As some of you may know, we are spending most of our time developing content in the background right now for the Coaches Corner, but we want to drop some stuff in every now and then to show you some of the content that will be featured.
In this slide, I discuss Degrees of Freedom at specific joints (in quite a simplistic manner, as human joints are not necessarily as simple as hinges on a door).
Why is this important?
Example A: Trainees often perform wide and narrow grip barbell curls. If one understands that the elbow joint does not have a degree of freedom in the coronal plane/sagittal axis (i.e. it does not abduct/adduct), it becomes clear why such variations may not do very much for training the elbow flexors, and *could* potentially put unnecessary stress on the elbow joint.
Example B: When one performs a sumo deadlift, they are moving at primarily the hip and knee joints. Although the hips can abduct, the knees cannot, and therefore, when one "runs out" of hip range of motion or cannot support the force requirements in that range, the knees end up taking more of the load and/or "caving in" to the knee adduction force.
These are just simple examples of where these very basic descriptions of joint function come into play in exercise prescription.
