Training Myths That Won’t Die Ep. 1: Locking Out

“Locking out is a bad idea.”

1. Why? No, seriously. The next time someone tells you locking out is bad, ask them why they think that. Prepare to be bombarded with a spectrum of retorts ranging from “it’s obvious” to [insert misunderstandings of biomechanics here]

2. Of the joints that lock out, every single one was designed by evolution to do so. “You’re not supposed to lock out your knees at the top.” No, that’s actually EXACTLY what they are designed to do.

3. From the pure biomechanics side, it is by no means clear that joint forces are higher during lockout than during any other loaded joint position. Joint forces highly depend on a variety of factors, of which “locked out or not” is just one. And, to refer back to point #2, it’s not even clear that high forces are to be avoided in the first place.

4. Certain portions of your muscles (motor units) activate more when you lock out than when you don’t, which leads to a more complete stimulus and growth. Skipping the lockout could be interfering with maximal development.

5. Many of the bodybuilders you see avoiding lockouts on video: Have been training for decades and are too beat up to lock out on certain moves... many would do it if they still could.
• Are days or weeks away from their shows, and are excessively dry, which makes locking out more difficult than under normal circumstances.
• Are on drugs that further dry out their bodies and their joints, and make locking out that much more problematic.
If you don’t fall into any of those categories... you should not be religiously avoiding lockouts.

6. In strength sports like weightlifting and powerlifting, locking out is part of a complete lift and simply must be trained. If not trained, that part of the lift will not improve as much and will begin to hold you back.

locking out is bad you niger, you are compressing the cartilage in the joints.

7. It is by no means clear what “constant tension on the muscles” accomplishes. Does it accumulate more metabolites? No, taking a short break at lockout and squeezing out more reps does that. Does it let you do more work per set? Again, it actually keeps you from doing more work. Does it increase the number of “effective reps” (see Borge André Fagerli’s discussions of MyoReps for details on that concept)? Nope, again, quite the opposite.

8. There may very well be good arguments, times, places, and situations for avoiding lockouts. But they are not universals that apply at face value. It’s not right to religiously LOCK OUT EVERYTHING NO MATTER WHAT, but avoiding lockouts religiously is bad just the same.

Alright, I’m off to watch people at the gym do their sets only to shake my head in disapproval as they lock out their reps and tell them that their joints are headed for certain destruction.

I have cancer in my elbows so I don't lock out on any pushing movement anymore. I did before when my elbows were fine though.

>It is by no means clear what “constant tension on the muscles” accomplishes. Does it accumulate more metabolites? No, taking a short break at lockout and squeezing out more reps does that

I remember pic related suggesting to do LTE with arms slightly bent in order to keep "constant tension on the muscles"

Then again Scooby is Scooby and Israetel is Israetel

Feel free to find one (1) medical report or academic paper stating that "locking out will tear cartilage in the joints".

[cartilage intensifies]

every oly lifter has issues with elbows, right?

not really

The fuck are you talking about

the only problem with locking out, imho, is that the joints can't adjust and accommodate stressors on the three dimensional planes. An unlocked elbow and knee can minimally move laterally and diagonally and may allow the connected body parts to better receive and handle some real weight. Once you're locking out, an unwarranted diagonal force (due to unbalance, stress or inexperience) is potentially extremely harming...

... and then disaster kicks in

and again

Locking out is actually beneficial for joint strength

yeah you avoid locking out so you don't unintentionally hyperextend the joint

>"lock your knees out" they said
>"it'll be fine" they said
>"it's beneficial for joint strength" they added

What you mean to say is that Israetel is a doctor, and Scooby is the guy who accuses everyone of being a fake natty when their results are "unrealistic" (i.e. better than his).

>is obviously using too much weight

well, you know, using too much weight isn't an issue if you don't lock out. "too much" also is difficult to measure, you could load a leg press with sissy weight and still get injured because you didn't control your hyperextension.
All in all, is it worth the risk? Definitively it isn't in a machine, where you should NEVER lock out no matter what. In free weights exercises it could be argued that you're supposed to handle the weight in a proprioceptional responsible way, so this kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen. Yet, it *may* happen

This is fake u niggers she's double jointed and does it to fuck with people

kek at the name

all in all, at the end of the deadlift ROM, it seems that the your knee is (supposedly) aligned in the best possible way and every other orthogonal force has been (supposedly) evened out

>the problem is the weight

>you are compressing the cartilage in the joints
Exactly. And that is how cartilage is nourished. Although it is a matter of getting the loading right - not too much, not too little. Think Goldilocks.

