Concerning hamstrings, they play a moderate role in support throughout the squat. The hamstring's EMG activity is about half of the activity of a leg curl or a stiff legged deadlift. Hamstrings main role is knee flexion and hip extension, so it helps stabilize movement in both downward and upward movement. Activity is pretty consistent throughout the squat and squat depth doesn't really further activate the hamstrings. So going any lower in the squat does not help in hamstring growth.
Recently, I did a group project on a Strength and Conditioning article about the kinetics of squats. I was responsible for explaining the role of the hip muscles during a squat. Here's some details: There are two primary hip muscles used during the squat, the Gluteus Maximus and the hamstrings. First, I'll explain the role of the glutes. The glutes are a powerful hip extensor. During the downward movement, the gluteus maximus help control and stabilize your pelvis and knees. The stabilization of the knees is important because it prevents your knees from going too outward or inward, which can lead to knee injuries. Also, if you go down too fast during the squat, that can put a lot of stress on your joints due to abrupt force when you stop before the upward movement. On the upward movement, the gluteus maximus is used too drive the weight up, overcoming resistance. In terms of muscle activity, the glutes are activated the lower you go. When people say to squat "ass to grass", they mean going below parallel, which is advisable when concentrating on glute development. Concerning hamstrings, they play a moderate role in support throughout the squat. The hamstring's EMG activity is about half of the activity of a leg curl or a stiff legged deadlift. Hamstrings main role is knee flexion and hip extension, so it helps stabilize movement in both downward and upward movement. Activity is pretty consistent throughout the squat and squat depth doesn't really further activate the hamstrings. So going any lower in the squat does not help in hamstring growth. The hips and spine share a close relationship. I've recently read a blog post about how it doesn't matter if your knees go past your toes during a squat. So when examining a restricted knee squat, where a board restricts your knees from going forward during movement, it has been shown that hip torque is significantly increased. People that have poor hip mobility will have the tendency to compensate by leaning forward, which leads to lumbar shear and back problems. So you should pay special attention to hip mobility when going down during the squat, since your back is very susceptible to injury if not adequately warmed up or if your back is fatigued, due to overtraining. So my biggest tip regarding your hips during the squat is to warm up by doing hip swings, both external/internal rotations and extension/flexion. This will help save your knees and your back, so like Drake says, "You can thank me now".
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Ever since I started the Exercise Science program at Georgia State, I've been wanting to start a blog and share all the new stuff I've been learning. Right now, I'm learning a lot about the anatomy of the body and the actions of a bunch of muscles I wasn't even aware of. Before, my vernacular usually was how can I get a bigger chest, but now I think about which bench angle will best work my clavicular head of my pectoralis major, as oppose to my sternocostal head. I wanted to be able to share some of the new concepts I'm learning in kinesiology classes, while at the same time, have something I could reference back to in the future. Also, I feel I can bring another perspective regarding fitness and health than that of someone that feels the need to give advice because they workout a lot, but doesn't know the science behind each exercise. Don't get me wrong, I'm by no means an expert myself, but the material I'm learning in my classes are fresh in my mind and I'm a 100% fully committed to learning about the science of exercise the rest of my life. Besides learning all these new kinesiology theories in class, I also apply everything I learn in the gym.
To me, the goal is to be able to combine the theory and science of exercise with the application of exercise in the gym. On one hand, you have these guys that go to the gym, seven days of the week and have made significant gains through hard work and determination, have read a few articles on bodybuilding.com, and now feel the need to give advice. On the other hand, you have Exercise Science students, that aspire to be future physical therapists and make As on every test, but never go to the gym, even though they are "exercise science" majors. My goal is to be the perfect balance between those two, that way I am better able to help and advise, future clients. A lot of so-called experts I notice, are all application, but no theory and vice versa. This is the reason I have started this blog, as a way to share the education I am partaking in, which is only costing me $5k a semester. Hopefully, I can bring a new perspective to fitness that other blogs don't. So expect a lot of my posts to include material of stuff I'm already learning in class. This includes a lot of my views on strength and conditional articles from respected academic journals and lectures from my kinesiology class. Also, I will include observations from my real life experiences from my workouts in the gym, past and present. |
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