KNEE DOMINANT STRENGTH EXECISES

In previous publications we have commented on the benefits of working core statically rather than in motion. Next, we would like to talk about the work of the leg muscles, specifically the knee dominant exercises, with their peculiarities and some exercises that we can use.

Deadlift by Matthew Batchelor CC BY 2.0

First of all, when we refer to the training of the lower body, we generally find 2 types of exercises, the hip dominant exercises and the knee dominant exercises. In this post we are going to refer in a concrete way to the second group.

To have a clear reference, we can define dominant knee exercises as those in which the work falls on the anterior part of the leg, which perform the function of extending the knee joint, involving mainly the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis and vastus medialis.
We add the following SlideShare for clarifications:

In every exercise, the trunk position should remain upright, with the pelvis neutral. In addition, for the work to be effective and to avoid the risk of injury, we must always, during the execution of each exercise, to prevent the knee over the toe of the foot, taking the hips down and back, without losing the neutrality of the pelvis.

(Boyle, 2014)

Following Michael Boyle's proposal, we are going to present a set of exercises, with their progressions, with a dominant knee movement pattern.

1. Body weight squat: we will perform the correct squatting technique, without adding any extra weight until the performer performs it correctly, since otherwise we would be adding weight to a poorly executed movement, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

2. Goblet Squat: we will make the squat pattern, correctly, with a dumbbell placed at the height of the clavicle, affecting that it is touching, simultaneously, the clavicle and the lower part of the sternum, thus ensuring the correct alignment of the back.

3. Squat with hexagonal bar: the hexagonal bar allows the movement pattern to be carried out respecting the alignment of the spine and neck, as well as the pelvic neutrality, so it is advisable to first qua the squat with the bar in the back.

On the other hand, it will also be very interesting to work unilaterally, because these exercises can be considered as a progression of the exercises with the body weight. Once the technique is mastered, the unilateral work can be introduced with loads.

1. Split: the performer will be asked to take a wide step forward and maintain that position, with one leg in front of the other, separating the width of the hips. From this position, the legs should be flexed to form a 90º angle each one of them, and go up again to complete the repetition.

2. Stride (lateral): the execution is identical to the Split, but initiating the movement from the standing position. The intensity is increased by the braking action. Once the technique is mastered, the lateral variant can be introduced, making the step sideways, to the right or left, instead of forward.

3. Bulgarian stride: This will be done as a Split squat, but placing the back foot on an elevated surface to increase the tension on the supporting leg.

(Boyle, 2014)

We hope you found this post interesting and you can include these exercises in your training routine.

See you in the next post.

“May the force be with you!”

REFERENCES

Boyle, M. (2014). New functional training for sport.