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Started by Sam Deamer, October 17, 2015 · 3 Replies · 2,456 Views
Are there any studies or experiences comparing open kinetic chain (OKC) strength to closed kinetic chain (CKC) strength?
Also anything on whether one is more likely to crossover to the other? I've heard a lot of claims about CKC being "superior" but I'd love to read about some real life examples.
Is one really better than the other or should we just treat them both as tools with equal importance?
Look forward to the discussion 
Cheers.
This study suggests that Closed Kinetic Chain (CKC) is superior to Open Kinetic Chain (OKC)...
CKC tends to be more compound than OKC. An example of CKC is the squat, whereas the OKC equivalent is the knee extension and hip extension isolation exercises (on machines). You never, ever see powerlifters, weightlifters or strongmen on the leg extension machine; they're always squatting. You can load more weight onto CKC movements, and the neural patterns that are built transfer to increased neuromuscular adaptation for the body as whole entity. Leg extensions will do very little for your jump height if your hips don't activate properly, because they're not used to activating when the quadriceps do.
You can't evaluate the validity of a study by the abstract.
My bad; I can download the study in full from that link, but anyone without a profile would be unable to. Either way, it's fairly straight-forward; it's not like it's a contentious issue with controversial evidence. There are clear benefits and detriments to each, with CKC coming out as superior in general.