Started by Kevin McBride, June 12, 2013 · 3 Replies · 2,831 Views
Hello everyone!
I just started F1 after reading many posts about it. I want to increase strength and mobility, primarily for kungfu and taiqi. I worry, however, about my knees, considering that many of the squat exercises, such as SLS/PE2 require that the knee go well beyond the toes. I have learned from doing other exercises that this is bad for the knees and can lead to injury. Will doing the exercises in F1 for SLS lead to long term problems due to the high stress on the knee?
No. Extending the knees over the toes is not inherently dangerous. Like any other strength movement, it can be dangerous if you ramp up the intensity too quickly. However the SLS progressions in F1 are designed to very gradually increase the forces on your knees, allowing you to build up strength through that range of motion.
Analogously, consider the iron cross. For someone with improper preparation, attempting to perform the cross can be very dangerous, and is likely to lead to an injury of the biceps or elbows. However, for someone who has followed proper progressions to prepare, performing an iron cross carries minimal risk of injury.
An " Asian " squat has the knees at or beyond the toes with shins past vertical.
http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/should-you-squat-with-your-knees-forward
Super deep stances in some kung fu styles employ a shin angle that is past vertical at an angle.
While all the research refers to barbell squats as opposed to any other form of squatting (as F series show, there are a lot), they do show that in restricted squats (knees behind toes) there is a greater force on the pelvis and spine compared with knees past toes which decreases lumbar forces, but increased stresses on the knee.
http://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2012/10/10/vertical-shin-squat/
Like Joshua very eloquently wrote, such forces are progressively worked up.
And you're not going to go squatting like (B) here:
