Knee lockout

In the front split follow-along video, at one point Coach mentioned that one way to check whether your knees are completely locked out is to see whether the teardrop muscle on top of the knee is fully engaged. Here's another detail I never paid attention to before! I'm used to having the knees straight without thinking about engaging any quad muscles. I guess in this case these are still "soft knees" even though they are not bent? I notice if you are to lift your leg straight with a "soft knee", your leg is almost certain to micro-bend...

My questions: By fully engaging the quad muscles for "hard knees", compared to straight "soft knees", do the hamstrings really get much more stretching? Also, my quads tend to cramp if I compress a lot with fully engaged quads. It's better when the body is lowering down to the legs, but worse when the legs are lifting up to the body. Will this fade away as I become more consistent with "hard knees"? Or are my quads too tight?

Thanks!

Hey Jin,

It's funny because my physio thought I didn't engaged the quad correctly for a hamstring problem I have.  Now, as a rehab stretching exercice, he makes me pull my foot with a rope by squeezing my quad as hard as I can. 

It's reciprocal inhibition btw. One muscle tenses, the antagonist relaxes.

So, I would say to still engage the quad and progressively activate it more until you have no more cramps.  That's what happened to me!

Thanks @Étienne Lajeunesse! So the reciprocal inhibition works even though there’s no apparent change in the angle of the joints? There is probably some very small change in the angle of the joints, and by engaging the quads I can probably press the knees further back overtime. That’s why those dancers or gymnasts’ straight legs look so much better than mine  

11 minutes ago, Jin Liu said:

Thanks @Étienne Lajeunesse! So the reciprocal inhibition works even though there’s no apparent change in the angle of the joints? There is probably some very small change in the angle of the joints, and by engaging the quads I can probably press the knees further back overtime. That’s why those dancers or gymnasts’ straight legs look so much better than mine  

 

Ahahha well, you can't push further the knee than its limit!  I don't really know about the limitations of the joints angle, but the more you press your knee, the more it inhibit your leg.  I would be interested to know why some people are overflexed and some are not.  I suppose it'a linked to the mobility of the connective tissues, but can they be stretched to create overextensions?  @Alessandro Mainente, would you know?

Range fo motion it is congenital. You can have congenital syndrome with general joint laxity or you can be hypermobile. Pushing the knees over the natural 180° usually means joint laxity in the long terms.

2 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Range fo motion it is congenital. You can have congenital syndrome with general joint laxity or you can be hypermobile. Pushing the knees over the natural 180° usually means joint laxity in the long terms.

Thanks @Alessandro Mainente. So I probably cannot change how straight my knees are no matter how hard I engage my quads. But by fully engaging the quads, the hamstrings will get some extra relaxation/stretching. I can use that  

On 12/17/2017 at 8:32 AM, Jin Liu said:

Thanks @Alessandro Mainente. So I probably cannot change how straight my knees are no matter how hard I engage my quads. But by fully engaging the quads, the hamstrings will get some extra relaxation/stretching. I can use that  

Jin, I have no advice, just an observation. Just like you, as much as I was trying to have my legs straight before, they still looked kind of "bent" a little bit. And I swear that I was doing my best to keep them straight. A year later, practicing to keep them straight (also on my pole, because it looks sooooo much better), somehow, I am able to engage whatever I am engaging that it takes the knee that last half inch backward and the leg looks really really straight. I am doing it right now while sitting and typing, to figure out what I am doing… it is not just the VM (tear drop) but the whole quadriceps, all heads, that look very engaged to pull the knee in that last little bit. I am excited about this accomplishment, because I was never able to do it… and I still cannot do it all the time, only with an extreme focus… but at least it is possible. 

8 minutes ago, Suzanna McGee said:

Jin, I have no advice, just an observation. Just like you, as much as I was trying to have my legs straight before, they still looked kind of "bent" a little bit. And I swear that I was doing my best to keep them straight. A year later, practicing to keep them straight (also on my pole, because it looks sooooo much better), somehow, I am able to engage whatever I am engaging that it takes the knee that last half inch backward and the leg looks really really straight. I am doing it right now while sitting and typing, to figure out what I am doing… it is not just the VM (tear drop) but the whole quadriceps, all heads, that look very engaged to pull the knee in that last little bit. I am excited about this accomplishment, because I was never able to do it… and I still cannot do it all the time, only with an extreme focus… but at least it is possible. 

Thanks Suzanna. That’s exactly how I feel about my straight legs. They are not really straight unless I squeeze the legs really hard. Then depending on the level of compression I can lose that easily. That tiny bit of angle in the knee does make a difference of day and night in dance. Fully engaged straight legs looks 1000x better. I learned a dance (the only dance I know) a while back, and that was the first time I noticed my straight leg walk looked NOTHING like a dancer’s straight leg walk . I didn’t understand, and thought there was something wrong with my knees, lol!