Strength and Power Notes Feb-Mar 2009
Late again this month, sorry. There have been plenty of distractions, as usual.
Progress continues on the new Newton Sports web site, which should be available soon. You can expect an easier navigation process, along with plenty of new bells and whistles. Several new content ideas are underway and will appear over the next few months.
I was pleased to get the first weightlifting newsletter out to those who have requested it. I’m starting modestly with this and expect to see it grow over time. I’m still behind on the cycling version of this, but it will be in the posted via Mail Chimp within the next few weeks.
The New Mexico Law Enforcement Wellness workshop in Santa Fe the week of January 26th went very well. Les Knight, PhD, presented on nutrition, use of heart rate monitors, and basic wellness for the law enforcement professional. I presented on stretching and flexibility, along with resistance training for recruits and incumbents. We had a total of 25 participants. On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) they evaluated the 4-day program:
| Mean = 4.28 | |
| Mean = 4.60 | |
| Mean = 4.44 | |
| Mean = 4.64 | |
| Mean = 4.56 |
On the last day I got over to see long-time friend and mentor, Carl Miller. Carl served as the USA Weightlifting national coaching coordinator in the 1970s and is the author of The Miller Fitness Plan. Sorry I didn’t get any pictures, but Carl and Sandra’s is a great gym for the serious Iron Game fan.
Next month I’ll work with colleague Doug Lane, owner of Cross Fit Amelia Island, on a daylong Explosive Lifting for Sports program. Doug has just completed two more Cross Fit instructor certifications and is really pumping up the sport of weightlifting for his clients and others in the North Florida area.
This clinic will also offer the opportunity for participants to receive Dartfish analysis of their lifts!
For complete details and to register for this program, click here
After having to postpone a couple of other attempts, plans are underway for me to conduct a two-day program at Cross Fit Alexandria, March 28-29. Rudy and Christy Nielsen will host this program. For details, check here
It’s not too early to plan on one of the biggest shows in 2009, the Central Virginia Sports Performance Seminar in Richmond, VA. Coach Jay DeMayo of University of Richmond is hosting a great 3-day program featuring some big names. I’m talking on teaching and analyzing explosive lifting technique. For details, check here
Kathleen Dugan, a licensed massage therapist with an interest in weightlifting, recently picked up my STFC Quick Series Guide. She contacted me with a question that I thought could best be answered here. Nearly all of us have been challenged by uninformed individuals about the safety of performing Squats.
I hope you enjoy this exchange. Let me know your reaction.
I am wondering what you say to people who insist that doing full squats is bad for your knees. I posit that just because the knee joint is involved, it doesn't mean there is excess stress being placed on it. Your elbow is involved in a snatch movement, but the elbow is not unduly stressed just because it is involved. It seems to me that there is more stress placed on the knee if the squat stops halfway.
Most people don't know anything about Olympic style weightlifting and so will listen to a PT, for example, over an experienced weightlifter. Of course, proper technique is essential, and from my observations in the gym, many people don't know about that, either. I'm an LMT who works with a lot of athletes and regular folks who work out in gyms, so I get the opportunity to talk about this a lot.
Your thoughts? I have been lifting for 8 years, only part-time more recently.
Thanks,
Kathleen Dugan
Kathleen-
No other exercise seems to elicit as much negativity, confusion, or concern as the Squat. Although the Squat is considered by most strength professionals to be the keystone lift for improved performance, the Squat is a very physically and psychologically challenging exercise that many people literally hate to perform. A good excuse for not squatting usually results in the opportunity to sit on a machine, such as a leg press, and “work the legs.”
I appreciate your question and the opportunity to cover some of the background associated with the topic of squatting and the knee.
When dealing with people and their often poorly informed decisions about squatting, I find it worthwhile to recommend some objective literature for their review. One of the best resources is the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s position paper on this subject. Their nine key conclusions are:
1Squats, when performed correctly and with appropriate supervision, are not only safe, but may be a significant deterrent to knee injuries.
