Lake, Keogh, Swinton - 1
Lake, Keogh, Swinton - 1
Lake, Keogh, Swinton - 1
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Editor in Chief
Journal of Fitness Research
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF
BIOMECHANICAL PRINCIPLES IN
RESISTANCE TRAINING: MOMENTS
AND MOMENT ARMS
Justin W.L. Keogh 1,2,3, Jason P. Lake 4, Paul A. Swinton 5
1
Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Australia
2
Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand
3
Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
4
Department of Sport and Exercise Science University of Chichester, Chichester, UK
5
School of Health Sciences, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
ABSTRACT
Exercise professionals routinely prescribe resistance training to clients with varied goals. Therefore, they need
to be able to modify the difficulty of a variety of exercises and to understand how such modifications can alter
the relative joint loading on their clients so to maximise the potential for positive adaptation and to minimise
injury risk. This paper is the first in a three part series that will examine how a variety of biomechanical
principles and concepts have direct relevance to the prescription of resistance training for the general and
athletic populations as well as for musculoskeletal injury rehabilitation. In this paper, we start by defining the
terms moment (torque), moment arms, compressive, tensile and shear forces as well as joint stress (pressure).
We then demonstrate how an understanding of moments and moment arms is integral to the exercise
professionals’ ability to develop a systematic progression of variations of common exercises. In particular, we
examine how a variety of factors including joint range of motion, body orientation, type of external loading,
the lifter’s anthropometric proportions and the position of the external load will influence the difficulty of each
exercise variation. We then highlight the primary results of several selected studies which have compared the
resistance moment arms and joint moments, forces or stresses that are encountered during selected variations
of common lower body resistance training exercises. We hope that exercise professionals will benefit from this
knowledge of applied resistance training biomechanics and be better able to systematically progress exercise
difficulty and to modify joint loading as a result. The two remaining articles in this series will focus on the
neuromechanical properties of the human musculoskeletal system and better understanding the biomechanical
implications of a variety of alternative resistance training techniques, respectively.
Table 1: Definitions, examples and implications of tensile, compressive and shear forces and stress within the
body.
Hanging from a chin up bar whereby the weight (downward force caused by
A force that tends gravity) of the body tends to decompress (separate) the vertebrae.
Tensile force to pull two tissues Forces that tend to pull apart (rupture) the posterior and anterior cruciate
apart. ligaments during common leg exercises such as leg extensions, leg curls and
lunges.
Performing a squat whereby the barbell load and the upper body’s weight
A force that tends tends to compress the lumbar vertebrae.
Compressive force to push two tissues Performing a forward lunge whereby the weight of the barbell load and the
together. lifters body weight as well as their forward momentum tends to compress the
femur and tibia and internal knee joint structures.
Performing a bent over row whereby the barbell load and upper body tends
A force that tends to
to cause the back to round and the lumbar vertebrae to slide past each other,
cause two tissues
Shear force stressing structures such as the lumbar ligaments and vertebral discs.
to slide past each
Performing a knee extension whereby the femur and tibia tend to slide past
other.
each other and increasing the load on the anterior cruciate ligaments.
The magnitude of an
internal force over
The compressive force of bodyweight and any other external load acting on an
a given anatomical
anatomical structure of a given area e.g. the lumbar vertebrae during the squat.
Stress area. This is calcu-
Changes in the loading (stress) acting on the patellofemoral (knee) joint
lated in the same
throughout the range of motion of a squat.
way as the pressure
in a fluid.
1a 1b 1c
Figure 2: Differences in the direction of the lumbar spine resistance moment arms in the seated cable row (Figure
2a) and bent over row (Figure 2b).
2a 2b
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6a 6b
Versions
Exercise Study Primary findings
Compared
Exercise variation influenced both moment arm length and joint moments.
Moment arm length tended to decrease from Trad to PL to Box squats,
but was not influenced by load. Lower back moments were maximised
Squat Trad, PL and Box Swinton et al.
during Trad squats, hip moments, both extension and abduction, during
PL squats, knee moments during Box squats, and ankle moments during
Trad squats.
Ankle moment arm length and joint moments typically maximised during
Wide stance squats, decreasing from Wide to Medium to Narrow. Similar
Narrow, medium Escamilla et patterns observed for both hip and knee joints too, but differences were
Squat
and wide stance al. 6 less consistent. For example, differences in hip and knee joint moments
only occurred when the knee joint was flexed 45o. A similar pattern was
noted for moment arm length.
Moment arms and joint moments at the hip were not influenced by exer-
cise variation. In contrast, barbell mass and combined system mass were
Escamilla et
Deadlift CDL and SDL located more posterior to the knee during the SDL, resulting in significant-
al.
ly greater extension moments at the knee (peak moment approx 3-fold
greater) in comparison to the CDL.
PTF compressive force and stress was greater with increased knee flex-
SSFL and LSFL; ion. Between 70-90o of knee flexion, PTF force and stress was greater for
Forward Escamilla et
Stationary vs a STFL than LSFL. Between 10-40o of knee flexion, PTF force and stress
Lunge al.
striding was greater for a stepping forward lunge than a stationary lunge (split
squat) with no step forward.
All lunge variations examined produced very low mean ACL TF, suggest-
ing all are applicable for ACL rehabilitation clients. Alternatively, all lunge
variations produced quite high PCL loading, meaning that these exercises
Forward Escamilla et
SSFL and LSFL should be cautious in using them with PCL rehabilitation clients. Mean
Lunge al.
PCL TF was greater in LSFL than SSFL between 0-80 o of knee flexion; as
well as in stationary than stepping forward lunge between 0-20o of knee
flexion.
* Trad = traditional squat; PL = powerlifting squat; Box = box squat Narrow; CDL = conventional deadlift; SDL = sumo deadlift; HBDL =
hexagonal bar deadlift; SSFL = short step forward lunge; LSFL = long step forward lunge; PTF = Patello-femoral compressive force; ACL =
anterior cruciate ligament; TF = tensile force; PCL = posterior cruciate ligament.