and gonna wear them until November. The only times I don’t wear them is school, shower, and bed. I shoot basketball with them, jump with them, and run with them. I’m pretty sure they will have a tremendous impact for me by November, but I’ve heard that they are bad for my ankles. As in, they are tearing muscle tissue and bone because your ankle aren’t used to supporting so much weight. Can people list a doctor’s link for this?
Best answer:
Answer by Lisa B
Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health E-Zine
May 8, 2005
Don’t Wear or Carry Weights When You Exercise
Wearing ankle weights will not help you to run faster or longer, or jump higher. Training is specific. To run faster in competition, you have to run fast in practice. Ankle weights slow you down because they interfere with your coordination and make you work much harder to raise your knees. To train your muscles so you will be able to run longer, you have to run faster or for a longer time. The heavy weights will tire you earlier so you will not be able to run as fast or as far.
Using ankle weights won’t help you to jump higher, either. To jump higher, you have to strengthen your leg muscles in the same way that you would use them to jump. When you wear ankle weights, you strengthen your leg muscles for lifting weights off the ground with your feet. When you jump, you raise your body off the ground. To help you to jump higher, you have to raise your body up against resistance. You do this by doing leg presses or squats with heavy weights on your shoulders.
Ankle weights can also increase your chances of being injured. Since they force you to lift a much heavier weight when you raise your knees, they strengthen the quadriceps muscles in the front of your upper leg without strengthening the hamstrings in the back equally. This can make your quad muscle proportionately so much stronger than your hamstrings that you are prone to injury. The same principles apply to carrying weights when you walk or run, or wearing weighted belts or other devices. Strength training should be done using weights with proper form in specific exercises, and should be kept separate from your aerobic activities.
Give your answer to this question below!
]]>
