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Co-contraction during the squat
Rip
I wonder if you could clarify something that has bothered me since reading SS. It relates to co-contraction of the quads and hamstrings which, as I understand it, is best achieved by going deeper and does not really happen with partial squats. Obviously to reach the bottom position in the full squat, however, one has to pass through the partial squat position. Why is this phase of the movement not potentially dangerous for the knees? I assume the reason is something to do with forces in the knee being greatest at the change of direction and therefore the support of the hamstrings is most important at this time, but please can you either confirm or correct my thinking. Just to be clear, this is not in any way an argument against the squat, I'm just interested in the explanation!
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When you start your descent, your hips are traveling back and your knees are moving out as well as forward, and as this happens your back angle is assuming the position it will be in at the bottom of the squat. All these movements act to tighten the hamstrings from the start of the movement, so there is never a point during the squat where they are not balancing the quad.
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Thanks for the reply. From this I take it that for a partial squat to be considered unsafe that those who perform them must be doing something fundamentally different? Presumably leading more with the knee bend and maintaining a more upright posture? There may be legitimate reasons to perform the partial movement, either while flexibility does not yet allow full range, or perhaps for athletes performing jump squats, and I wondered if in these cases it was perhaps unsafe to load the movement heavily because of a lack of co-contraction. From your reply it sounds as though they could be loaded as heavily as required as long as they perform the movement as you describe.
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I know of no legitimate reason to perform a partial movement, since flexibility is essentially never a limiting factor. SEARCH FUNCTION teaches you these things.
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Ha ha well at least I made onto my second post before being told to use the search function! I had tight hamstrings in mind when I mentioned flexibility, something discussed in the book. However, a quick re-read tells me that this can be cured quickly. I must confess I was doubtful but have just spent the last half hour slowly coaxing a client with tight hamstrings into the correct position, I think for the first time ever, so its clearly easier than I thought. I'm not sure he was grateful at the time judging by the noise but at least I'm happy. I have one other burning question but will spend a little more time with the search function first...
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