I was very uneasy watching this

...

but you still watched, didn't you

I thought the guy looked like sam hyde and expected a comedy haha oh boy-video, THEN I REALISED IT WASN'T AND AAAA

This nigger is correct.

"Lifting will help you find someone who loves you"

>7. It is by no means clear what “constant tension on the muscles” accomplishes

i agree that this never made any sense, I feel like this grew from a common sense saying that you shouldnt just jerk out reps as fast as you possibly can (effectively swinging your weights) but then the myth grew and grew and now suddenly I'm supposed to do my reps as slowly as possible. no dude, there is a healthy normal speed at which to do reps and I alternate speeds all the time.
all these dumb rules made for dumb people and then repeated forever are harmful

>In free weights exercises it could be argued that you're supposed to handle the weight in a proprioceptional responsible way, so this kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen
>every other orthogonal force has been (supposedly) evened out
When you're doing leg press you should never "lock your knees". You should never end your concentric phase "resting" on your locked knees; rather, you should keep an isometric contraction before going down again.

This applies to squats too. You should NEVER rest with "locked knees" in-between reps. If you can't hold the weight isometrically (legs extended, but not locked; stabilizers engaged) you should end your set and/or lower the weight.

You're more likely to see people fucking up completely their knees with the leg press because with the leg press you "cheat" — or, better, you focus on the quads and gluteus maximus, without challenging core and stabilizers. So, people are likely to put to stress knees in ways they wouldn't have been able to with squats.
Still, you can in ruin (in the long run) knees with heavy squats too if you are used to lock your knees. Many people keep "locking" their knees to rest in-between squat and deadlift sets. Some supplements may (glucosamine) may help, but prevention is necessary.

TL;DR never ever lock your knees in any compound movement; not with free weights (squat, deadlift) and not with machines (leg press)

Why even lock out, its a rest position. Resting is dumb during a work set.

what if you lift with lifting shoes/minimal heel rather than barefoot? It should compensate for that

>cancer in my elbows
wat

fugg

>that’s actually EXACTLY what they are designed to do.
Designed by whom?

g*d

>Lock your elbows
>Get elbow cancer

>god is not real

>tfw you need to be a trap in order to acquire perfect form

How many rigid body pivots do you guys do?

>high heels deadlift
what could go wrong?

Whether you believe in God or not is irrelevant, pretty much as your belief in an "intelligent design". It's easily arguable that man evolved and adapted in the last millennia so that our physical features are there for a purpose

Hello. You're full of shit, and to prove it, I loaded up double body weight and held it all on one locked out knee.
Your knees are made to be locked out.

Missourifag?

nice cherry picking retard
>this guy hurt himself so you will DEFINITELY
meanwhile at the olympics he's the only person this happened to and people there have got 200kg+ locked out above their head

>I loaded up double body weight and held it all on one locked out knee.
I can't actually see the fucking knee, nor I can see if you're engaging the muscles around the knees or resting in the locked out position.
Either way, if you've really locked it, you're a fucking brain-dead idiot.
Not because your knees are not made to be locked out, but because you're easily exposing your joints to orthogonal forces standing on one leg like that. Your proprioception as been good enough once, won't be always good enough.

If you really want to argue like that. That guy is a top-tier athlete, you probably are not. That guy has trained his joints over and over, and still, one hyperextension, and it's a one way ticket to snap city. Now, what if you're not an athlete, if you don't aim to compete in oly events and you don't have a full set of personal trainers double checking your form constantly? You have to be at least very wary that a locked out joint has its weaknesses.
But it seems you focused only on the picture, not on the text. So..

you're text was "this person locked out and the bar wasn't perfectly balanced so if this happens to you you will dislocate your shoulder immediately", you're cherry picking one athlete it happened to out of everyone who competed
will it happen to some people who are hyper mobile? yes but that's not to say that everyone and anyone who locks out will fuck their shit up, much like the rest of lifting if you are using progressive overload you'll be fine

>being this delusional

fucking manlets when will they learn

No, that's not the content of that post. Your reading comprehension is pretty horrible. Or maybe you're legitimately retarded, since "shoulder dislocation" was not discussed, nor it's something that happened to this athlete.
I don't expect that now you'll even attempt to really inform yourself on his incident, or to grasp the content and meaning of that post.
So, let's just say that your marvellous opinion has been noted. Have a nice day!

obviously i meant elbow, but that one grammatical error was all you needed to get out of being called out, i was watching it when it happened and i've seen it happen in real life too
you can use what ever coping mechanism you want to ignore any people who disagree with you but it's not a healthy thing long term to assume that anyone who disagrees with you is stupid