2The squat exercise can be an important component of a training program to improve the athlete’s ability to forcefully extend the knees and hips, and can considerably enhance performance in many sports.
3Excessive training, overuse injuries and fatigue-related problems do occur with squats. The likelihood of such injuries and problems is substantially diminished by adherence to established principles of exercise program design.
4The squat exercise is not detrimental to knee joint stability when performed correctly.
5Weight training, including the squat exercise, strengthens connective tissue, including muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons.
6Proper form depends on the style of the squat and the muscles to be conditioned (Appendices A and B). Bouncing in the bottom position of a squat to help initiate ascent increases mechanical loads on the knee joint and is therefore contraindicated.
7While squatting results in high forces on the back, injury potential is low with appropriate technique and supervision. Conflicting reports exist as to the type, frequency and severity of weight-training injuries. Some reports of high injury rate may be based on biased samples. Others have attributed injuries to weight training, including the squat, which could have been caused by other factors.
8Injuries attributed to the squat may result not from the exercise itself, but from improper technique, pre-existing structural abnormalities, other physical activities, fatigue or excessive training.
Be sure to check the literature review for more in-depth highlights on this topic.It has always seemed most objective to me to measure the distance one can squat, from complete knee extension (standing erect) to complete flexion. That’s one’s full ROM, period. In so doing, some people will descend until their butts contact the ground; others will stop above parallel. These varying results are due mainly to limb length differences and flexibility. Regardless, there are end points within ones’ ROM that clearly define the limits.
Once the full ROM is known all terms are more clearly identified.
- A Full Squat is the point at which one can descend no farther; the knee is incapable of further flexion.
- The terms ½, 1/3, or ¼ Squat should only be applied when the ROM is accurately adjusted. Without a goniometer, determining any angle of flexion is highly subjective. Anything other than a full range-of-motion Squat is more easily defined simply as a Partial Squat.
- Parallel Squat should most clearly be known as the depth to which one descends in order to have the top of their thigh parallel to the floor. For most, this will mean the hip and knee joints are aligned. This could also be a Full Squat for some individuals.
Over time, previously logical definitions evolve. Advising someone to “Squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor” used to make sense, because everyone knew in powerlifting this meant the top of the thigh needed to be at, or below, parallel. Now we see advice that the bottom portion of the thigh should reach parallel, or “nearly” parallel. This is returning to a Partial Squat definition.
Escamilla’s excellent work, Knee Biomechanics of the Dynamic Squat Exercise, (MSSE, Volume 33, Number 1) mentions the ½ Squat is achieved by squatting “until the thighs are parallel with the ground.” He does not delineate whether this is the top or the bottom of the thigh. He mentions the Full (also referred to as Deep) Squat is achieved when the “the posterior thighs and legs make contact with each other.”
There are other references that attempt to define the Full Squat by a certain amount of hamstring compression against the calf muscle. Defining terms inconsistently does nothing to keep us “on the same page.”
From what I read then and since, Klein’s “study” would not survive current-day scientific scrutiny. In reviewing follow-up examinations of Klein’s work, no one has found with the same results. Few, if any, true experts in human movement today say the Squat, in and of itself, is dangerous.
Like any exercise, injury may occur from squatting incorrectly.
Klein’s conclusions were widely circulated, especially at the scholastic level. I was in high school when the word came out, “Squatting is bad for your knees.” This message resounds throughout the fitness profession and is ingrained in the minds of the general public nearly 50 years later.
Nearly all competitive weightlifters utilize a “squat style” for the Snatch lift and the Clean portion of the Clean-and-Jerk lift. They also spend a considerable amount of time training the Squat and the Front squat. In order to receive heavy weights in a balanced “bottom” position, weightlifters seek a squat posture with their hips nearly on top of their heels, the calves fully flattened against the hamstrings, ankles sharply dorsi-flexed, and the torso nearly perpendicular to the ground. The construction of their specialty shoes contributes to a dorsi-flexed ankle. The knee injury rate among weightlifters is not significant.
