Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 03:05:06 -0400
From: Paul Chek <PChek@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: SQUAT INITIATION - HIPS OR KNEES?


SQUAT INITIATION - HIPS OR KNEES?

To those questioning my position on this issue, here is a brief look at
where the opinion comes from:

When you initiate the squat from the hips, the load immediately moves
forward, encouraging hyper-recruitmant of spinal erectors in order to break
the inertia of what is often a very large load. The squat movement is a
complex sequence of joint movements and interactive muscle actions that
requires practically full range of motion of all lower extremity joints.
The point here is that if you always end up in the bottom position,
regardless of the pathway you take to get there. Because power lifters
train and compete with very heavy weights, and because a large percentage
of them suffer from faulty recruitment of the abdominal wall, I feel it is
best to perform the movement in the most efficient way possible, thereby
leaving more neural drive to raise and lower the load, not wasting energy
on excessive bar travel in the sagittal plane.

The very point you raised regarding initiation from the hips to bring the
load to the heels demonstrates that for the elite power lifter to maintain
a bar path that is as vertical as possible they must leave the bar where it
is in the sagittal plane, resulting in the necessity to "shift the hips
backward during the descent", thereby exposing the spinal erectors to
extreme loads and the spine itself to extreme compressive and sheer loads.
The effects of such a technique is that the spine will wear out at an
accelerated pace.

Initiation from the knees allows the hips to stay under the bar longer and
reduces the moment on the spinal erectors and the overall work performed.
This allows more neural drive for the larger musculature of the hips and
legs to move the load and minimizes sheer and compressive forces on the
lumbar spine. This is very important because all human joint capsules have
mechano-receptors that are pressure, tension and motion sensitive. The type
III receptors have very much the same function as golgi tendon organs
(inhibition of the muscles crossing the joint!). Because the body is a self
protective organism and will do all possible to protect itself from injury,
overloading these receptors will cause a down-regulation of neural drive to
the muscles crossing the joints in jeopardy.

In my opinion, you should not be saying "that's not how Hatfield and others
do it", but how can I do it better! There are very few in the world of
exercise that have performed extensive cadaver dissection or spent years
rehabilitating musculoskeletal injury - while at the same time exploring
relevant findings on weight lifting athletes. All my programs are based on
how the body functions. In time you will see that as the exercise community
gets a better grasp on functional anatomy that technique will change to
foster optimal function. The question is, "How much could these men have
squatted if they were trained to have functional abdominal musculature and
had optimal stabilizer development programs, and trained to program the
nervous system under the guidelines of skilled performance, not so much
just a balls to the walls effort, BUT SCIENCE IN MOTION?"

I do not discredit the accomplishments of any great man, I just seek to
find ways to make them better!!

Sincerely, Paul Chek
www.paulchekseminars.com