Ground Up Strength

Is the Hamstring to Quadriceps Strength Ratio Really Important?

Many strength trainees, bodybuilders, and exercisers are told that there should be a certain ratio between the strength of their hamstring and quadriceps muscles. Called the H/Q ratio and reported to be anywhere from .50 to .75 with a normative value of .60, the strength ratio of this important agonist/antagonist pairing is considered essential to the stability of the knee joint and to prevent ACL and other injuries. It is also sometimes thought to be predictive of those at risk for hamstring strain.

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Anatomical Direction Terms: A Glossary and Reference

Directional terms are widespread in all references concerning human performance, including anatomy, kinesiology, sports medicine, athletic training; and strength and bodybuilding coaching. At first, these terms can be confusing to the student of strength training but they are easy to understand once the fundamentals are studied.

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Flat Back Posture

In the "flat back"¹ postural alignment, the cervical spine is slightly extended, the upper thoracic spine is in flexion, the lower thoracic straight, the lumber straight (flexed) and the pelvis is posteriorly tilted. Bibliography item kendall not found.

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Muscle Roles: What is an Agonist, Antagonist, Stabilizer, Fixator or Neutralizer Muscle?

Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about how skeletal muscles function to produce the body's movements concerns their particular role. Most people think that a muscle performs ONE particular and very defined role and that they always perform this role. This is not how it works. Muscles must work together to produce different bodily movements and a particular muscle's role may change depending on the movement.

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The Shoulder Complex: Demystifying the Shoulder with Eric Beard

The shoulder joint itself is known as the glenohumeral joint. It is a multi-axial ball and socket enarthrodial joint. This joint is the articulation between the glenoid fossa of the scapula and the head of the humerus. This is the area that most people think of as the shoulder joint.

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Ideal Postural Alignment (Normal Posture)

In this postural alignment the neck is slightly extended, the upper back is in slight flexion, and the lower back is in slight extension.¹ The slightly extended inward curve of the neck (cervical spine) and lower back (lumbar spine) is referred to as lordotic. In this way a normal slightly arched position of the neck and lumbar in a position of lordosis. However, this term is generally meant to mean a hyper-extended or over-arched position.

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Knees Over Toes Myth

This Knees Over Toes thread contains information debunking the prevelant myth that the knees should never travel past the toes in a squat or lunge.

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Weak Links Versus Sticking Points

A common misnomer and mixup, this one is a mixture of misnaming and mix-up. In this case, however, rather than sticking points and weak links being confused themselves, it is their RELATIONSHIP that is confused.

All this leads to an analysis of lifts based on muscular contributions at certain portions of the lift: an approach that sometimes has merits but creates false assumptions about what sticking points are versus what biomechanical weak links are.

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The Kinetic Chain: Open Versus Closed

The concept of the kinetic chain was purportedly introduced in 1955 by Arthur Steindler in his important book Kinesiology of the HUMAN BODY UNDER NORMAL AND PATHOLOGYICAL CONDITIONS. He wrote:

"We designate an open kinetic chain a combination in which the terminal joint is free. The waving of the hand is an open kinetic chain in which the action of the shoulder joint, the elbow joint, and the wrist joint are successively involved.

A closed kinetic chain, on the other hand, is one in which the terminal joint meets with some considerable external resistance which prohibits or restrains it free motion. Eventually, the external resistance may be overcome and the peripheral portion of the joint may move against this resistance, for instance, in pushing a cart or lifting a load; or the external resistance is absolute, in which case the proximal part moves against the peripheral, as for instance, in chinning oneself on a horizontal bar; or the limitations of the muscular effort may assert itself both peripherally and proximally and may be unsurmountable, in which case no visible motion is produced. Only in the latter instance is the kinetic chain strictly and absolutely closed.

However in common use we apply the term to all situations in which the peripheral joint of the chain meets with overwhelming external resistance." Bibliography item steindler not found.

It is clear that there was a great deal of internal inconsistency in this original definition and this still exists since the terms have been re-defined again and again. While the problems are real, and whether the terms themselves are ultimately useful remains to be seen, there is no need for confusion for the amateur strength trainee as such idiosyncrasies serve little purpose for general strength development. It is "common use" we are concerned with, as Dr. Steindler himself points out in quote above¹

Therefore, purpose of this explanation is to help the reader understand, in simple terms, the concept for open kinetic chain versus closed kinetic chain. As such the complexities of the kinetic chain concept in it's entirety are not discussed, for to understand this concept completely would require an entire tome as it involves more than just the bones of the body and their joint linkages but also encompasses the soft tissues such as muscle, tendon, ligament, and the nervous system.

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