Muscle Activation Sequence in Flywheel Squats

Darjan Spudić, Darjan Smajla, Michael David Burnard and Nejc Šarabon
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Darjan Spudić: Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Darjan Smajla: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska, 6310 Izola, Slovenia
Michael David Burnard: InnoRenew CoE, 6310 Izola, Slovenia
Nejc Šarabon: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska, 6310 Izola, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Muscle coordination is important for rational and effective planning of therapeutic and exercise interventions using equipment that mimics functional movements. Our study was the first to assess muscle coordination during flywheel (FW) squats. Methods: Time-of-peak electromyographic activation order was assessed separately for 8, 4, and 3 leg muscles under four FW loads. A sequential rank agreement permutations tests (SRA) were conducted to assess activation order and Kendall’s tau was used to assess the concordance of activation order across subjects, loads and expected order of activation. Results: SRA revealed a latent muscle activation order at loads 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1, but not at 0.025 kg·m 2 . Kendall’s tau showed moderate-to-strong concordance between the expected (proximal-to-distal) and the observed muscle activation order only at a load 0.025 kg·m 2 , regardless of the number of muscles analyzed. Muscle activation order was highly concordant between loads 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1 kg·m 2 . Conclusions: The results show a specific role of each muscle during the FW squat that is load-dependent. While the lowest load follows the proximal-to-distal principle of muscle activation, higher loads lead to a reorganization of the underlying muscle coordination mechanisms. They require a specific and stable muscle coordination pattern that is not proximal-to-distal.

Keywords: isoinertial training; EMG; eccentric exercise; overload; muscle coordination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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