Straight to the point: is it important to keep the knees straight during leg raises? I can't, I always keep my knees bent. I'm not sure wheter this depends on the conformation of my knees: if I keep them straight, they look like this: So I always keep them a bit bent, even when standing - it should be genetic stuff because it's a family thing. When I do leg raises, they look like this guy's: (but is he wearing a kilt? ) If I have to keep the knees straight, I can raise the leg knee-tigh height and no further. And now what?
This is pretty interesting, i have similair legs though they are pretty muscular. I don't seem to have any issues with leg raises though. My wife calls them dogs legs. Baza
Bent knees in leg raises is a sign that your dynamic stretches are exceeding your static flexibility. Static stretches (isometric and relaxed) for the calves, hamstrings and glutes should resolve the issue.
A note on leg raises to the front (and front kicks). The height of your working leg isn't just measured by the distance between your foot and the floor; it's also (more so, in fact) measured by the angle between your thighs. In the picture you posted, the model is bending his supporting leg. This indicates he has tight hip flexors (which just compounds the issue of his tight hamstrings). So while he can get his foot x-cm off the floor, he can only open his thighs by x-degrees. While not a health concern, it leads to inefficient technique. This is the result of forgoing static stretches in favour of just dynamic ones.
Static stretches let you increase the maximum limit at which you can open your thighs. Dynamic stretches let you open your thighs at speed up to the limit determined by your static flexibility. Trying to make your dynamic stretches go beyond this limit turns them into ballistic stretches. This is something you don't want. You can tell if your leg swings are dynamic or ballistic by looking at the amount of knee flexion. Dynamic = very little or no flexion. Ballistic = a little to lots of flexion.
So what do I do? work more on static flexibility and lower the height of dynamic stretches so that my knees are straight? Also, I keep the knees slightly bent while doing side leg raises, too. Should I fix this as well?
Am I right in thinking that you are female Wildlings? If so that sort of reverse flexibility is more common in women. It's common in the elbows too. So it could be that you are already very flexible and should instead work on your stability?
Yeah side leg raises give me a bit of pain on the outer thigh. Can i resolve this by doing some smaller dynamic stretching as wildings has suggested? Baza
Yes, I am female. As for flexibility, I've always been quite tight, but I'm afraid I can't understand properly what you mean. Can you explain?
To me having knees that bend back like that would be indicative of having loose joints generally? Flexible connective tissues? I've always been naturally flexible (not now I'm 40 though) but that flexibility came at the expense of stability and strength. But seeing as you aren't flexible it's probably just a feature of your genetics and family as you say.
Exactly right. Keep your dynamic stretches within the limit determined by your static flexibility. Slight bend in the knees is fine in side leg raises.
Go read a thread titled "Pain in side splits" or something like that. I just posted in it so it should be near the top of the forum page (depending when you read this of course). Moosey offers advice to resolve your problem.