It’s also important to note that weightlifters seldom rise from a bottom position with the knees over the toes. This is a receiving position; the recovery from the bottom normally causes the knees to shift rearward, arising more similarly to powerlifters.
The so-called Parallel Squat came about as a result of two things: 1) Klein’s warnings and 2) the advent of powerlifting, in which the Squat is a competitive lift. In order to maximize the amount of weight lifted in the Squat, powerlifters have, over time, significantly altered the traditional Squat’s bottom position.
Powerlifters place the bar lower on their upper backs than weightlifters. This shortens the lever (the torso) and allows for a more forward-inclined torso. In the bottom, powerlifters’ hips are located farther back (behind the heels) and much higher compared to weightlifters.
Powerlifters avoid at all costs the sharp dorsi-flexed ankle position sought by weightlifters, thus keeping the shank (lower leg) almost perpendicular to the ground. This somewhat distorted posture keeps the barbell over the mid-foot and throws most of the muscular load to the gluteals. It also results in more weight being lifted, which is what powerlifters want.
The Squat was an early victim, targeted by those embracing Klein’s conclusions (without examining the issue in more detail). Initially it was only the Squat depth that was a concern. This was remedied somewhat by the advent of powerlifting and the Parallel Squat.
Today, the exercise police loudly caution that one’s knees should not move forward of the ankles or the toes (that’s a big difference).
The knee-over-foot or dorsi-flexed position is natural for those with adequate flexibility. In many cultures around the world people conduct much of their daily business in a full squat position with their knees forward of their ankles and/or toes. Young kids easily sit in a full squat position and appear to suffer no ill effects. In my opinion, most problems occur when ankle flexibility is lost, which I think coincides with our move to sitting on adult-sized furniture much of the day.
The weightlifter’s squatting posture with the knee over, or in front of, the toes, increases the amount of shear force to the knee joint. Keeping the shank perpendicular to the floor, like a powerlifter, with its resulting forward torso lean, increases the shear forces applied to the lumbar spine. It’s important to realize that shear forces are not negative variables; they appear regularly in daily activities and are present in most sporting movements.
Be sure to inform those arguing against squatting that the shear forces on the knee are considerably greater in single-joint movements such as the Leg (Knee) Extension and Leg (Knee) Curl. And, your very valid concern about shear forces in Partial Squats is also documented in several studies. The shear forces on the knee can be greater when the lifter is not performing a full range-of-motion. Some of this is due to postural considerations; part of it is due to excessive loads used in a partial ROM lift.
As with so many other parts of exercise prescription, the experienced eye of a good fitness professional is invaluable when it comes to suggesting what exercise to do and how to do it. It’s unfortunate that so much bum information gets passed around the weightroom.
There are some promising signs of enlightenment, however. I’m encountering more folks that realize that squatting, in and of itself, is not harmful for a healthy knee. Some athletic trainers (ATCs) and physical therapists are beginning to “see the light.” Groups like Velocity Sports Performance training systems talk about “positive shin angle” (dorsi-flexed) and its impact on running efficiency.
I’m not sure your comparison of knees and elbows is accurate. In the Squat we’re talking about the concern of a fully flexed knee joint. In the Snatch, the elbow is never fully flexed, but it is fully extended. True, in the Clean the elbows are fully flexed. Although the knee and elbow share common structural characteristics, we don’t hear cautionary warning about fully flexed elbows in the C&J. The exercise police do tend to express concern about a fully flexed elbow in some triceps movements, but again, is there a reason for this fear?
The elbow is a weak link in the Snatch, but this is related to a number of positional issues, wrist flexibility, and bar movement. That’s a topic for another day.
Thanks for your question and the opportunity to respond. Keep up the good work and keep changing opinions one at a time!
Harvey Newton