A Question about Hip & Knee Extension...

This is a two part question I’m hoping someone could shed light on…

  1. Is the acceleration phase (0-40yds) from a standing start more"associated" with Hip or Knee Extension???.. What is acceleration correlated with more???..

Am I wrong in saying that Knee extension is used more in the acceleration phase than Hip extension???, thus Knee extension exercises in the gym would be more appropriate for training acceleration???..

  1. Is there any difference between “Regular squats” than “Dumbell squats”???.. Both exercises seem to incoporate both Knee and Hip extension, Are they the same???..

Thoughts…

  1. Depends on the level of the athlete as to how long acc. lasts. Hip extension rules, no matter what kind of start. Yes you are wrong in saying that knee extension rules in acc., its more involved, but hip extension via the hamstrings is more active during all phases.
    Check this out http://www.elitetrack.com/wiemann.pdf

  2. Yes, you cannot overload and stress the organism to nearly the same extent with a DB squat as compared to a BB squat. So no their not the same and although the movement appears to work the same, the BB squat would be supierior because it stress the organism to a much greater xtent.

Cheers Numba.

You say…

the BB squat would be supierior because it stresses the organism to a much greater extent.

On what terms???.. On the terms that you can load the bar with alot more weight in the BB squat???..

Yes, exactly RnR, because more weight can be handled in a BB squat. There is also a greater stress because the BB is moved through a greater range of motion and also you couldnt hold as much weight as you could load on a BB.

For the first few steps out of the blocks the quads may be the primary movers. As knee flexion decreases they play less and less of a role in producing horizontal velocity. The quads would be the primary mover when the base of support is behind the COG and there is flexion around the knee.

mmm i dont think they are the prime movers, but definately are more active out of the blocks. They get trained strength wide good enough using just the general movements(ie squats).