Muscular-Fitness

Over the years many of my personal training clients have asked me is locking out the muscle good or bad for the muscle or for the joint. Well the answer to that question is locking out the muscle is both good and bad. However there is a safe and unsafe way to lock out the muscle to enhance the pump and minimize the stress on the working joint.

Let’s say you are doing leg presses for example, as you get to the top of the movement it is certainly easier to lock out the leg muscles to give them a slight break from the tension on the quadriceps but you are placing quite an amount of pressure on the joint, especially if you lock out the legs with a real crunch at the knees. It would be better for both your knee joints and your quads to gently bring the weight to the top of the leg press movement without any quick crunch at the top but instead slowly flex your leg muscles as your legs straighten at the end of each rep. This way you do not put a jolting strain on your knees but you still get the benefit of enhancing the pump as you complete each rep with your legs fully flexed.

If you are doing a triceps, shoulder or chest exercise the same rule applies. Flexing the muscles at the completion of each rep is a great way to increase the pump, build shape and allow your muscles to grow to their full potential. Although crunching the arms at the end of each rep does place tremendous stress on the elbow joints. Over years and years of heavy training all this stress on the elbows can lead to long term elbow problems and often pain at the joint and even in the forearms. Instead, as you complete the rep, just slowly straighten your arm and flex the muscle at the end of the movement.

When training triceps I like to give my triceps a good flex as I complete each rep although I don’t always completely lock out when training my chest or shoulders. The same thing goes for leg press, it is more difficult to not lock out but instead just before the lock out point, bring the weight back down again for another rep. Training without locking out doesn’t give your body a chance for even the slightest rest period between each rep and training this way is another tool for growth.

In summary, locking out is ok if done slowly but crunching at the joint in even the slightest abrupt manner is not doing your muscles any good and will only add to the long term stress at your joints. To allow your joints to live a long healthy life try locking out slowly for some exercises but do it infrequently.