More Multijoint Exercises

When working for lean, athletic legs, you have to consider all of the joints that provide leg movement. The hip, knee, and ankle joints are intricately involved in lower-extremity movement, both functional and athletic. Because of this biomechanical fact, some muscles span more than one joint and are called multijoint muscles. They actually perform different actions at each joint. For example, the rectus femoris is the primary knee extensor at the knee joint, but it also works to flex the hip at the hip joint. The hamstring muscles are primary knee flexors, but because they attach to the pelvis they can also extend the hip.

Multijoint exercises closely simulate the way your body works and plays. For example, if you were to kick a ball, it is unlikely that you would do so from a stationary position, by bending the knee back and extending it to kick the ball. Rather, you would probably run up to the ball to kick it and use some hip extension and flexion for more power. As I discussed in chapter 4, the movement patterns, force application, and velocity of movement of an exercise should mimic those of the activity you are training for in order for you to get the most benefit. You can work your quadriceps muscles when by performing a single-joint leg extension, but that type of exercise will not transfer to your sports performance to the same extent that a dynamic multijoint exercise would.

Likewise as you go about your daily activities, your body just doesn't move one muscle or joint at a time. Walking is a simple example of a multijoint activity. Even though it doesn't look very complicated and most of us do it all of the time, it involves every joint and every muscle in the lower extremities. Many other simple activities that we do everyday, like sitting down, also involve multiple joints and therefore can be trained for by doing multijoint exercises. And keep in mind that because they work more areas at one time than single joint exercises do, multijoint exercises burn more calories and are more time-efficient. In addition to squats, the exercises that follow employ multiple joints and multijoint muscles.

LEG PRESS

LUNGE

STEP-UP