Substituting Barbell for Body Bar for inner and outer thigh work

[lilmo]

Cathe or anyone,

Yesterday I did PS Strong Legs and Abs with a modification that made me curious. I don't have a body bar, so I used a 10# dumbbell for the floor work instead. Is placing a dumbbell on the inner or outer thigh for adduction/abduction as effective as using a body bar? Or are ankle weights a better substitution? If you use ankle weights, would you match the body bar pound for pound?

Thanks!
Mona

 

[Aquajock]

Since I'm probably an "anyone", I'll take a shot at this one:

From what I can picture, if you placed a dumbbell on the leg for inner or outer thigh work you'd have to place it closer to the hip joint so that you can hold it in place. If that's the case, then your working muscles would not be working as hard, because the closer the weight load is to the working joint, the "lighter" it is and the easier the workload. Conversely, the further away an equal amount of weight is from the working joint, the "heavier" it is and the harder the muscles at that joint have to work. There's a whole physics equation related to that, but I'm too bald this afternoon to remember it from my textbooks.

If you don't have a body bar, IMHO ankle weights would be a good substitution. In fact, probably a better one because you are concentrating all of the weight in the ankle cuff, rather than the weight being distributed along the body bar.

A-Jock

 

[lilmo]

That's what I suspected. Thanks A-Jock! You are always so helpful and knowledgable!!